环球英语 — 717：The ‘I Can’ Disease
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Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Liz Waid.
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And I’m Adam Navis. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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“I can”
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For Kiran Bir Sethi these two small words are some of the most important words children can ever hear. They are words she hopes to teach EVERY child in India. Some children in India have already felt the power of saying and believing these words. Today’s Spotlight is on Kiran Bir Sethi and her work in India to help children say “I can.”
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When Kiran was seventeen, she became infected with a kind of disease. This disease was not harmful to her body. In fact, it was not a usual physical kind of disease at all. She says she became infected with the “I can” disease. That is, she started to believe that she could achieve anything she wanted to. Kiran spoke to a group of people as part of a TED conference in India. TED is an organization that supports people who have good ideas. During her speech she said:
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“I got infected when I was seventeen. I was a student at a design college. I met adults who actually believed in my ideas. They challenged me. They spent time with me. And it was a wonderful feeling! It was a feeling I wanted to share with others. I also realized I should have got infected when I was seven.”
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Kiran believes that there is a problem with the current system of education in India. Schools require children to learn facts exactly. Children feel extreme pressure to do well, and compete with other schools. A child’s success is based only on good or bad test results. All of these things may be good for learning facts. But Kiran believes they are not enough. They do not teach a child to work toward becoming a better person. They do not prepare the child to become an active and responsible person in his or her community.
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Kiran explained how three things normally influence Indian children. They are family, school, and the city they live in. She wondered how she could use these three things to infect children with the idea of “I can.” She wondered how she could use these influences to encourage children to act in their communities.
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With these ideas in mind, Kiran began a new school in the city of Ahmedabad. It opened in 2001. She called it Riverside. Kiran designed a new lesson plan for the school. It would encourage children to have confidence in themselves, to work in their communities, and to be interested and involved in the world around them.
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Riverside’s method of teaching has three main parts. They are aware, enable, and empower. Each child who enters the school learns these three key parts through their time at the school.
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The youngest children begin by learning to be aware. In this part of learning, children start to look at problems in their homes or communities. They try to look at complex problems and make them more simple.
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As children grow older, they are enabled. They learn methods of dealing with the problems they see. They begin this step depending on their teachers and communities for methods and answers. But with support, they become more independent. They begin to think about their own new ways of solving a problem.
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Finally, the older children in the school enter the final part of learning. They become empowered. That is, they model the change they want to see. They learn to lead a group to make change happen. They use the methods they have learned to make the world better.
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This three-step method of learning gives children tools to solve problems. It lets them see results. And it makes them believe in the power they have to change their communities. They become infected with the “I can” disease! A national study of Indian schools has also shown that Riverside children had similar or better test results than children at normal schools.
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Riverside school does not only teach these important problem solving methods. They let the children go out into the community and practice them! In 2007, Riverside children set out to change their city of Ahmedabad. They wanted the city to include children in a better way. So, children from the school visited government offices, police stations, and other businesses. They demanded that children should be celebrated in the city.
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The children changed Ahmedabad! Since that time, the city of Ahmedabad celebrates children every other month. The government closes down busy streets. The streets become areas where children can gather and play. Kiran explains that Ahmedabad is now known as India’s first child-friendly city!
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In 2009 Riverside School encouraged children all over India to become infected with the “I can” disease. They sent out information to many schools across India. One hundred thousand children attend these schools. Riverside School asked these children to do something simple. The challenge was: one idea, one week, to change a billion lives.
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They asked the children to concentrate on one problem they observed in their lives. Then, the children would take one week to work on solving the problem. Finally, by working to solve the problem, they would try to change the lives of the people around them.
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So what happened? Children took the challenge! Kiran says they designed solutions for many problems they saw. Rajasthan is a village outside the city. Children at a school there made a project to teach their parents how to read. In the city of Hyderabad children collected plastic bags to reuse and recycle. Children in Gujarat sold paintings in an auction. They used the money they earned to buy hearing aid devices for people who cannot hear.
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Kiran described how children all over India worked to solve problems like loneliness and alcoholism. They filled holes in the streets. Thirty-two children even stopped sixteen child marriages. All this, she says, shows the power of encouraging children. All this work is because children said “I can.”
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Gheet Sethi lives in Ahmedabad. He sees the positive results of investing in children. He says:
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“When a city gives to the children, in the future, the children will give back to the city.”
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Kiran Bir Sethi ended her TED speech with a question for the people listening in India. She asked the people of India to invest in their children. She asked:
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“If not us, then who? If not now, then when?”
