Teaching with Visual Media
Harshal Kelkar is one of our volunteers from the Kothrud community and has harnessed his love for visual media and technology to be a really effective teacher throughout our shift to online teaching. Read more about his approach below!
I moved to Pune in 2016 from Mumbai, for my engineering degree in Biotechnology. The four years I have spent in Pune changed my life. I remember my first engineering class during my first year. Coming from a different city, settling in, and then jumping straight into a “Campus” environment was quite a challenge. Though it took some time for me to adjust, I never felt like an outsider in this new city. During my second year I heard about Pune Learns from one of my cousins. I was always interested in doing something for society and since I was still in my 2nd year I decided to give it a shot, even though in the past, I had never had the urge to teach anyone and had no experience with teaching kids.
Cut to my first session with the children. 8 innocent faces initially intimidated me, as I hadn’t really prepared much for it! One session became ten, and suddenly I had completed a year with these kids. Session by session my friendship with these kids grew and before we knew it, we were conversing in English. Just as Pune city had welcomed me with open arms, these kids too were just as inviting, and we had formed a strong bond. The weekly “Hi Bhaiya” and “Dada” became “Good Morning Bhaiya”. Tutoring these kids, I made sure it wasn’t just textbook stuff they were learning but necessary skills and knowledge needed in their day to day life, like basic greetings such as “Good Morning” or the Birthday song. One of the advanced batch kids has always been interested in Space, so on alternate weekends we sit for an extra half hour reading and listening to space facts. I still remember his amazed reaction when I showed him a live feed from the International Space Station. This was a key moment in my teaching journey, and helped me narrow down on my teaching style.
Many of us have special childhood memories of books that inspired us, however, I was a shy child who was never really a fan of conventional literature. I preferred to play board games, draw, paint, and my favourite activity was to build with LEGO. Though I didn’t enjoy reading literature, comics were something I had always cherished and still do. I still have my collection of Archie comics, Tinkle, and Goosebumps, the list goes on! Clearly when it came to reading I always preferred the visual version of a book or a story.
Having been a student myself, I have always believed in the use of a visual or a digital aid as a tool for better understanding of a concept. All of my experience has taught me that showing a picture of an object, person, or place not only helps the child to understand that concept or idea but helps them visualize and remember it better. With these kids it’s no different, and over the years at Pune Learns, I slowly incorporated more and more visuals into my teaching. I have always tried my best to give the kids a visual treat of some kind in every session, and I am certain that this has enriched their learning process. Either pictures of animals, monuments, famous people, it’s a long list, but I try my best to keep it interesting, and find a way to link the pictures I show with the lessons I’m teaching, whether they are lessons on soft skills or English.
Another passion that I leveraged while teaching was technology. Technology was something that my parents never deprived me of, and eventually I discovered audiobooks and loved this new form of consuming books. I got my hands on so many new and different devices and gadgets, and they wowed me every time. Eventually after I got comfortable with doing basic typing and reading online, I had the desire at the back of my mind, to be able to provide access and understanding of such technology to students who aren’t yet familiar with these media. With the growth of the internet and such extensive use of technology, digital content is a huge part of learning and growing up. Since joining Pune Learns I have made sure to teach the kids not only how to correctly use these gadgets and technology, but also how to use them in the right and safe way.
“Praise the process rather than the outcome” is something I have always believed in as a student and is something I have continuously kept in mind while teaching the kids. Teaching the kids to speak English was always important to me, but I also equally valued the things they picked up during that teaching journey — lessons on digital safety, a wider knowledge of the world through all the visuals we explored, and the soft skills they gained, like confidence and teamwork. I count every little victory as a valid achievement, since each step contributes to the process. I also feel that these kids should grow up in an environment that is not always competitive but focuses on one’s own capabilities and potential, and I hope I have succeeded in giving it to them.
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