Rotary kids give back

Meha Shah (Rtn. Sitaram Shah’s granddaughter and Rtn. Vandan Shah’s daughter), a student of Cathedral and John Connon School, along with her friend Aman Shah (from B.D. Somani International School), has completed 120 hours of volunteering at Bhavishya Yaan. The duo is now spending alternate Saturdays at the Lighthouse School in the Bhai Bhandarwar Machimaar community to help community kids from ages four to 10. They thank RCB for giving them such a wonderful opportunity and share their experience of the last three years.

“We began our volunteering journey with the Rotary Club of Bombay nearly three years ago and have managed to learn a lot in that time under the Bhavishya Yaan project where the two of us taught English to the students of the G.K. Marg Municipal school. Our immediate challenge was to engage with the children in a fun manner while allowing them to retain what they had learned.

We wanted to take a holistic approach to teaching this subject where we tried to reinforce what they were learning in school through fun activities such as role-playing, Pictionary and Taboo. Our aim was to expose them to the English
language in a way they couldn’t be exposed on their own.

During the course of our teaching, we realised that children at a much younger age find it easier to adapt to the language. So, we decided to initiate this at the Lighthouse School where we are teaching children of the Machimaar
village (in Colaba) between the ages of four to 10 years. We are continuing our same method of teaching to reinforce
their learning while broadening their horizon.

We thought the best way to incorporate this approach is by using board games. There are certain rules and instructions that need to be followed in any board game. Playing these not only encourages kids to follow instructions but also teaches them discipline, respect for each other as well as manners. Along with this, we also play various connecting word games to improve their vocabulary.

While teaching the children, we learned much ourselves. We learned just how hard it is for our teachers to teach us
when we do not want to be taught, and we re-learned some long-forgotten grammar. Finally, teaching English has
allowed us to empathise with others in ways we could never have imagined. Since reading and English have always been a passion for us, this is our way to give back to the community. We hope, by learning English, these children will gain confidence and find it easier to get jobs, and in turn uplift themselves.”