Spoken English

We conduct online English classes for rural Tamil medium students as they enter high school. Most of these students lack even basic English skills, which puts them at a significant disadvantage compared to others when it comes to future academic or professional success for which English skills are becoming essential.

Pilot Program

We conducted a pilot program at Government Higher Secondary School, Illupaithoppu, Thanjavur in Jul-Nov 2023. In this program, basic English classes were taught by adult volunteers from the USA using a custom curriculum created by experienced teachers from the USA. Classes were held Mon-Fri for one hour in the morning (India time) before regular school hours.

Teaching was done with a mixture of both English and Tamil with the intent of reducing the fear of the language and instead making it fun to learn. Teenagers from the USA were also part of the classes, where they assisted by playing “language games” with the Indian students which reinforced the concepts they learned that day. The teenagers on both sides of the world were also encouraged to make small talk with each other, with the Indian kids practicing their English skills while the American kids practiced their Tamil.

Expanding to more schools

Based on the success of the pilot at Illupaithoppu school, we expanded to more schools in the following years. Spoken English classes were conducted at Panchayat Union Middle School, Mampatty (near Madurai, Tamil Nadu) in 2024 and Government Higher Secondary School, West Tambaram (in Chennai, Tamil Nadu) in 2025.

The specialized curriculum has also been redeveloped using professional input from teachers and experts from both India and the US. This initiative continues to be a big hit among both the adult and teen volunteers from the US as well as the faculty and students at the participating schools in India.

Peer to peer learning

As part of this initiative, we supplied laptops to students in India and had them connect with US teen volunteers in supervised video calls where they would go through self-learning educational sites such as IXL.com together. Specific students from India were selected to participate based on their teachers’ recommendations and were given the opportunity to further practice the English skills they were learning in group classes.

For many of these students, this was the very first time they had access to personal computers. Both the teens from the US and India had great fun in these sessions, building direct friendships that made the learning process a lot more personal and enjoyable.

Class Structure

• Monday through Friday sessions, one hour each
• Evening hours (US time), volunteers join in the evening (morning India time)
• Bilingual instruction combining English and Tamil
• Emphasis on reducing language anxiety while making learning enjoyable
• USA teenagers assisted through language games reinforcing daily lessons
• Cross-cultural conversation practice between Indian and American students

English and beyond

We conduct a survey after the last class every year with both US and India participants, and the overwhelming response has been that the program is uniquely useful for the students in India and fun and enriching for our US teen volunteers. This initiative is growing in size every year and we are looking to expand to more schools. If this is something you would like to get involved in or learn more about, reach out!