Uroor Kuppam Centre (UK).
Location: Uroor Kuppam, Besant Nagar
Meera Sundar, centre-coordinator, UK Centre, speaks!
What’s Uroor Kuppam all about? The Uroor Kuppam(UK) center, is one of Deepam’s first centers. With help from Nalamdana, we began teaching in Jun’08 (needs to be confirmed) at a community center in the Olcott Kuppam at Besant Nagar, with a mixed group of kids attending local schools. It is a motley bunch, with varying levels of familiarity with English and computers, but the kids are all uniformly enthusiastic and smart.
The story so far: The UK center has been our testing bed, thanks to the enthusiasm shown by the kids and parents. In the past two years, the kids have learned to handle computers without any qualms. They are comfortable working hands-on with Paint, Word, PowerPoint and Excel. They have increasingly become confident in using English to communicate with their peers and tutors. We have also had a variety of in-class activities like general knowledge sessions, personality-of-the-week and other fun activities.
The team: We have a young and vibrant volunteer group. A mix of experienced and new hands. They are a very enthusiastic and flexible lot, and totally in tune with each kid’s strengths and challenges. We have 1 volunteer for about 3-4 kids and they all blend in really well. Volunteers pitch in with curriculum development and support, and our hands are always full with the constant flow of ideas from them.
Off-the-record: UK being near the beach, has always been fun for all of us. Discussion over ‘bubble tea’ used to be a weekly activity, and we will soon be inducting the new bunch of volunteers into it. Our weekly classes are mostly planned thru email discussions in our UK mailing list. As we progress through the year, we are sure to hang out more often. For now, we love the endless cups of ice-cream and elaneer along the beach.
Vision 2010: Get the kids started on using the internet, email, and searching for information online. Evaluate the skills and knowledge gained so far in an effective and fun way. Branch out more to include more advanced topics/tools in the curriculum.
Why should I volunteer at UK?
Hang out near the beach with the coolest and smartest bunch of school kids, while still making a positive impact on them. Teach computers, quiz them on verbs, play, sing along or be serious in class. Whatever you do, it’d be fun while making an impact.