Soon after the exam, one of the boys gave me a call at 12:30 pm to share his extreme happiness of completing the exam successfully. He said "Ma'am, I have attempted all the questions and will definitely score good marks."
I would like to share that when this boy came to me requesting that I may teach him for the English exam, I was really sceptical. This boy hails from a village and is living in the city to get proper coaching facilities to clear his 12 boards. Moreover, he was a Hindi medium student till class 10 and switched over English medium in the next year.
When I first met him, he seemed to be a very nervous, shy boy who couldn't even say his name confidently. This persona of his came as a challenge to me which I took up and said yes to him; I could see a spark in this boy. I tell him every now and then that his decision to switch over English medium was really a bold one. I used to ask him often "Will you be able to manage?" He always gave his answer in affirmation. He always had confidence in himself which he displayed through his confident voice and firm answers as the days rolled by.
"Days passed,
both these boys enjoyed poetry,
understood poetic devices,
phonetics, foot and metre."
The second boy is a passionate dancer, has represented the city in the Dance India Dance auditions and other reality shows at the national level. He had flunked in the class 12 last year due to some personal reasons. I had already taught this sincere, down to earth, humble and a very hard working boy in the summers of 2015 working on his communication skills.
He came to meet me in the evening today and we solved the question paper. He gave all the answers correctly barring 2 questions. He said "Ma'am, I will easily score 90/100 and my happiness is beyond expression"
On hearing his words, I took a sigh of relief and said to myself "I am able to bring a smile on someone's face."
I'm inclined to write this note as these students loved English whenever we sat to study and understood the nuances of the language with utmost sincerity. They understood the concepts for life, read the stories and poems keeping in mind their message and applicability on our daily life. These students didn't study not only to get good marks but enjoyed each session and gave their heart and soul to the language at the time when their classmates and friends made fun of them saying who attends English coaching classes for 3 hours a day. Their friends used to boast by saying, "We will study just two/three days before the exam as English is easy and unimportant."
Through my (four and a half years) of teaching experience in Khandwa I have realised that what is important for most of the students here is to score good marks in PCM or Accounts. English takes a backseat and it only remains the reason for the low aggregate which they realise and regret later on getting their result card or CGPA.
