Virtual Training for the Sarvam-Access Teachers

English Access Program has been a great success right from its inception. This program has greatly enabled the underprivileged students to learn English thereby helping them in their personality development. The students need to have skilled teachers who can guide them through this journey.

This pandemic had helped to find out new solutions for some existing problems. Online classes do not only happen for students, but SARVAM offered online training for The English Access Teachers so that they can start training the students without any further delay.

The first virtual training for the Access Teachers was conducted by Dr. Padma Ravindran, Master Trainer on 3rd September 2020. The training was conducted using the Google Meet platform. Access Teachers from Pondicherry and Vaniambadi took part in the training and learned useful aspects related to Access Program. Around 14 Access teachers and coordinators of the Access Program took part in the training.

Being the first virtual training and the first training for the new batches which are about to start, Dr. Padma Ravindran started the training by giving an orientation to the Teachers about the Access Program. She further explained the role of the Access Teachers, the enhancement activities, and other aspects related to the Access Program were explained in detail by the Master Trainer. A Google Form was also sent to all the participants to understand the awareness of the teachers about this Access Program.

The next session focused on teaching listening skills to the students in the Access Class. There is a vast difference between hearing and listening. Dr. Padma Ravindran explained the importance of listening skills and she trained the teachers who in turn will help the students improve their listening skills. Few start-up activities and methods to be followed to teach listening skills were explained in detail. A brainstorming session was conducted on the various methods that can be used to teach listening skills in the Access classroom.

The next session was handled by Mr. John Kennedy, one of the Access teachers from Pondicherry. His session was on teaching Grammar. He explained how to use the grammatical structure ‘going to’ in the classroom. Mr. John Kennedy explained the grammatical structure with various examples and activities, which made understanding easier and long-lasting.

A hands-on session on using the Google Meet platform for organizing online classes was taken by Mr. Earnest Paul one of the Access Teachers from Pondicherry. He gave a practical session on how to schedule classes and share them with the students. The hands-on session helped all the participants to learn the usage of the Google Meet platform effectively for the Access Classroom. Doubts raised by the participants were cleared by Mr. Paul and helped the teachers understand the concepts clearly.

The last session was handled by Dr. Padma Ravindran wherein she explained the roles of Access Teachers. She also conducted a question-answer session.  The teachers were clarified all their doubts by Dr. Padma. The session ended by planning for the next virtual meeting.