In the context of the curriculum revision in AP it was necessary to demonstrate how the new paradigm would work in rural schools. Keeping this in view, Anandan developed the Special Package for Acquiring Competence in English (SPACE).This was launched in 41 Government primary schools of Narketpally Mandal of Nalgonda district in collaboration with RVMSSA and DIET Nalgonda and APSCERT. The programme comprised of 10 day workshop model of training for teachers, developing transaction modules based on the new textbooks, academic monitoring and hands on support to teachers in their classrooms, periodical reviews and systematic documentation.
SPACE Narketpally was launched in 42 Govt. Primary schools in an extremely challenging situation.
There were only first generation learners
The learners hailed from very poor social and economical backgrounds
Most parents were disinterested in sending their children to school
The teachers expressed their difficulty in managing English
The curriculum pressure on the learners was very high as there were learners in classes 1 to 4 who did not have any exposure to English till then. As the revised curriculum introduced English in class 1 textbooks in classes 2 to 4 were designed with the assumption that learners in these classes would have learned English from class 1 onwards whereas, in reality all of them were at the level of class 1.
Instead of entering the textbook directly, Anandan developed a transaction module that would help the learners produce descriptions, conversations,narratives and songs in English based on pictures. This would take about 16 to 20 periods after which the lessons in the textbook could be transacted.
The programme went on very well as evidenced by the display of about 4000 English magazines prepared by learners of classes 1 to 4, individually. They performed choreography and drama on the stage, made speeches and anchored the programme. The activity package that Anandan developed for Narketpally was named as ‘Bridging the gap activities.’ In the next year SCERT introduced these in the source books of teachers of all classes.