Lisa Patra is a primary school student who resides in a rural area. Despite being a fifth grader, Lisa did not have adequate school language proficiency. Though she could converse in her native language, she struggled with the school language. At home and in her community, Lisa’s family speak in their mother tongue; because of this, Lisa is unfamiliar with the school language, Odia. She found it difficult to converse in the school and felt left out among her peers. She had difficulty understanding the concepts and was also not very active in co-curricular activities.
Our educator Kalpana noticed her struggles and decided to act. She provided personal attention during class, helping her to understand and learn new words. She also engaged her in different activities to improve her vocabulary using flashcards, charts, etc. She encouraged her to read more books from the library. Kalpana also suggested Lisa’s parents to speak in Odia at home.
At first, Lisa found it difficult, but with continuous support of Kalpana and her parents, she developed an interest in reading books. She started communicating with her classmates better and could express herself more clearly. Lisa’s confidence grew as she noticed an improvement in vocabulary. She began to participate more in class and even started to enjoy reading. Recently, Lisa secured second in poetry recitation during an annual competition in school. We could not be more proud of Lisa!
