Mahati
Teaching social studies through speech and debate
Our vision
What are our goals for the program?
The three goals of our program are:
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1. To improve the confidence of students by teaching them the skill of speaking and overcoming fright or hesitation that inhibits their ability to voice themselves out
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2. To combat rote learning of social studies in the Indian education system by
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To promote speech and debate in Telugu and empower a generation of speakers who can speak their mother tounge fluently and confidently to express their opinions.
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3. To promote Telugu and empower a generation of speakers who can speak their mother tounge fluently and confidently to express their opinions. It is sad how colonialism has made us believe that only English is the language for civil discourse. We are here to show Telugu is.
Who are we?
We are a non-profit organization that teaches social studies to underprivileged students using public speaking and debate activities. Many students are often shy to speak up in the classroom, making it harder for them to engage with social studies, a subject that requires active participation. The language someone speaks, their socio-economic background, or even their shyness should not be a barrier to them enjoying social studies.
Why do we do what we do?
What are the benefits of a social science education?
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Social studies is needed to understand politics. In a democracy like India where people above the age of 18 vote it is important they receive a civic education and are taught how to make decisions about who to vote into power.
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Social studies is usually an overlooked subject because most people aim for careers in engineering or commerce. Many people do not remember what they have learned in History and Civics classes as adults. That takes away from the value of learning those subjects.
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Social studies is a subject that exposes students to topics like gender, race, caste, and religion which need to be openly discussed in society.
What are the benefits of learning public speaking and debating?
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Mental health improves when people learn how to confidently put their point across. The other reason
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Communication skills improve with more practice. Students wil be able to convey their opinions to other people. This is an important skill in this day and age given the reise of the service sector in India.
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Why is Telugu a great language to learn public speaking and debate in?
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It is an intimate language where people refer to each other as ‘anna’ (brother) and ‘akka’ (sister). Telugu is a very subjunctive language where words like ‘ahha’ can mean ‘no’ in a less harsh tone.
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Telugu is known for having very few filler words like other languages. Filler words may impede the message being communicated.
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Telugu sentences mostly start with the object instead of the subject. This forces people speaking the language to think before they say anything.