Chinmaya Mission STARTALK Summer Hindi Camp - 2019 (CMSSHC-19) took place in Grayslake (30877, North Fairfield Road, Grayslake, IL, 60030 - Yamunotri campus of Chinmaya Mission), IL, July 15 to August 2, 2019, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (+ 60 minute daily online learning through Voicethread) offering 105 instructional hours over the 15 day camp (M-F each week for three weeks) to introduce forty eight 8-10 year old students to conversational and written Hindi at novice mid (proficiency) / novice high (performance) and novice high (proficiency) / levels.
This camp was funded by STARTALK federal grant, which means, NO FEES were charged to participate in this camp.
Indian vegetarian snacks and lunch were served daily during the camp ( NO COST to Participants ).
CMSSHC 2019's vision was to facilitate learning of Hindi through 5 C's (world readiness standards of foreign language learning propounded by ACTFL) - communication (interpersonal, interpretive and presentational), culture (perspectives, practices and products), comparison (of cultures and languages), connections (with other disciplines such as science, geography, health, arts, math and distinctive view-points), and communities (taking learning beyond the classroom and becoming life-long learners).
CMSSHC 2019's aim was to stimulate and enrich learners' imaginations and make learning a new language fun through various hands on activities and use of web 2.0 technology tools. Students learned to interpret instruction in culturally rich contexts (some familiar, some new), interact with the teachers and other learners while engaging in playful activities, and present their learning in the form of their own dream tourist destination, and by maintaining a personal travel journal showcasing their daily learning.
Campers learned to speak, read and write Hindi in playful ways through stories, video clips, books, sports, hands on activities such as preparing meals, participating in different clubs (art club, cooking club, card club, pottery making club, video club, and dances), yoga, and games, like kho-kho, bacaao, sher - bakarii, ruumaal - zapaTTaa, carrom, piThThuu, kabaDDii and movies.
Hindi was used 90% of the time inside and outside the classroom.
There were three classrooms of about 16 students per class, with a total of 48 students.
Neena Kathuria, Ashish Kathuria, and Shikha Pant will served as main classroom teachers.
Lalitha Gupta, Amita Bijawat, and Srishti Bothra were assistant teachers.
All the teachers were trained by STARTALK.
Vasanthi Rangarajan servde as the administrative assistant.
Vidya Nahar served as the program director.
This was the sixth year of STARTALK Hindi camp offered by the team mentioned above.
The theme of CMSSHC-2019 was "Oh, The Places You'll Go".
While virtually traveling to three different places in India (Delhi, Goa, and Jaisalmer), students exchanged information about themselves (name, age, where they are from and their family) with fellow travelers.
Students learned weather, topography, tourist attractions, and food of the three places.
At Jaisalmer, students explored sand dunes, watched a traditional puppet show, and went on a camel safari in the desert.
In Delhi, they explored popular street foods, visited red fort and Jantar Mantar.
They also visited tourist attractions such as India Gate, Yamuna Ghat, National Rail Museum, and national zoological park.
They visited famous beaches in Goa, trekked near dudhsagar falls, and visit famous churches and temples.
Students asked and answered questions regarding their preferences (likes/dislikes) for these various activities, topography, weather and food at each of the places.
At the end of the program, working in small groups, students made video presentations of their favorite / dream tourist places in a mini travel fair for their classmates, parents.
Working in teams of four, students designed and presented their own tourist attraction, and presented their features in Hindi.
Learners communicated in all three modes of communication :
1) Interpersonal - Learners were able to exchange personal information, follow and give simple directions, state preferences and choose an option from given choices after discussing with others.
2) Interpretive - Learners were able to understand information about weather, animals, food, topography of the three places through listening, reading, and watching different media.
3) Presentational - Learners were able to give information about the places they visited in India, and present their own tourist attraction in Hindi.
They were immersed in cultural practices (such as dances, songs, greetings, showing respect to elders) and products (such as food, clothing, books, music, movies) of the three places.
They were able to take their learning beyond the classroom by interacting with Hindi speaking senior citizens, giving information about the places they visited and asking questions about the favorite tourist places visited by the senior citizens.
Please write to program director Vidya Nahar (vidya@balodyan.com) for more information.