– Pragati Bandebuche
After the migration from Thanthan, the settlement moved near the village of Kalamna. At that place, we did not have a regular classroom or proper learning materials to teach the children.
However, to ensure that the children’s education did not stop, we started an open classroom under a tree.
While teaching the children under the shade of the tree, we thought about how to make the class more engaging. For this, we tied various word cards, pictures, and educational posters to the tree. The tree itself became like the wall and blackboard of our classroom, creating a unique learning space for the children.
In this activity, children were asked to read the words displayed on the tree, find words, and create new words from them. At times, they were also encouraged to form small sentences using those words. This helped the children practice reading in a fun and interactive way.
During this process, the children’s enthusiasm increased greatly. They really enjoyed this new method of learning. They started going near the tree on their own, reading words, showing them to each other, and trying to create new words.
Kisan, in particular, participated with great enthusiasm. He reads the word cards on the tree every day. Not only that, but he also comes on holidays to read those words. Gradually, he began to understand new words and started forming small sentences using them. Because of this activity, the space under the tree has almost become like a small library for the children. Whenever they get time, they go there and read the words on the cards.
This experience showed that even with limited resources, effective learning can happen with a little creativity and enthusiasm. This open classroom under the tree has become a joyful and unique learning experience for the children.