How is TN Enhancing English Skills with the ‘Level Up’ Programme?

Chennai, July 3 (NationPress) In a significant initiative aimed at boosting English language proficiency among students in public schools, the Tamil Nadu School Education Department has introduced the ‘Level Up’ programme.

This programme is specifically designed for students in Classes 6 to 8 and focuses on developing essential skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English through structured weekly objectives.

To facilitate effective execution, 10,546 graduate teachers have undergone online training. These educators will guide students using specially curated digital materials and activity-oriented learning.

“For the Level Up programme, the objectives and activities for June have already been met. Inspections will be carried out soon to ensure compliance with guidelines and achievement of targets,” stated an official from the School Education Department.

Each month, the department supplies teachers with weekly objectives across the four core competencies. These objectives incrementally increase in difficulty, enabling students to learn at a comfortable pace.

“Each week’s objectives are slightly more challenging than the previous ones. This incremental method builds students’ confidence in the language,” remarked a teacher from a Chennai government school.

In the writing component, students start by practicing lowercase letters in the first week, moving to uppercase letters in the second and third weeks. By the fourth week, they are prompted to write simple words using both cases. The reading module follows a similar path—beginning with letter recognition, progressing to reading words and short sentences, and finally reading short stories and retelling them in their own words.

To enhance listening and speaking skills, students participate in a variety of enjoyable and interactive activities. These activities include performing short skits in English, engaging in verbal board games, summarizing news articles, listening to weather forecasts and advertisements, interviewing peers, and performing role-plays.

A higher secondary English teacher emphasized the programme's long-term benefits: “Numerous students encounter difficulties in college where English is the language of instruction.”

He added, “They often find it hard to keep up with lectures and assignments. Developing solid language skills during their school years can mitigate these challenges in the future.”

The Level Up programme is part of a larger initiative by the Tamil Nadu government to elevate educational standards and equip students for academic and professional success in an English-speaking world.