NOTE FOR TEACHERS AND PARENTS

Why this Note

Teachers and parents play a crucial role in initiating and creating continued interest in reading among young children. This page is useful for both teachers and parents and helps them to facilitate this early reading process in the classroom and at home. It gives information and suggestions to promote early reading for all children, including children with special needs.

Introduction to Barkhaa: A Reading Series for ‘All’

This reading series is an adapted version of the original Barkhaa Series and consists of 40 booklets across four levels and five themes. It is an attempt to provide material which has additional features incorporated to cater to the needs of all children in inclusive settings. This digital version has a story introduction at the beginning of each booklet in video format to arouse curiosity and to make reading interesting for children. This video is also available in sign language. The key visuals on each page are made in high resolution to help focus on the important events of the story. The text and the background in each story are provided in a combination of three colours to enable the child to view the content according to his/her visual preference and need. Some of the other features are flashcards for difficult words as picture windows, green and red dot to indicate beginning and end of sentences, black border on all four sides to draw focus to the text and visual and arrows to go to the previous and next page. The cover pages of all forty booklets are displayed in a bookshelf. This friendly packaging of the digital version helps children in making reading choices. The adapted version aims at giving multi-sensory experiences to the readers. Barkhaa: A Reading Series for ‘All’ is also available in print version.

Overview of Level 1 of the Series

Level 1 in the Series has two stories Meethe Meethe Gulgule and Phoolee Roti under the theme ‘Food’. Jamal and Madan are the central characters of the theme. This theme is based on children’s interest in food and their desire to learn to cook new food items. In this story Jamal is trying to knead dough with his mother.

Reading the Story

Teachers and parents can encourage children to read the story. Some exercises are suggested to help the child read with meaning and pleasure. In order to further ensure reading with comprehension a list of key words and concepts from the story are also provided.

• Connecting with the Child’s Experiences
  Given below are exercises consisting of a story introduction, warm up activities and sharing time. These exercises are meant to provide real life experiences, and help the child connect with the story.
  • Story Introduction (to be read out to the child before he/she reads the story)
    दोस्‍तो! क्‍या आपको मालूम है, आटा कैसे गूँथा जाता है? जमाल को नहीं मालूम आटे में कितना पानी मिलाना चाहिए और वह पानी मिलाता जाता है, मिलाता जाता है। जमाल के इस आटे का क्‍या होता है, आइए पढ़कर देखें कहानी “मीठे-मीठे गुलगुले”। इस कहानी में जमाल है, उसकी मम्‍मी और उसका दोस्‍त मदन हैं।
  • Warm up: Real experience of Aata (dough) kneading can be facilitated with the child. Clay can also be used as a substitute item for kneading.
  • Sharing time: Discussions can be facilitated on topics like culture/region specific food items, helping elders in kitchen chores, etc.
• Key Words in the Story
  Teachers and parents can introduce and explain the key words and concepts from the booklet to make the process of reading more meaningful for the child. Some of the suggested key words and concepts are listed and include: गूँधना, पास, बैठना, सवाल, पूछना, समझाना, चिपकना, मिलाना, पतला, गुस्सा, सोचना, गीला.
• Reading Kit Items
  Teachers and parents can use the following reading kit items to give concrete experiences to the child. Some of the suggested reading kit items include: आटा, गुड, सौंफ