I am a retired primary school teacher, and I volunteer twice a week at Meri Pathshala. My heart still remembers one child, little Kavya. She never looked up. Her hair always covered her face, as if it protected her. During reading time, she held her book very close to her eyes. One day I gently lowered the book and she whispered, “If I look up, teacher will call me.” It broke me a little.
So we practiced reading together. Only two lines a day. Slowly, patiently, with pauses where she could breathe instead of panic. Last week her teacher told me that she finally raised her head and read aloud in a voice so soft the room fell silent to hear her. When she finished, she smiled with her whole face.
A small smile, but to me it felt like a sunrise.
As a teacher, I have seen children bloom late, beautifully and bravely when someone makes space for them to grow at their own pace. In my current FLN group, the children are from different age groups but all at the same reading level. So the plan for the twelve students in my group is simple and firm:
- daily guided reading with predictable and familiar sentences
- repeated reading to build fluency and confidence
- weekly phonics revision to strengthen basics
- vocabulary circles to help them use new words comfortably
- one confidence-based activity every session, allowing each child to read to just
one trusted peer - gradual transition to longer texts once fluency improves
These are simple FLN steps, but they work.
Moments like hers remind me why I came back to teaching.
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