SiliconAndhra
ManaBadi
MISSION
& VISION
UNESCO
feels that all moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues
will serve
not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education
but also
to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions
throughout
the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance
and
dialogue.
Taking
inspiration from this, SiliconAndhra encourages children to appreciate the
languages
and culture of India
and to become ambassadors of Indian culture to the American mainstream
society
as they grow up in today’s global village. As you all know that
Telugu language
is at the very heart of SiliconAndhra’s objectives. It is the
most powerful
instrument of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible
heritage
and culture. All of us who migrated from Andhra Pradesh dream that a
formal
school would be started to teach Telugu language, our mother tongue, to
our
children. Now that dream comes true in the form of SiliconAndhra ManaBadi.
It
is a common adage that parents are the first teachers to their
children.
Despite the desire of migrated Telugu parents to teach Telugu to their
young,
yet one notices that the parents don’t have the proper tools and
methodology to
teach Telugu to their children who happen to go to local schools in
America
where the medium of instruction is English and either Spanish or French
is
taught as a second language. SiliconAndhra ManaBadi would like to fill that void with
formal teaching
of Telugu.
The
formal teaching implies a class room interaction between the teacher
and a
student, with a definite course outline and material for a given level.
The
teaching ends with an exam conducted to assess the student's
performance.
SiliconAndhra team prepared Telugu
language
learning material in an unprecedented way with the support and guidance
from
highly reputed Telugu linguists, professors, teachers and institutes
like
Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore
and Telugu University, Hyderabad.
Several proven and advanced learning tools would be used in teaching
Telugu in
the ' ManaBadi '
in an interactive
and interesting way to all kids. 'ManaBadi'
will be offering classes in a neighborhood close to where you live.
SiliconAndhra ManaBadi would be using the language drills and
exercises
developed after 35 years of research by CIIL linguists and
academicians. SiliconAndhra would be
using a 'Language Lab' to help the children with proper Telugu
pronunciation to
overcome their accent. We believe that this kind of extensive effort
based on
proper methodology would immensely help children learn Telugu with
interest and
excitement.
ManaBadi course consists of four levels
(duration of one year each) :
1. Pravesam
2. Prakasam
3. Pramodam
4. Prabhasam
At the successful
completion of each year course, Potti Sriramulu Telugu Viswavidyalayam
would be
awarding a Certificate to all the students. SiliconAndhra is also
working Department of Education to get
a foreign language credit for each student that complete the four years
course.
SiliconAndhra started ‘ManaBadi’ classes in Northern California in April
2007 with 175 students in 8 cities. By August 2008. ManaBadi expanded to over 600 students, 24
cities across 14 states. Over 50+ teachers are trained to teach these
classes.
Students and teachers have
been provided with high quality teaching materials, work books,
customized
class notes, personalized binders, school bags and everything else that
is
required. The materials created a lot of excitement among the kids of
all ages.
Several kids who had never spoken Telugu at home started making sincere
efforts
to speak Telugu at home.
SiliconAndhra has formed Curriculum Development Team
headed by
experienced teachers who has prior training in child psychology and
teaching
methodologies in best schools in USA. SiliconAndhra also developed teacher training
programs, teaching
kits and an Admin team to effectively support teachers, students and
parents.
SiliconAndhra ManaBadi is hailed
by students and parents alike as this is the best ever Telugu learning
initiative that really made an excellent impact in a very short span of
time.
This is the first of its
kind program with structured lesson plans, total professional approach
and
proven teaching methodology of teaching Telugu as second language in a
foreign
country. SiliconAndhra would like put all this experience and
the
resources of its committed volunteers to full use and expand ManaBadi across all the states in USA. SiliconAndhra would like to start a ManaBadi class wherever ten students and a
volunteer
teacher are available. Already, we have received interest to start
classes in
several cities across USA.
We
would like to work with
all the interested people hand in hand to spread Telugudanam all
around. Let us
work together to make the Telugu language learning experience is an
exciting
one for everyone involved.
Please contact for
more information:
Sankar
Tumuluru: 650-430-5958 - sankar@siliconandhra.org
Raju Chamarthi: 408-685-7258 – raju@siliconandhra.org