The joys of teaching
Rotary Club celebrates a Diamond Jubilee High School, Hyderabad teacher.
Which student hasn鈥檛 had that day in class, when they just don鈥檛 get it? Mrs. Naga Lakshmi certainly did, and those moments shaped her future success.
鈥淲hen we didn鈥檛 understand something, Ms. Vidyasree would take it as a personal challenge to teach us,鈥 says Mrs. Lakshmi. 鈥淪he was very loving and affectionate.鈥 The care and guidance that she received from Ms Vidyasree and other teachers like her during the tough times is what inspired Mrs Lakshmi to become a teacher.
After 25 years of teaching at the Diamond Jubilee High School in Hyderabad, Mrs. Lakshmi won the Best Teacher Award by Rotary Club for contributing best practices and creative classroom activities to the learning of language, and guiding a remarkable 88 per cent of her students to distinction.
鈥淭elegu is a challenging subject to teach,鈥 says Mrs. Lakshmi. Hyderabad is the capital of Telengana, and Telegu is the official regional language. But Hyderabad itself is a diverse city where people speak many languages, including Hindi and Urdu.
Moreover Telegu is of a different family from Hindi or Urdu, and bears little resemblance to either. Within Hyderabad, Telegu is less widely used than Hindi/Urdu and English, so students who do not speak it natively find it difficult to stay motivated to learn.
The Aga Khan Education Service, India uses a one-year bridging program to catch foreign language speakers up with advanced learners. 鈥淎fter one year, they are learning and writing easily,鈥 says Mrs. Lakshmi.
Learning a language is difficult, and making it easy takes work on the part of the teacher. 鈥淚 curate different activities, so children can learn more successfully.鈥 The activities don鈥檛 always work for all students, but Mrs. Lakshmi stops at nothing. Like her own teachers, she takes feels responsible for her students, and puts in extra time to help them one on one.
鈥淪he鈥檚 my favourite teacher,鈥 says Afeefa Hussaini, who speaks Urdu at home. 鈥淓very student is inspired by her.鈥
Afeefa has been studying Telegu with Mrs. Lakshmi for three years. 鈥淲hen I was in class three and four, I did not speak a word of Telegu, but now I have improved a lot.鈥 Afeefa says she can use Telegu perfectly when she interacts with native speakers in her neighbourhood.
It probably helps that Mrs. Lakshmi鈥檚 lessons deal with situations that students are likely to encounter in real life. Ronak Dadwani recalls that when Mrs. Lakshmi taught the meaning of 鈥渉onesty,鈥 she did so through a discussion on what it means to be honest in life. The lesson on language also turned out to be a discussion on ethics.
Reflecting on her wealth of experience, Mrs Lakshmi said, 鈥渢his is a challenging profession, but whatever the support or motivation we want, the school management provides that for us. That helps makes me successful.鈥
At 52 Mrs. Lakshmi has seven years before she must retire. 鈥淚f God permits, I would like to continue teaching for as long as possible.鈥
