3 Local resources around the school

Mr Manik, an elementary school teacher from Mayurbhanj, teaches Classes IV and V. Here he describes how he used his students’ journey to school as the basis of some talk-related activities in his classroom.

I introduced the topic by telling my students about my own usual journey to school. I had made some notes and practised what I would say the evening before, to ensure that it included plenty of interesting details. I spoke slowly and clearly, with as much expression as possible, pausing between sections and checking that all my students were following.

I mentioned where I started from, what time I left home, how long the journey normally took, what forms of transport it included, what landmarks I passed, what I found attractive on the way, who I often saw, who I generally spoke to and what languages I used to do this. I finished by talking about the effect of the changing seasons on my journey, such as use of different forms of transport and the transformation of the scenery.

I followed this up by asking my students one or two things about their own journeys to school. I then told everyone to pay special attention to their journey into school the next morning.

The following day, I organised the class into groups of four and asked them to tell one another about their journeys into school, using the following questions as prompts:

• Where do you start your journey?
• What transport do you use?
• How long does the journey take? Does it take longer depending on the season?
• What are your favourite places on the way?
• Who do you usually see?
• Who do you talk to? What languages do you use to speak to them?

Whether they shared this information in their home language or the school language, all of my students seemed to have plenty to say.

Finally, as a class, we established which students lived furthest away, which of them spoke to the most people, and which of them met up with one another during their journey to school.