Tuesday, 28 January 2014

British Council has partnered with The Curriculum Company (TCC), an innovator in the K-12 Ed-tech space, to deliver and implement the British Council’s LearnEnglish Kids program in schools.  TCC’s T-Learning™ tablet based Classroom Management Platform houses the British Council’s LearnEnglish Kids Program for English language development for children from grades 1 to 10. The tablet-based learning platform enables a teacher to conduct an engaging class by empowering them with the apt tools and providing a strong locus of control for even classrooms as big as 40+ learners.

Ms. Santhanalakshmi, Correspondent and Principal, Sri Bala Vidyalaya School, Chennai who was the first to adopt this initiative says, “Nearly sixty percent of children in our school are first generation learners. We wanted to provide them with the latest in technology and content, but at an affordable cost. The Curriculum Company’s tablet platform along with exceptional English language content from British Council has made English classes more interactive, fun and we see that a lot of self-learning is happening both at school and at home. Every child has a tablet with both the school syllabus and the British Council English program and the integration has been seamless. What has amazed all of us is the speed with which children are able to use the tablets and navigate the LE Kids program with enthusiasm and interest. We believe that with continued use of the LE Kids program, our children will transform into motivated and autonomous learners of English language.”

“The arrival of tablets, for instance, spells lighter backpacks as well as incomparable ease in obtaining digital study material for students. Students will not only benefit from the portability and flexibility this device offers, but also from more rewarding aspects such as real-time and speedy updation of content and assessments. On the other hand, for educators, tablets offer convenience for teaching and assessing their students,” said Mr. Ujjwal Singh, Founder - CEO, TCC.

“We understand the key requirements of English language learners in India and are very pleased to partner with a leading and innovative organisation, The Curriculum Company who have developed a tablet based learning platform that is revolutionary in enabling personalised learning and measuring outcomes,” said Paul Sellers, Director South India, British Council, Chennai.

TCC’s T-learning platform allows teachers to interact, share, collaborate, run polls, collect data and perform assessment of several kinds, all within the reach of a simple touch/click. The state of the art teacher dash board, allows teachers to share knowledge with students in several formats even outside the purview of the prescribed books and digital content available inside classrooms. The platform also allows for one-on-one teacher-learner interactions by allowing a teacher to send messages to individual students during the course of a session/class.

T-learning also gives teachers the flexibility to use content in any format, be it  video, PPT, word doc or audio file, practically anything from their machine to a student’s tablet. In fact, even the reverse dynamics is also possible. If a child has done something interesting, then a teacher can also pull out the same thing from that student’s tablet and show it  to everyone present inside the classroom. For keeping the recurring cost for the schools low, TCC’s Tablet-based Classroom Management Platform does not require internet. Local Wifi Router is used to connect the teacher’s laptop to student’s tablets.

Nirupa Fernandez, Assistant Director, Digital Partnerships said, “At the British Council we encourage innovation, hence we have a strategic partnership with The Curriculum Company. TCC's tablet platform is cutting edge, yet practical and easy to use in any classroom setting, and it is the perfect medium through which to deliver our digital English language learning content to schools.”

“As implementation partners of British Council, we are helping teachers to integrate the LE Kids content and daily classroom transaction of English language lessons, so there is an enriched learning context for every child at school and at home. We provide teacher training and support, including monitoring and evaluation, so there is systemic improvement in English language levels of children in all aspects of listening, speaking, reading and writing,” said Janaka Pushpanathan, Co-founder & Head Strategic Partnerships, The Curriculum Company.

Notes to Editor

About LearnEnglish Kids

LE Kids is based on research into the learning needs of children aged 5 to 15 and consists of educational content that has been mapped to the National curriculum framework of India. It consists of a unique approach to language learning involving grammar and vocabulary games, songs, stories and videos that help children learn English in a fun and interactive way. It is easy to use and offers a progressive path to learners.

Background on partnerships:

About The Curriculum Company

The Curriculum Company (TCC) is an innovator in the K-12 education space, focused on designing inclusive and easy-to-use solutions for both teachers and children. TCC’s Teacher and Student Resources have been designed to be both radical and relevant, keeping in mind 21st Century classrooms. TCC’s path breaking T-learning™ platform is an end to end Tablet based Classroom Management platform that has bagged the iconic Red Herring awards for innovation in 2013. TCC's circle of influence spans nearly 100 + schools, who are using various products and services. 

About the British Council

The British Council is the United Kingdom's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide.