My Teaching Innovations

Responsible Teaching

Considering the dwindling number of enrollments in Marathi medium schools, as a member / secretary of various Schools I encouraged the following,

  1. Establishment of E learning Centres
  2. Establishment  of spoken English / Communication classes
  3. Encouraged creative and innovative activities like teaching aids like puppets Flash cards, models etc to make the teaching – learning process effective.
  4. Allround development of personality of not only students and teachers but also of parents. In fact, i brought about home visits, competitions and workshops for parents etc. Special mention – felicitation of parents having one or two daughters only.
  5. Conducting regular Refresher Courses for Schools and Junior College teachers that included exchanging Innovative Teaching methods. The teachers came from across Maharashtra from Colleges and Schools under DES, like , Pune, Satara, Sangali, Wai, Alibaug and Shirur. including workshops for Junior College . 

Efficient Administrator

  1. I began Introductory Communication courses in foreign languages such as English, French, German and Japanese affordable fees.
  2. Numerous students of DES schools have topped hundreds of S.S.C. and H.S.C. merit lists.
  3. I keenly advocated interaction with well known and established personalities to engage with students on numerous topics beyond the syllabus.
  4. I was responsible for generating positive interactions between various stakeholders of DES.
  5. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. To counteract this, special focus is directed towards sports and fitness.
  6. Several State level and National level sports persons have been turned out by DES schools

Mobilized Community Resources for Infrastructure Development

  1. Propagating use of Audio visuals aids like Computers, Internet, LCD projector, tape recorder, DVD player and recorder, German News papers and magazines, books, theatre, films, Over head projector etc.
  2. All this is used besides the regular material like Black (green) boards, charts, models, flash cards etc. Textbooks, workbooks, dictionaries, pictures etc.
  3. I was part of the core team to authour XIth and XIIth standard German Textbooks and a special named Bruke Eins(1), specially designed for skilled and semi-skilled students aspiring to study or go for employment in Germany. Bruke 2 is in progress.
  4. I have  authored a book “Gaganala Pankh Nave” (गगनाला पंख नवे) – my biography that covers my journey from a small village, Khanapur in Belgavi district to Pune where I anchored my roots in teaching German. This book was published on my 50th birthday to commemorate my experiences and hoping to provide inspiration for other.  This book was later translated in Hindi (छू लों आसमाँ) and also in Braille.

As a teacher of German

  1. I started my career in 1987 as an Assisstant Teacher in German Department of Fergusson College and was fortunate to be part of the Organising Committee for the Centenary celebrations in 2014.  
  2. I have seen continuous growth in quality and quantity in the German department and further expanded the staff strength.
  3. The myriad of students include visually impaired and dyslexic students of all mediums and from all streams.
  4. To get the students interested in the language and to give them a firsthand experience I initiated interactions with German speaking visitors to induce interactions with students, to enable them to get a good grasp of conversational German.
  5. Since 1996  Cultural Exchange and Study tours programmes have been regularly organized. 
  6. I feel proud to state that several of my students have bagged scholarships and awards at national and international levels, and employed in Germany.
  7. I have participated in numerous seminars, workshops etc. and been felicitated at quite many.

Innovative Experiments for Greater Impact

  1. There has been a lot of heterogeneity in my classes – I have students coming from Marathi medium as well as English medium background.
  2. Few have already done German in schools for three years in school or at the Max Mueller Bhavan; others are freshers. They start with the alphabet in standard XI, in any case.
  3. Therefore I have used a unique method to balance this out. For every 5-6 fresher students I appointed a non-fresher as group leader, while pairing was one-toone for visually challenged students.  And whenever I correct note-books, spellings or solve difficulties, these group leaders helped the fresher students in their respective groups. This inculcated a spirit of growing together and being empathetic to each other. 
  4. This innovative experiment has helped me not only  in  inculcating expertise but also in bringing about  harmonious learning, team building and responsible behavior.
  5. Social manners are taken care of, too. As these leaders feel responsible for the progress of beginner students, they help them honestly and wholeheartedly. Nobody makes noise or disturbs the class.
  6. Another experiment involves the teaching of prepositions through songs and dramatics.
  7. The Student Exchange Programme mentioned above serves as an example too.
  8. The Language Lab and smart boards set up in Fergusson College helped me to lay stress on phonetics and the learning experience became more enjoyable and memorable.
  9. PaSch i.e. Partner – Schools for the Future was initiated in 2008, by Goethe Institute Max Mueller Bhavan has chosen Fergusson (Junior) College as one among nine in Pune. I was intrumental in bringing Pasch activities to Fergusson College and we conducted various activities like  competitions, camps for children who learn German as a foreign language in schools and junior colleges in India e.g. competitions like Fairy Tale writing, essay writing, Language Marathon, Indian and German cookery are conducted.
  10. The German teachers and students have received various scholarships and have gone to Germany for doing language courses there.
  11. German Christmas carols are written on the board in Devnagari, meaning is explained to the students and sung by all students, who are learning Sanskrit, French, Marathi, Hindi and German.
  12. Activities like youth camps, teachers training camps, football games, Film festivals/ Quiz, seminars, conferences etc. have been participated in/ conducted/ judged/ initiated/ hosted /coordinated/ sponsored by me.

Focus on Providing Quality Education

  1. More stress is laid on “communicative approach”.
  2. Few concepts are also explained in Marathi because there are many similarities in Marathi-German grammar.
  3. Instruction on a one-one basis is resorted to wherever required.
  4. Each student’s pace and learning ability is given consideration. Different methods are adopted as per the need.
  5. Students are also exposed to German audio/video news channels “e.g. Deutsche Welle”