Teach India Programme - Times of India

The programme aims to give learners the confidence to use English in contexts such as retail, customer service, travel and hospitality, financial services and job interviews.

Members of the public volunteer to join Teach India and are given a 50-hour training course in learner-centred teaching techniques and activities, practised through micro-teaching. They then train classes of learners for three months, using the English for Employability course.

Batches of training start every four months in Mumbai and Delhi.

• improve levels of English teaching and learning among disadvantaged communities through a network of NGOs
• develop a sustainable and scalable model for delivering relevant English Language Skills to targeted youth within these communities, to enhance their employability
• engage and enable volunteers to deliver the English language course to students effectively.

The following were the key activities of Teach India within the life-span of the project:

• developing a volunteer training curriculum and relevant content to enhance the English language teaching methodology of volunteers
• delivering a three-month volunteer training programme; these volunteers, in-turn, deliver a 120 hours course to learners
• developing and deploying customised ‘English for Employability’ course curriculum, content and relevant materials for learners
• volunteer training programme and workshops are followed by monitoring visits, feedback and evaluation by British Council ELT (English Language Training) specialists
• selection, training and development of Mentors and Master Trainers to make the programme self-sustaining.

The model was operational for over five years and was delivered in Delhi and Mumbai. Over 4000 volunteer teachers and 40,000 learners were trained, with training running in over 120 NGOs in Delhi and Mumbai.

As per Times of India, the employment rate of these students is around 60 per cent which is achieved at job fairs organised by the Times of India at the end of each batch.

As part of the programme sustainability strategy, we have developed an academic team within Teach India, who continuously lead training, mentoring and undertake material writing activities, with us assuming a quality assurance role. This capacity-building will enable the programme to be up-scaled to achieve its long-term objective of impacting one million target learners.

I got lot of new ideas to teach the learners without using the local language (i.e. Hindi) in the English class. I also got confidence on not only assessing our learners but also evaluate my own strengths and weaknesses - Anita Khandelwal, School In-charge, Asha Deep Foundation, NGO in Delhi 

‘Truly, I thought that the training will be boring. But, to my surprise, I have learnt so many new techniques of teaching English with fun. I found miming, demonstration, self-assessment and teaching notes especially useful’. -- Simmi Sharma, Rasta, NGO in Delhi 

‘I think that Micro-teaching was most helpful as it helped us know our shortcomings and brought-out the challenges that we may face while actually teaching in a classroom with learners from marginalised communities’. -- Priyanka Pathak, Project Manager, Naya Prayas, NGO in Delhi

'Uma, 20, wanted to move into the workplace after completing 12th standard. She heard about Teach India from a friend. The spoken English Programme gave her the confidence to speak English and get a job at Costa Coffee through the Job Fair, which gave her ample money to spend on herself and save for her family. Happily, she giggles “I just started to work, but I earn more than my older sisters. I have been working for the past two years. My parents are proud of me! So am I.” Talking about her job, she says “My company is the second largest coffee chain. It’s a very good company and my colleagues and seniors are also very good! I get my salary on time and I am very happy to be here.” Recently, she was awarded ‘Best Performer’ of Costa Coffee in North India.' -- Uma, Teach India learner, now Costa Coffee employee

'Kavita, a cheerful young girl, is working in a company which manufactures automobile parts, earning Rs. 12,000 per month. Her situation has significantly improved. Her father runs a small grocery shop and was unable to support her further education and forced her to get married. But she was determined to pursue a B.Com degree and become an accountant. She is thankful to Teach India for providing her with a job and improving her vocabulary skills in English. Her family is now living in a better house. She and her family feel indebted to Teach India for fulfilling their dreams.' -- Kavita, Teach India learner, now works in an Auto company