Our Model

Our unique Teaching Fellows program places experienced educators with our partner schools to provide

• Teacher mentorship and leadership development
• Teacher training workshops and seminars
• After school programs, libraries, and college scholarships
• Ongoing Evaluation and Research

Our programs are designed to be both sustainable and scalable. Each of our partner schools is considered a talent incubation center for both its students and its local teachers. Read more about how our initiatives work in tandem to support change for these rural public schools.

Teacher mentorship and leadership development: The practice of extensive student-teaching prior to full-time classroom employment is not a requirement in the Indian teacher certification process. Newly certified teachers often enter the classroom with little to no practical teaching experience and thus perpetuate out-dated teaching practices that they learn from the prevailing school culture. Nanubhai recruits newly certified teachers for its Leadership Development Program. Local participants are partnered with a Nanubhai Fellow and placed in one of our partner schools for one academic year of mentorship, co-instruction and language development. Through this partnership, local teachers:

• Become inspired and motivated to increase student achievement
• Increase their English language confidence
• Apply new teaching and management techniques in their class
• Understand how to advocate for educational change, classroom by classroom

After their year-long partnership, program participants commit to teaching in a rural public school for a period of two years. Nanubhai provides support, classroom supplies, and additional training to its Leadership Development Program graduates. In turn, program graduates are able to choose to become teacher-mentors themselves, increasing both the reach and long-term sustainability of the Leadership Development Program, teacher by teacher, classroom by classroom. Teacher Training Workshops and Seminars: In addition to providing one on one mentorship, Nanubhai Fellows provide one and multi-day training seminars for local area teachers on relevant topics such as activity based learning, communicative language strategies, classroom management and lesson preparation. Nanubhai Fellows strive to create a community of professional support for teachers through encouraging them to participate in local conferences, professional development associations such as the local chapter of the English Language Teachers Association of India and teacher support groups. School-based Enrichment programs: Nanubhai provides its partner schools with multi-faceted enrichment programs aimed at increasing student achievement and proficiency in necessary job-market skills. Spoken English Program: We offer free full year Spoken English classes before and after school to interested students at our partner schools. Attending students follow our rigorous, engaging curriculum which focuses on real-life applications of the English that students are learning how to read and write in school. Smaller class sizes of 15-20 allow Fellows and student-teachers to focus on the individual needs of students who are usually lost in the large school day class sizes. English Children’s Libraries: Reading material for children to take home in the villages we serve is scarce and English language material is even rarer. To address this and encourage English literacy, we have developed a children’s English lending library of 300+ children’s books at each of our partner schools. We hope to expand these to include over 500 books each in the next year. With the support of Microsoft Research India, we are also exploring the potential of books on DVD in the communities we serve through an innovative pilot program. Women’s Scholarships: Through the generous support of our donors, we have been able to endow 6 scholarships dedicated specifically to allowing meritorious but financially needy female students to attend college. These scholarships cover the cost of their tuition as well as necessary supplies such as uniforms, textbooks, notebooks and other expenses. These scholarships are:

• The Hao Wu Memorial Scholarship
• The Anand Charity Women’s Scholarships (2)
• The Nitya Women’s Scholarship
• The Anish P. Shah Women’s Scholarships (2)

On-going Research and Evaluation: Nanubhai’s takes its commitment to accountability seriously: we hold ourselves accountable to our promise to increase the opportunities and quality of education available to rural public school students in India and we expect our supporters and partner schools to hold us accountable as well. Our evaluation program tracks outcomes for both our students and local teachers. For more information, please read about our evaluation strategy and impact on our Impact page. Our Nanubhai Fellows are responsible for conducting on-going research about our communities and using their research to inform the continued development of our programs.Past fellow research and reports are available for download on Our Research page.