With the huge absence of physical education, social gatherings, school events and programmes due to the Covid pandemic the students have faced a great challenge to catch up with learning and group discussions especially in english speaking and building conversation. English should not be a mark of intelligence for students. However, the English language is important for students to be a global citizen. There is a lack of knowledge production and translation of existing knowledge in the Nepali language in higher education. As a result of that, the students lag behind in English Comprehension.
Currently, 4,000 million people speak English as their native language, and more than 1,000 million non-native speakers use it for work or studies (The importance, 2011). People learn English either as ESL (Language as a Second Language), or EFL (English as a Foreign Language), depending on the environment they live in. For many non– native English students, to learn how to speak the language is a very challenging task since it demands a commitment of willingness to practice the language constantly. However, many non-native English students have fear of speaking the language because of the thought that they may end up speaking English incorrectly, which may make them look foolish in front of an audience (Steward, 2011)
While working with more than 23 schools and over 4100+ students in the last 3 years, we have noticed and been requested for resources and programs for English comprehension largely.
In the last few months, while working with public and community schools in Kathmandu like Mahendra Bhawan School, Shree Nandi Secondary School. Padmodaya School, Shaheed Sukra Secondary School, Jyotidaya Secondary School, Nepal Yubak Higher Secondary School and Siddhi Ganesh Higher Secondary School, we have found that 80 out of every 85 students were not confident to write, read and speak in English while 83 out of 85 were looking for programs/ sessions to improve their English as a language rather than a subject.
Considering this, we have started providing guidance and resources for improving English with overall focus on listening, writing, speaking, and reading. Introduction to new vocabulary and encouraging and motivating to speak in English by conducting fun and interactive ways of learning. The mastery of vocabulary can support them in speaking when they are communicating with people. We aim to lay a foundation so that the students in a not-so-distant future can master reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills.