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Lucknow: He stands in
front of his bicycle, which is equipped with a loudspeaker, a
microphone, some posters and signboards. "I am sure you would not
have come across such an innovative setup for English training,"
grins Aditya Kumar, a Lucknow resident.
The colourful contraption is for holding his English classes on
wheels. Kumar travels to various localities of Lucknow, selects a
cool, leafy spot - and the classes begin!
"The response I am receiving from the public is quite heartening,"
Aditya, 40, a post-graduate in English literature, told IANS.
"When people see me conducting classes, they ask me to come to
their locality too. Every day I get 15-20 calls for starting the
course," added Kumar, who has also been giving home tuitions in
English for the last 15 years.
Just four months into this project, Aditya already boasts of
130-odd students, of all age groups.
"Children, youths and elders have enrolled themselves for learning
English. You would be surprised to know that even some
mediapersons and executives are my students," he said.
"Most of the people come to me with an urge to attain fluency in
English. They say they can read and write in English but have
difficulty in speaking. So my training programme primarily aims to
enable people learn this art," he added.
So what prompted him to combine Queen's language with the common
man's transport?
"The idea came to my mind while I was struggling to generate
resources for opening an institute for English training.
"The entire set-up, you see, has been prepared at just Rs.1,500.
Moreover, I don't have to spend anything on the publicity of my
course. It is done automatically when I pass through the
localities," he said.
The contents of his course include oral grammar, public speaking
and vocabulary, among others.
"You may ask what's the specialty of my training...One needs to
experience it...Just hold this mike and start speaking in English
on any topic...Forget about the beginners, I am sure several
people fluent in the language would not be able to do it properly
when they see people gathering around them and staring at them in
curiosity," he said.
"There lies the problem. Several people who know the basic
concepts of the language are not able to express themselves in
front of an audience.
"It's primarily due to hesitation or stage fear. So the best part
of my course is that it deals in countering that hesitation, which
in turn develops self-confidence in you...Believe me, if you have
the self-confidence, half the battle is won," he added.
At present, Kumar holds classes at four localities - Aliganj,
Gomti Nagar, Hazratganj and Chowk.
His students, meanwhile, are lapping it up.
His one-month course is absolutely free, and he charges a meagre
amount of Rs.25 for each of the nine sets of notes prepared by him
on English fluency.
"I love his concept. I am sure his concept would be adopted by
several other English training institutes of the city. I have been
attending the classes for the last 15 days and, believe me, sir
(Kumar) has done a lot to overcome my hesitation," Zafar Ahmad, a
B.Sc student, told IANS.
Vikas Chaudhary, a student of KKV Degree College, said: "I am
preparing for bank exams. So my objective behind joining this
course is to prepare for interviews. I also get personality
development tips from Kumar sir."
(Asit Srivastava can be contacted at asit.s@ians.in)
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