Teacher's support

Thoughts about how to engage young people with Tamil. The below points are collated thoughts from Ranjana Teacher’s adult Tamil class students.

Having it on the weekend made me a lot less motivated to go as I felt like it was another day of school.
Create better access to Tamil classes; work on bringing in Tamil language classes to existing Secondary schools. Tamil school’s can be an added financial strain for some families, access needs to be fair and available to all students.
Being put in a class of people of the same standard is important so you’re not constantly being compared and you don’t feel too shy because you’re less knowledgeable than someone else in the class.
Maybe being put into classes when the kids are older, I just felt like it was an extra thing I had to do when I was younger but as I got older I actually wanted to learn myself.
Plan fun events, days out and arts performances to help the students bond as friends better.

Produce an environment that engages young people, it needs to be equal parts enjoyable and educational. Anyone that does join a class will do so out of interest, communicate with the class and see what they’re keen to explore.
You’re not simply running a class, ideally you should want to build a community of young Tamils, in which you provide them a safe space to learn, discuss and have fun.
Students need to feel encouraged and comfortable to speak Tamil without being judged for poor pronunciation or mistakes. It’s discouraging when you are constantly criticised in the way you speak.

Make sure you use a mix of teaching methods to keep young people engaged- online activities, listening exercises, games, watching films or songs
Try and use teaching materials relevant to the setting where young people are, e.g using teaching materials about olden days India/Sri Lanka may be boring for younger children
Learning to speak first before learning to read and right would have been more motivational for me.
Create incentives such as rewards for attendance but be conscious not to develop a culture of competitiveness, then it becomes a drag.
Encourage children to see patterns between Tamil and other languages. Maybe showing them how many Tamil words have entered English language might give them a sense of pride and show how useful/global Tamil is