The Hindu Business Line : Spark of an idea

From producing Big Books to encourage shared reading, to creating audio-visual content to liven up classroom teaching, Spark-India is trying out new ideas in the world of education.

Lakshmi Rameshwar Rao, Tanvir Iqbal and Sheel have often felt the need for educational resource material rooted in an Indian reality and with impeccable content and production quality. This led them to form Spark-India, a teacher resource unit dedicated to make the teaching and learning process easy, useful and enjoyable.

As experienced authors and educationists, the trio were well suited for the job. Lakshmi has 10 years of publishing experience with Orient Longman, besides being a schoolteacher for 15 years. Tanvir is a special education consultant and speech therapist. Sheel, who did her M.Phil in English literature from Hyderabad University, has also been a teacher. For the last four years, she has edited Teacher Plus, a bimonthly magazine that highlights innovative ideas and methods for classroom teaching and is published by Orient Longman.

Addressing crucial needs

Spark-India believes teachers must be given excellent training to hone the child's linguistic skills from early childhood. First, the right training provides teachers with the right resource material, right attitude, confidence, knowledge, and an ability to offer their best.

Second, it involves the development of the child's confidence, knowledge and ability.

Their first collection of teaching material was brought out in February 2003, which included a two-VCD set titled `The Art and Craft of Teaching' for language teachers at the primary school level. The innovative audio-visual content is aimed at children for whom English is only the medium of instruction and not the mother-tongue.

Big idea

Their first Big Book for shared reading is called A Pot of Light. Written by Sheel, it is about an old potter who is inspired to create what a little girl desires. Mithila Maniketh's striking illustrations bring the story to life.

A second Big Book, Under the Bed, written by Usha Raman, captures the make-believe world of children that is as real to them as the everyday one we live in. The vivid illustrations are by Sarada Natarajan.

The Spark Junior Geography, written by Lakshmi, takes readers in the 7-9 age group on a tour of the Earth, navigating using compasses and maps, explaining our relationship with the Sun, and describing the shapes of land mass and water bodies on the planet.

Additional information is presented using vivid illustrations, text boxes, and simple experiments. The Spark Geography aimed at the 9-12 age group, attempts to infuse the child with an enthusiasm for the physical geography of the Earth. It also discusses environmental hazards and disasters.

Recent additions to the repertoire include the first Empathy book, The Helping Hand written by Kamakshi Balasubramanian. It is a simple story about growing up with disability in the family. Muted watercolour illustrations add to the poignancy of the tale.

"Our Big Books are language-learning tools for children aged 2-6 years, and for older children who are just beginning to learn English. The aim is to maintain the highest standards of content and production quality. The text is well illustrated. The contexts are all Indian and appropriate for the age group. We interact closely with the author, illustrator and designer to bring to life the initial conception," says Lakshmi.

To augment teacher resources, Spark-India conducts workshops and consultancies for schools and other institutions.

Teamwork does it!

At Spark-India, Lakshmi looks after the sales, while Sheel takes care of the editorial side and Tanvir plays an advisory role. "We work collaboratively and through discussion and consensus. There is a fair balance of talents and responsibilities."

What kind of issues did the all-women team face while setting up the venture? "We had a lot of support and encouragement from friends. For our bank loan, for instance, a friend put in his recommendation for better rates of interest. We raised small and big loans from friends and wrote our own material. Doing business is beset with problems starting from books not reaching the bookshops to orders being taken away unethically. So far we have relied on our common vision and the quality of our material.

"We work with a resource group comprising writers, teachers, and designers. As women we share our personal problems and make place for each other while creating a common space."

Looking forward

In 2004, Spark-India launched a new imprint titled Other-wise Books to bring into print alternative material for adults. The first Other-wise book was Bellagio Blues, a collection of poetry by Dr Hoshang Merchant.

Published in a limited edition, the poems were written in discussion with major world thinkers and artists during a Rockefeller Fellowship.

In the pipeline is a range of audio, video, printed and other teacher-training material, as well as resource material that teachers can carry to classrooms. Besides producing reading material in English, they are also creating reading cards designed to teach the Telugu script and language.

Also under production are two Playbooks to accompany the Big Books, a series of Empathy books on issues such as adoption, ageing, single living, and An Other-wise book on educational concepts advocated by Gandhi, Tagore and Devi Prasad.

Picture by Shaju John

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