Hindi Handwriting

An Effective Way to Learn

Deborah Shaer

• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781528974875
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Teaching Languages

Hindi Handwriting is a holistic educational language book with a focus on learning how to write Hindi and takes a creative approach to learning. It also looks through the kaleidoscopic lens of dyslexia.
Most people have no real grasp of the breadth and depth of dyslexia, what it is or how to support children and adults. Educators who don't know that they don't know, exacerbate the problem when they have no real awareness. The disadvantages, aside from academia, affect so many areas of the dyslexic's daily life. The British Dyslexia Association estimates 10% of the UK population as having dyslexia, though there are likely to be far more who are unaware and cannot fathom their experience of inconsistencies seemingly arising out of left field.
Hindi language learners, whether dyslexic or not, who experience difficulty in knowing which directions the letters go, will find a solution in the workbook section. Each letter is accompanied by arrows and numbers to indicate the direction and sequence in addition to guidance for unfamiliar sounds and how to pronounce them.
Hindi Handwriting is uniquely different from other Hindi language books as it expands upon the pragmatic elements of language by exploring the spiritual roots. It does this by highlighting how meditation helps to optimise study and concentration, clarifies symbolic meanings in the sacred AUM shape and sound and makes links between the goddess of learning, Sarasvati, and neuroscience. Lastly, it explores the social and material dimensions of the culture and religion.

Part I

Holistic Education

Chapter 1

Self-Discovery Through Learning Styles

Cognitive awareness and reflection is an important part of learning and discovering one’s strengths and weaknesses. In the process of learning and absorbing new information, making links helps to articulate verbally, as well as in writing, and also contain those thoughts within a structure.

One way to increase your self-awareness is to begin to notice, for instance, becoming more aware of your energy levels, feelings, sensations and body posture, discomfort or lightness, which provides you with a cognitive map of yourself.

For example, some people have a natural aptitude for learning new languages, whereas others struggle and give up. One of the biggest blocks to absorbing information arises from an incompatible learning environment. Ideally, a joyful atmosphere, receiving kindness, warmth, encouragement and empathy, and sharing laughter, fun and creativity, produces a potent recipe for successful learning. A creative, holistic approach is key.

Self-awareness supports the way of learning by exploring an individual’s natural affinity for certain styles. It may be that you are visual, which means that when you see images and colour, you absorb the learning more than, say, when a teacher talks but doesn’t write or illustrate what they are teaching on the whiteboard. Everyone is unique and by becoming aware of your response to learning through your senses, you are more likely to engage.

Here are some different types of learning styles.1

• Tactile: handouts, fact sheets or flash cards.
• Kinaesthetic: movement. This can be translated into the action of writing, as well as breathing and stretching when energy becomes low.2
• Auditory: the sound of the teacher’s voice.
• Interpersonal-feelings: interaction between peers.
• Musical: learning songs in Hindi.
• Visual: images and colour give shape to what you are learning; see ‘Colours’ section, which combines words with the related colour.
• Logical: rational thought and mathematical solution based.

The image below emphasises visual learning, and you can draw a comparison between the list above to consider your memory recall and connection to each style.

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Figure 1.0. Types of Learning

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1. Scrivener, J., 2005, Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching, Oxford: Macmillan, p. 64.↩︎
2. Frank, R., 2001, Body of Awareness: A Somatic and Developmental Approach to Psychotherapy. Santa Cruz, USA: Gestalt Press.↩︎

Chapter 2

Challenges to Learning: Dyslexia

There are many nuances to learning difficulties and one possible cause may be dyslexia. If you, or your child, experience difficulties with learning, you could try to pinpoint the patterns. For example, when a teacher explains a task, is there a tendency to grapple with what the teacher is asking, or in a test, struggle to make sense out of a question?

Confusion and disorientation are amongst the various dyslexic features which may go undetected. An assessment by a clinical or chartered psychologist is an important first step in identifying specific learning difficulties. For example, verbal skills may be outstanding, in sharp contrast to handwriting or incomprehensible written sentences or lack of paragraph structure. And a core issue concerns short-term memory. So, even after several seconds of receiving information, the brain does not absorb it. This is one reason why dyslexia may be particularly challenging when endeavouring to learn a new language.

Dyslexic traits tend to involve complex layers unique to each individual.

