At a time when parents are making discreet online choices to keep their little ones engaged, various interactive online programs have been stepping into homes. Shilpa’s Edu~Fun Activity Classes and Farah Kazi’s Skillschool Early Education are two online learning programs providing a meaningful engagement to children. Asrashaheen.in takes a virtual tour of their fun-packed classrooms.
School bag is ready. Books and pencils are in place. Click, set, go! In the post-pandemic world, online learning has been the only way of keeping children in touch with the “sense of classroom”. For parents and their kids who have the privilege of uninterrupted Internet connectivity and gadgets such as laptops/desktops or smartphones at their beck and call, online learning is blending into their lives as the new normal. Although teachers, guardians, educational experts and psychologists all agree in one voice that virtual education is no replacement of physical schooling, the unrelenting COVID-19 situation leaves few viable options.
The online platform is not only making it feasible to combine fun and learning but is also bringing in a whiff of fresh air in the quarantined and socially-sanitized lives of children today. It’s proving to be the safest way to fulfil the basic needs of social communication and companionship, especially among the junior population. In extraordinary times such as these, parents are making an informed choice of keeping their little ones engaged in meaningful activities.
In a span of last 12 – 14 months, various virtual engagement programs have stepped in to offer fun and learning to children, ranging from pre-schoolers to primary school-goers. Shilpa’s Edu~Fun Activity Classes and Farah Kazi’s Skillschool Early Education are two such early learning programs providing a meaningful screen time for children. At a time when parents are looking for discreet online options to keep their little ones engaged, here are two learning programs that focus on holistic development. Asrashaheen.in takes a virtual tour of these fun-packed programs that recently completed one year since their inception.
Shilpa’s Edu~Fun Activity Classes
Activities – The most popular activities of her classes include fun science experiments, visual perception activities, art and craft activities such as making puppets, sorting, pattern recognition and dice (math) games. Spanish greetings and basic phrases, story-telling/picture talk, cookery skills, games/concept-based learning, and animal yoga are other joyful activities that kids look forward to.
Focus areas – Cognitive, creative, language, gross and fine motor skills; Enhancing memory, concentration, vocabulary, confidence & curiosity
Practical life exercises – Learning by doing it yourself and having fun along the way
Smaller class size – She does both group and individual sessions. Max of 4 – 5 kids in group sessions to build a personal connect.
Session duration – 30 minutes
Age group – 2 -10 years
Contact: 98201 25544
Global reach – traversing time zones
An Early Childcare Educator and School Counsellor, Shilpa Modi began her online teaching journey with her first student residing in Melbourne, Australia. Initially, she had no inkling that her student base would become truly global in a short span of time. Over the last one year, Shilpa has been teaching children living in various countries around the world, including the US, the UK, the Middle East, Australia and India. Traversing time zones, her sessions start as early as 6 am and continue until late in night at 11 pm (IST). Her flexible schedule helps in accommodating students living in different time zones.
With her 15 years of rich experience in the teaching profession, Shilpa knows exactly how to build an instant connection with students across various geographies. She tries to make them comfortable by using familiar and relatable local references in her exercises.
Infusing unique fun with Spanish
Shilpa truly believes children are very adept at picking up languages at a young age. Instead of teaching the language in a traditional manner, she uses fun and engaging activities. These include making a fruit salad while learning about the fruit names in Spanish or role playing as different animals while grasping Spanish names for animals.
Farah Kazi’s Skillschool Early Education
Activities – Memory games, greetings, freehand drawing, coloring, music and dance, sight walk, free play, what if games, who’s that games, bubble party, balloon keepie-uppie, finger painting, clay play, paper crafts
Skill enhancement – Visual processing, emotions and expressions, manners and habits, hand-eye coordination, response and reaction, action and movements
Focus areas –Phonics, Language & Communication, Beginner Maths, Early Writing, Skill development
School readiness program: Safety habits, modes of transport, community helpers, magical words, rhymes and stories
Session duration – 2 hours (enrolment for 3 – 6 months programs)
Age group – 2 to 8 years
Contact: 95918 11641
Swedish preschool model for holistic development
Farah Kazi, Founder & Academic Head, Skillschool Early Education launched her program along with Minhaj Kazi, cofounder, with a single-minded resolve to make education more effective rather than merely convenient. The Skillschool Early Education program has an interactive and blended learning approach with parent participation playing a key role. The blended learning is a mix of offline and online interactive sessions. They also occasionally organize activities in societies of residential apartments, fully adhering to COVID norms.
Farah’s background in Early Childhood Education and Children Psychology was pivotal in materialising the idea but she strongly believes “the winning combination is Swedish preschool methodology along with their unflinching focus on effectiveness of the education program”.
The overall program is meticulously shaped up with systematically-created syllabus and pre-planned set of activities for each day of the week/month. Farah and Minhaj have also exclusively designed the books, bags and all other stationary items, which are sent across to children once they are enrolled. If the feedback videos posted by parents are anything to go by, the goody bags are an instant hit with kids!
Taking small, cautious steps of getting back to offline classes with COVID-safety norms
With positive feedback from parents, Farah’s Skillschool Early Education also makes cautious attempts to start offline batches in residential apartments, depending on the COVID situation and government guidelines. In fact, Farah has also used this opportunity to instil the importance of hygiene and safety among children. The little opportunities of face-to-face interactions with peers and teacher has been an invigorating experience for kids, who have been restricted from recreation outside homes and constrained from free movement and physical activities for a long time now.
