INTRODUCTION
YHS STARTALK Hindi Language and Culture Program 2019 is hosted by Gwyn-Nor Elementary, 139 Hancock Road, North Wales, PA 19454 We will recruit 40 K-8 students, ages 8 to 13, from Heritage and semi-Heritage families. who will be placed in four groups based on their age, grade levels and proficiency. The first and second graders with little exposure to Hindi will make the first group; K5 students with some exposure to everyday Hindi, who can respond in phrases and broken sentences in Hindi, in second group; the 5th to 8th graders with higher literacy skills. Those who are in spoken Hindi but lower literacy skills in reading/writing will be placed in third group while while students with higher (intermediate range) proficiency in speaking, reading and writing, mostly returning students, will make the fourth group. Our program is designed to make sure all learners demonstrate comprehension knowledge and learn to the best of their abilities. We will provide rich visuals based authentic material to engage learners in thinking, pairing and sharing ideas and performing activities and tasks in the three modes of communication leading to improve their speaking, reading and writing abilities. We will develop three levels of curricula for Novice and Intermediate ranges of ACTFL proficiency guidelines under the overarching overarching theme, 'My virtual trip to India', divided into three sub-themes, 'East-West and North-South regions of India', to provide information about food, festival and places to visit in each region in chunks and recycled. Varieties of picture based reading and writing material to motivate young learners read photo captions and write in simple sentences. We will engage them in interpersonal activities with students of other classes. Formative, Summative and self assessment tools, exit cards and note taking will be used to collect learning evidences and stored in individual and Google Doc folders.
GOAL FOR NOVICE LEARNERS: By end of the units Novice level learners will be able to do basic tasks, such as, identifying characters and events and presenting in culturally appropriate manner. They will exchange information with others and make comparisons with their US experiences.
GOAL FOR INTERMEDIATE LEARNERS: Intermediate students will pair and share, compare and contrast information with their own experiences and ideas in USA. They will learn varieties of language functions and apply in real life situations. A day long field trip will connect students with the local community. We will provide I-pads in every classroom for students to practice topic based activities using appropriate language apps guided by our class teachers. We will expand the teaching style from can do statements to interpretive, move on to exchanging information through likes and dislikes and prepare students for individual or group presentations without supervision. On the final day Novice and Intermediate students will make presentations on stage for invited guests and parents. A structured post-program follow up plan will be implemented to help students sustain and improve their skills.
