Workshop on dual-code vocabulary acquisition held at after-school learning centre of Smile NGO

A three-hour workshop for girls from middle and high school level was conducted by Jaipur-based educator and researcher as a part of training in read-to-learn skills at the learning centre of Smile NGO at Sanganer locality of the city.

"Once the children have learned reading by grade eight, it the time to apply reading-to-learn from the print resources like textbooks and supplementary readers. If children learn and apply 'read-to-learn skills', they would become self-learners making it possible to flip the classroom. With some practice, they would start learning independent of the teachers. It is an empowering process since it takes children to writing which is highest level of communication skill as a part of life skill beyond listening, speaking and reading skills. All learning should culminate into coding the acquired knowledge," said the resource person in his opening remark.

The workshop was conducted in four parts consisting of demonstration of the skill on one page of textbook; identification of keywords and listing them followed by making of word-search puzzle; identification of 4-6 nouns and making their visual codes; demonstration of learning by a student and recapitulation by the teacher.

Feedback from 30-odd students and 4 teachers, revealed keenness to learn and apply the next skill. A three-week task was given to the students before the session for the next skill.

According to Dr Kishore, who conducted 25-hour self-skill workshops at Kurukshera, Ladawa and Rai of Haryana state, the dual coding to build textual and visual vocabularies is read-to-learn skill for print material and one can learn better from it.

Since for classroom instructional and self-study purposes, dual coding is about combining the text with visuals in in teaching and learning processes, it has the possibility of flipping the classroom through textbooks, he feels.

He has also promoted the self-study skills for compensatory education programme of CULP in Niwai block of Tonk distric in Rajasthan which was meant for weak rural girl-students taking first public examination of grade X.