Chennai, July 3 (IANS) In a major step to improve English language proficiency among students in government schools, the Tamil Nadu School Education Department has launched a new initiative titled the ‘Level Up’ programme.

Targeted at students in Classes 6 to 8, the programme aims to build essential skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking English through structured, weekly goals.

To ensure effective implementation, 10,546 graduate teachers have been given online training. These teachers will now guide students using specially designed digital resources and activity-based learning.

“For the Level Up programme, the goals and activities for June have already been completed. Inspections will be conducted in the coming days to ensure that schools are following the guidelines and meeting the targets,” said an official from the School Education Department.

Each month, the department provides teachers with weekly targets across the four core skills. These targets gradually increase in complexity, allowing students to learn at a comfortable pace.

“Each week’s goals are slightly more advanced than the last. This step-by-step approach helps students gain confidence in the language,” said a teacher from a Chennai government school.

In the writing section, students begin with writing lowercase letters in the first week, followed by uppercase letters in the second and third weeks. By the fourth week, they are encouraged to write simple words using both cases. The reading module follows a similar progression — starting with letter recognition, moving on to reading words and short sentences, and eventually reading short stories and retelling them in their own words.

To strengthen listening and speaking abilities, students engage in a variety of fun and interactive activities. These include enacting short skits in English, participating in verbal board games, summarising news reports, listening to weather forecasts and advertisements, interviewing classmates, and performing role-plays.

A higher secondary English teacher highlighted the long-term value of the programme: “Many of our students face challenges in college where English is the medium of instruction.”

He adds, “They often struggle to follow lectures and assignments. Building strong language skills during school can prevent these issues later in life.”

The Level Up programme is part of a broader effort by the Tamil Nadu government to raise learning standards and prepare students for academic and professional success in an English-speaking environment.

–IANS

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