School Initiated

English Vinglish Project

English Vinglish is a long-term CAS project that aims to assist the bus and security staff of our school in enhancing their English communication skills. Our English Vinglish project was carried out every Saturday from 9:30 to 10:30 in the morning. Four English Vinglish members conducted each class for about forty bus and security staff. Our objective was to assist them in communicating confidently with students, parents, and teachers in situations where English is the primary medium of communication.

Our objectives included teaching vocabulary for day-to-day situations and enhancing their understanding of English grammar concepts such as tenses, articles, and subject verb object order. Later, we focused on conjunctions, prepositions, and lexicon to assist the bus and security staff in forming complex ideas. To make the learning process engaging and enjoyable, we included various activities such as charades, Pictionary, quizzes, and role plays.

The project followed all the stages in the CAS process. For the investigation stage, we carried out a survey in our first lesson to understand the staff’s English needs. We also spoke with English Vinglish alumni (past teachers) to understand the progress made during previous years. The preparation stage involved making lesson plans, worksheets, games, and presentations prior to the sessions, and allocating the work among the members of the team.

The action stage involved the weekly sessions where we conducted classes on speaking, listening, reading, and writing for the staff. The reflection stage made us realize that the staff already possessed a strong command of English, thanks to the previous volunteers, so we had to revise the lesson plans accordingly. The demonstration stage involved working with the staff on making a short English skit.

Overall, English Vinglish helped improve communication within the school community, as well as enhancing the confidence of the staff members in English language use.