An example can be seen in the Hindi film, Like Stars on Earth, तारे ज़मीं पर. It centres on the struggles of an eight-year-old boy and the impact of a new art teacher who is caring and creative and happens to specialise in Special Needs. He is also able to recognise the boy’s depression and dyslexia.1

In my experience of working in schools as a therapeutic counsellor, I have sat with the brightest of children and young people whose low grades do not reflect their intelligence, creative thinking and wisdom. One possibility as to why some students are not able to engage in a class may occur because the teacher is bored, boring, overstretched or exhausted. However, the problem for many students with dyslexia arises out of an incompatible learning model, deficient skill including an absence of empathic attunement and lack of creativity. It also places those who do not fit the specific criteria at a significant disadvantage, regardless of whether they have a high level of intelligence.

Looking Through a Dyslexic Lens

When a teacher writes down letters speedily on the whiteboard, confusion arises for the dyslexic student, owing to the pace being too fast. A delay in visual processing means that the process of writing a singular character requires a much slower pace. This is compounded by a series of unfamiliar and complex characters that make up a word and a sentence. There is no map to guide the dyslexic student, to show them where to begin, or to indicate the different directions in the rendering of the devanagari letters and words.

Another difficulty concerns the dyslexic brain’s slow auditory processing. By the time the teacher asks questions, the dyslexic student is still struggling to comprehend the first character written on the whiteboard, and therefore cannot keep up the pace. However, all is not lost. Rising to the challenge will take perseverance and self-motivation, both of which are beneficial qualities to embrace.

With a focus on the devanagari script, Exercise 1 gives an example of how problematic areas may arise in connection with slow visual comprehension. This involves difficulties in distinguishing one set of shapes from another when they share similarities.

Exercise Part 1

Look at the three devanagari consonants below and notice the similarities and the differences.

च	ज	ञ
cha	ja	nya

Figure 1.1. Looking and Seeing

Learning to distinguish and connect the shape with the sound entails experimenting to discover optimal ways that resonate with your individual learning styles. Practising writing, listening to the corresponding sound and reciting the sound over time enables the brain to process information into your long-term memory. You can reframe so-called deficits into positives by seeing this as a journey of self-discovery, self-awareness and self-acceptance.

Exercise Part 2

• Revisit the devanagari characters in Exercise 1.
• Take a few moments to focus on each of the shapes of the devanagari script.
• Without looking at the first grid in Exercise 1, identify the corresponding devanagari characters by writing in the English sound letters in the grid below.

Note that the devanagari consonants in figure 1.2 have been moved around.

ञ च ज — — —

Figure 1.2. Identifying the Consonants

Exercise Part 3: A Visual Way of Understanding Dyslexia

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Figure 1.3. A Cup of Chai

Imagine pouring chai into a cup, drinking it and experiencing the flavour, the aroma, the fluidity and temperature, then swallowing and digesting it.

Now imagine pouring chai into another cup which, although not immediately visible, is slightly cracked at the bottom. Notice that the chai initially appears to remain in the cup, but almost immediately after, begins to leak out from the bottom.

If we were to translate this imagery from cup to brain, we may have a better understanding, not that the brain is cracked, but that the neural pathways disconnect intermittently.2 The wiring isn’t quite as efficient in a dyslexic brain. However, the mind is more than the brain and this may suggest that intelligence springs from a deep well rather than a small cup.

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1. Gupte, A. Screenwriter, 2007. Like Stars on Earth. PVR Pictures and Aamir Khan Production: India. Hindi with English subtitles.↩︎
2. Siegel, D. J., 1999, The Developing Mind: Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience. New York: The Guilford Press↩︎

Chapter 3

Memory, Emotions and the Brain

Learning and intelligence have different connotations. For instance, a parrot or a monkey may absorb information by listening, seeing and copying. And a student may be given a grade A+ for answering a whole set of questions correctly. Yet this same student might not be able to go beyond mechanical memorisation – in other words, rote learning. Rote learning is not a viable option for learners with dyslexia because they think differently from n...

Table of contents

• Hindi Handwriting
• About The Author
• Dedication
• Copyright Information ©
• Acknowledgement
• Figure no. Images
• Preface
• Introduction
• Part I
• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Part II
• Chapter 4
• Vowels
• Consonants
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Part III
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12
• Chapter 13
• Chapter 14