THE SPECIALISTS
The Government Home for Mentally Challenged Boys near Dairy Circle is a special place - both in a good and a bad way. It's special in a good way, as it is the home to 85 precious children who are full of joy, mischief and a whole lot of fun. On the other hand, as it is a government run facility it is overpopulated and understaffed.
We have a great combination of activities which would suit each child's needs.For the children who are creatively inclined, we have art and colouring activities. Presently, we are teaching them to draw some basic shapes like squares and rectangles. For the more restless and active kids, we play either football or throw ball.Playing with the hula-hoop is also quite popular with the kids. For some kids are unable to do either of these activities we try to talk to them or get them to walk.
Just being there and holding their hand makes them happy. During the festive season we usually have a program which has lots of singing,dancing and food. Its just an attempt to make them feel a part of us and to encourage them to take part in activities which will make them physically and mentally active.
MIND YOUR LANGUAGE
We currently run a spoken English course for about 20 boys from an under-privileged background. When asked what jobs they could get when older, most of these boys knew they'd become painters, shop assistants
or office boys. Our aim in running this course is to increase their employability skills so that they go on to getting better paying jobs.
We employ an interactive methodology of teaching that makes learning fun. The boys are at different stages of learning, which is why we find ourselves restructuring our lesson plans and resources often to ensure our teaching pace matches their learning pace.
Each batch of the English course will transition into a "basics in computers" course, further increasing their employability skills.
THE TECHNO GEEKS
After the kids graduate from the English class, they advance to a Computer class which tutors them the basics in Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Internet Explorer. Each student receives individual attention and their progress is tracked by the volunteer teachers. Repeat classes are held for those who have difficulty in picking up the skill. At the end of the course each student is able to display a basic proficiency in using a computer and will be able to do so efficiently in a work setting.