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Wow! What's that sound? - A 5 Minute Teaser

Wow! What's that sound? - A 5 minute teaser from Kirsten Anderson on Vimeo.

Behind the making of "Wow! What's that sound?"

In addition to interviews with the child artists, entertaining video snippets, bloopers and behind the scenes outtakes, this short documentary provides context into the reasons behind why we made "Wow! What's that sound?". And why we are hoping to turn it into a 12 episode educational DVD series as soon as we secure additional funding.

You can also view the documentary on vimeo in full screen.

Screening and Release at Madras Terrace House

Niveditha, Priya, Kirsten and Sumangali enjoy some Bhel Puri
on the terrace before the event

On Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 Aid India released and screened the first pilot episode “Wow! What’s that sound?” of their 12-episode English language DVD series at the Madras Terrace House, Royapettah. The pilot episode demonstrates an innovative approach to teaching English to Tamil-medium students in the primary school age group.

Jon (of Xylopholks) and Vedanth perform melodious magic before the show

The evening commenced with a lively music performance by Vedanth, the music producer and Jonathan Singer, xylophonist. Dr. Balaji Sampath, Director of Aid India delivered an inspirational talk on the role of education in bridging the growing economic divide and the importance of English in bringing about linguistic equality. This was followed by a brief presentation on ‘Between your desire and destiny there are DVDs’ by Mr. Robert Bellarmine, formerly of the British Council and currently Director of English for Empowerment and Enrichment.

A packed house--standing room only!

A documentary on the making of the DVD was then played, followed by a speech by Mr. Ravikumar, MLA, activist and author. Mr. Ravikumar also released the pilot episode and distributed DVDs to the child stars.

Ms. Vasanthi Devi and Mr. Ravikumar release the pilot episode of the DVD

During the screening of the pilot episode, the guests were delighted to watch the children’s lively engagement with the video. Ms. Vasanthi Devi, President of Aid India and former Chairperson, Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women remarked that the storyline was engaging, while also doing the job of an educational English lesson.

In addition to our guest speakers listed below, other participants included the child stars from Chennai and Koovathur and their families, the producers, directors, the cast, and NGOs, foundations & companies involved in education initiatives.

Ranga the Rowdy Rabbit was on display in the lobby.

Some of the caps and the props from the pilot episode were also on display.

DVD Update #6: Pilot Episode Release & Screening

DVD Update #6 Release & Screening Event

Aid India’s DVD Release and Screening of

“Wow! What’s that sound?”

Please join us for the official release of the first episode of our new educational English DVD series for the children of Tamil Nadu!

Date: Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Time: 7pm-9pm
Place: Madras Terrace House
15, Sri Puram 2nd Street,
Off R.K. Salai, Near Deccan Plaza Hotel,
Royapettah, Chennai 600 014
Ph: 044-4503-8391

Initial Evaluation Results

Initial evaluation has been completed for methodology-applied classes in almost all 36 schools consisting of approximately 2000 students, however evaluation data has only been received from 27 schools consisting of 1,351 students (10% were absent) and 12 control group schools with 334 students (3% were absent). We are still waiting the evaluation results for approximately 600 students in schools who have recently started the program.

As indicated by the results of the evaluation (see Table below), 87% of children are at least able to read letters whereas only 39% of children are able to read at least words, which appear in the third grade government textbooks. However, only 15% of students were able to read at the sentence level. Even more shocking, only 3% of the control group students could manage at the sentence level. This discrepancy may be because the control group evaluations were completed in different districts in the state. These numbers are much lower than we estimated at the time of writing our grant proposal. Therefore, ensuring 80% of children attending our methodology-applied classes will be able to read sentences may prove challenging, as only 11-39% can read individual words. This goal needs to be re-evaluated. Perhaps achieving 80% at the word level and 65% at the sentence level will be a more realistic intended outcome.