Schools are becoming increasingly aware of the need for students to speak English fluently. A Telegraph picture

When Anupurba Chatterjee explains why she enjoys learning from educative CDs, one is left just as impressed with her flawless English as with her understanding of multimedia. And as this Class 4 student of Mahadevi Birla Girl?s School rattles off in English, the change that has occurred over the years becomes obvious.

One of the reasons behind this change is that a number of English-medium schools have started ?Spoken English? classes, in addition to elocution, at the primary level as they realised its importance in today?s increasingly-competitive world.

Mahadevi Birla, St James, Heritage, Don Bosco, Park Circus, Welland Gouldsmith and South Point are some of the schools practising it. While some of these institutes have specific ?Spoken English? classes, where children discuss a particular topic and take part in extempore, others, like St James and Heritage, have what they call ?sharing time?, where children are encouraged to talk about anything they want to. In most cases, the classes are held on a weekly basis.

?We realised that though children from our state were excellent in academics and had good writing skills, they lagged when it came to speaking English fluently,? says Malini Bhagat, headmistress, Mahadevi Birla Girls? High School.

?That is a fact,? agrees J.K. Sen, principal, Julien Day School, Ganganagar, and secretary, Association of Heads of Anglo-Indian Schools in West Bengal. ?And one of the main reasons behind this is the children?s social background. They speak English as long as they are with us but when they go back to their own circles, they switch to the vernacular,? he adds. Those from affluent backgrounds or with new-age parents have an added advantage as they converse in English at home as well.

?But we cater mostly to the middle-class sector, where parents speak mainly in the vernacular,? says Madhu Kohli, principal, South Point School. ?So, we decided that ?exposure? was the only way of tackling this. We have, therefore, introduced the ?communicative? method of teaching English, which is applied in other subjects as well. The concept of set question and answers, where children could mug up everything earlier on, is no longer relevant either,? she adds.

These city schools have realised that English is the global language of communication and is crucial for broadening horizons. Says Kohli: ?It gives them the cutting edge. Otherwise, children feel under-confident despite being intelligent.?