Mist in the Mountains – an observation visit to Aizwal, Mizoram (17.04.17-21.04.17)
Schools drenched in the downpour, people walking through a mist in the evening, classrooms full of guileless Mizo boys and girls speaking English in a sing-song voice, colourful wares from Burma and China hanging outside shops, salt and ferment in the air, wrinkled old women selling betel-nut and copra slivers, pale green and peach and white and yellow and beige brick houses and tin-and-bamboo shanties sitting cheek -by- jowl with churches.
This visit to Aizawl for research was another beautiful experience. We visited four schools while the local field support team was busy with cluster-level training of teachers in i2C. We conducted listening–speaking tests in three schools. We also met the headmaster and the teacher in a school to see how CLIx was being implemented.
Children giving a demonstration of what they learnt
Students of Class 10, who had practised lessons from the CLIx English modules last year, gave us a demonstration of what they had learnt to do. School children are the same everywhere – the minute the teacher’s back was turned, they would click on the internet icon and start surfing! There were many enthusiastic youngsters who showed us their creative side, making up dialogues and stories using various tools in CLIx English.
One amazing characteristic of Mizo teachers is their level of involvement with their students, and it is the same high involvement in every school.
This research visit was the beginning of another year of academic association with Mizoram schools.
(Reema Mani, Research Associate, English team, CLIx)
