Publications
Telugu School in New Jersey
Dr. Satyanarayana
Gavarasana
Brief Biography:
Dr. Satyanarayana Gavarasana: Born in Pithapuram, East Godavari District, A.P., India on September 4, 1936. Living with wife Subhadra in Norwood,MA, USA. Parents: Srimati Appalanarasamma and Sri Venkanna. A graduate of Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam, A.P. Fulbright Scholar –1966. Practised as a surgeon in Gollaprolu village of East Godavari District. Founder Managing Trustee and First Medical Director, Lions Cancer Hospital, Visakhapatnam. Co-founder of Dr. M. V. R. MPP School in Gollaprolu. Donated half a million Rupees to Malireddi Umamba MPP Upper Primary School, Gollaprolu in March 2003. Interested in preservation and propagation of Telugu language and in cancer
research.
It is a dream come true that Telugu language is taught to youngsters in
Edison, New Jersey in the United States of America. Those of us who
migrated from Andhra Pradesh, India during 1960's dreamt that a school
would be started to teach Telugu language, our mother tongue, to our
children. It is a common adage that parents are the first teachers to
their children. Yet we noticed that the parents have failed in imparting
Telugu to their children who happen to go to local schools in America
where the medium of instruction is English and either Spanish or French is
taught as a second language. Despite the desire of migrated Telugu parents
to teach Telugu to their young, they did not possess the knowledge to
teach Telugu nor had the
Telugu teaching materials available to them. There is an unexpressed
feeling that learning Telugu would not give an advantage to their children
in the school or benefit them in the real world when they seek jobs in the
US. Andhra Pradesh is not like Japan who would attract business people to
transact business and there is
no incentive to learn Telugu like the one to learn Japanese language. Also
there is a question frequently posed by Telugu parents "What is the
monetary benefit to my child if the child learns Telugu?" Learning
Japanese language would get a job either as a translator or enables one to
be a good negotiator in dealing with the Japanese businessmen. Despite
these objections, perceived or real, Telugu is taught to 30 children in a
Telugu School in Edison, New Jersey on Saturdays.
Girls and boys at Telugu
school, Edison, NJ
Telugu classes are held every Saturday morning for two hours at The Minnie
Veal Community Center, 1070 Grove Avenue, Edison, NJ 08820. The students
have to juggle between soccer games, piano lessons and the like on
Saturday s. Even then the parents who live within a 10-mile radius bring
their children to Telugu school. The day I visited (April 26, 2003) the
Telugu School as an observer, there was an atmosphere of festival with 28
students and 22 adults in attendance. The reason for an atmosphere of
festival was that a Spring Festival titled "Vasantotsavam 2003" was
planned for the next day and the students gave dress rehearsal with their
songs and dances.
Dr. Gopala Krishna Kovvali, the lead teacher of the Telugu School, spent
the first hour in formal teaching of Telugu using Power Point
presentation. There was a quiz to test the knowledge of Telugu in which
the students have fared very well. There was enthusiasm on the part of
students, as a number of hands would go up to answer a question from the
quiz. Numbers, weekdays and active verbs were given in English with an
opportunity to translate them into Telugu. This exercise has shown that
some students were obviously the beginners whereas there were students
with advanced knowledge of Telugu. The age of students varied
from seven through 12 years and all of them sat in one class. This lead to
the protest by some parents, I believe, with an observation that the older
students refused to sit with the younger students. One way to solve this
problem of lumping all students together in one class is to divide the
Telugu classes as beginner
class and advanced class. There is no formal syllabus to teach Telugu and
it is under evolution as the teachers gather more knowledge, based on
their teaching experience.
What is the question?
Learning Telugu is not easy!
The second hour in the Telugu School was spent teaching Telugu songs and
dances. There was recitation of Telugu stanzas (padyAlu) by students and
it was very interesting to note variation in pronunciation of Telugu
words. For example, recitation of "uppu kappurambu okka pOlikanumdu" by
students in an endearing way tugged our hearts with every word they
enunciated in a musical manner. Ms. Swathi
Gundapaneni, an accomplished Kuchipudi dancer and a gifted Telugu teacher,
taught the students dance and songs. The boys and girls came in costumes
for the dress rehearsal and they were very attractive and beautiful. While
the Telugu words tugged one's heart, the dance numbers thrilled every one
in the audience.
Running a school like this requires a lot of manpower and womanpower.
There are generous individuals who gave their time, talent and treasure to
run this Telugu school successfully. Dr. Gopala Krishna Kovvali ably
assisted by wife Aruna leads a team of organizers comprising of Ms. Swathi
Gundapaneni, Ms. Aruna Ganti, Dr. Shobha Amara and Mr. Madhav Jupalli. I
met a number of parents of children attending Telugu school and they are
so enthusiastic in sending their wards to Telugu school. Some parents told
me that they insisted on their children to speak Telugu at home and this
has allowed continued learning of Telugu after the classes.
The basic question is "Why would some one learn Telugu or take a child to
a Telugu school?" The Telugu School is run under the banner of Balabharati
Cultural Center (www.balabharati.org) and the Center aims at teaching the
significance of festivals, culture, tradition and Indian heritage. The
Center encourages children to appreciate the languages and culture of
India and to become ambassadors of Indian culture to the American
mainstream society. I asked some parents why they brought their child to
the Telugu school and their answers were almost identical: “to teach
mother tongue to their children and to impart Telugu culture”. When I
asked the children “why are you learning Telugu?” one girl answered,
"because, it is my mother tongue," and a boy said that he wanted “to talk
to people in Andhra who did not
know English." One answer showed the pride of learning Telugu as a mother
tongue while the other answer showed the utility value of Telugu.
Ms. Swathi Gundapaneni,
dance teacher, pointing the way to the students.
Whether the methods used in imparting Telugu language at New Jersey School
are scientific or not is a question that needs further debate by academics
and philologists. TANA or ATA or Vanguri Foundation of America may take a
lead in organizing a seminar to debate methods of teaching Telugu to
children in America. I am aware of the magnificent contributions of Prof.
Velcheru Narayana Rao of University of Wisconsin, Prof. Vemuri
Venkateswara Rao of University of California at Davis, CA and Dr. (Mrs.)
Seshu Sarma of Atlanta, Ga., in teaching Telugu to Americans but they and
the like-minded individuals were never brought together to formulate a
syllabus to teach Telugu to the children living and learning in America.
Many teaching materials are available now to teach Telugu and yet there is
no formal assessment of these materials by the academics. We do not know
which teaching materials are effective in the American setting.
The organizers of New Jersey Telugu School are looking for a permanent
abode to house the Telugu School. Whenever we think of a permanent abode
for God or school or library, we envision structures on a grand scale and
they never come into being. It is my sincere advice to those organizers
that the felt need should guide them to the abode, not a grand vision. A
rented building at first, then purchasing
a building next and then constructing a grand building as the purse of the
community allows. I am not against having a grand vision, I am all for it.
When I proposed institution of a Telugu Chair in any American University,
the attendees of First Telugu Sahiti Sadassu organized by the Vanguri
Foundation of America in
Atlanta, GA approved it enthusiastically. This proposal was never
implemented, as it required one million dollars to create a department of
Telugu in an American university. Experience tells me that an institution
be created based on the needs of community, since the community has to
support the same.
Jai Telugu Thalli!!!
Do I see a great future to this Telugu School in New Jersey? Yes, with
dedicated individuals like Dr. Gopala Kovvali and a team of individuals at
the helm of affairs, the Telugu School will flourish.
Photos and article by Dr. Satyanarayana Gavarasana.
May 2, 2003
Back
