Ever since I started sharing my ideas with the wide wide world, this is the first time I feel entirely liberated. At last I have got a space to share, or rather shout the world at large, how i evolved as a trainer, from a much introverted, troubled youth. Those were days of boomeranging, violent ideas, and I was not alone.....
Year 2005, a twist, equivalent of a violent tornado happened in my life, when I turned my attention and passion to the turbulent world of communication.Till
then, for five years I had been more or less tinkering with the language training, its theory and practice. What I observed in my students was the severe lack of communication skills, and the tragic humiliation they felt when they had to stand in front of someone or a group when all they could do was to mumble like six month old babies. It was sad to see aspiring faces losing its colour and sheen brooding over their future in far off, unfriendly and strange lands.
then, for five years I had been more or less tinkering with the language training, its theory and practice. What I observed in my students was the severe lack of communication skills, and the tragic humiliation they felt when they had to stand in front of someone or a group when all they could do was to mumble like six month old babies. It was sad to see aspiring faces losing its colour and sheen brooding over their future in far off, unfriendly and strange lands.
They are taught well the language called English, they can write well and when someone speaks to them they nod their heads in understanding. Even after assimilating the practical aspects of the language, still most of them falter in crucial times.Why? Why young girls and boys who finished their higher secondary education and youth fresh from their graduation and post graduation lacks the courage to speak? All I had to do was to look back to my schooling days and I hit the bulls eye! I was expecting my students to do something that they were not TRAINED in their schools and colleges....I was expecting my students to do something that I didn`t TRAIN them. In fact the entire world was expecting something from them that they didn't KNOW!!
The children and the youth of my land were denied the most important thing in education, a skill which is placed with respect and has acquired the noble status of virtue in all cultured education systems across the world. It is nothing but the "skills of communication" and the resultant by products called self expression ,self awareness and above all the life changing elixir called self esteem.
Teach the child a language to understand, create an environment for him/her to communicate freely with no fear and let him/her go all out to reach the world. What we need is `a school with no walls`, else .how the sun`s rays could kiss tender cheeks, how the wind could whisper stories from faraway lands into the ever ready ears and how mother nature could nourish its children with better life lessons?
AFRC India`s online educational initiative is subtitled, rightly too, 'A school without walls`. Otherwise how you and me can reach out and shake hands firmly with a smile! We promise a lot of adventurous learning experiences in the coming days, so don`t miss the bus :-)
Anil Emage
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