Reminiscing Childhood in Heritage Hindi Class

Guest post by Mansi Bajaj, Ph.D., Lector of Hindi at Yale University and winner of the 2024 MAFLT LCTL Innovation Awards.

It is established that the pedagogy of heritage language teaching should be rooted in community building and appreciation for cultural and linguistic variety. Shared experiences and community building are known to increase student engagement and give opportunity for active learning. In Project-Based Language Learning (PBLL), students explore an issue for an extended period and create a product which is connected to their own concerns, interests, and identity.

I introduced the ‘Children’s Book Project’ in Fall 2023 in heritage Hindi class i.e. course designed for students with basic conversational Hindi. The aim of this activity was to build a strong sense of belonging, community building among the students in the class, appreciation for their culture and families. This project helped the class to become a stronger cohort and students seemed to value pair/ group work in the class. This project was introduced to instill an appreciation in students for their identity and for the students to learn more about growing-up experiences in South-Asian households from each other.

We began with reading a children’s book together as a class which led the class into discussions on food, music, games, friends, siblings and family from childhood, it even got the students talking about sharing how some wanted to be cleaners or a roadside snack seller. This took the students back to their childhood and everyone was eager to share their stories from their growing-up time. Sharing experiences built solidarity and enhanced student engagement.

The project is thoughtfully structured and scaffolded to ensure students feel comfortable and confident throughout the process. After an initial discussion, we skimmed through a few Hindi children’s books as per their interests, such as action, comic, science fiction, animal, moral stories, etc. to examine which aspects of children books the students appreciated and what aspects to improve. It was then the students pointed how the books don’t reflect the realities of the present day- no queer representation, lack of linguistic variety, use of skin color to represent different social class, strengthening gender stereotypes, etc. The high motivation and enthusiasm at this point was an indication to student engagement and interest in the book writing project.

The final phase involves students collaboratively creating their own stories, using their collective experiences and insights. As an instructor, I created a channel on bookcreator.com which was free, and easily accessible to all students. The students wrote their stories in their style which opened the door into their childhood, memories or dreams/ fantasies. The collaborative nature of the project fostered teamwork, and critical thinking skills—essential for both academic and real-world success. It also provided opportunities for incidental and peer-based learning. By empowering students to take charge of their creative process and encouraging them to explore and celebrate their cultural heritage, this project not only enhances language skills but also contributes to personal and social development. As the students put together their stories into books, their creative and artistic abilities were not only witness in their stories but also in their selection of pictures/ images. Some students preferred to draw the scenes from the stories themselves and the book was completed with an audio recording of the book for accessibility. This experience gave the students a high sense of satisfaction and achievement, along with a fresh confidence in using the Hindi.

This project has helped students to embrace and celebrate their heritage and culture- South Asian or otherwise. Each student pair worked at their own pace, exercising their creativity and imagination, and deciding the complexity of their work. This innovation can easily be adopted in other language classes, and it is particularly more relevant in heritage language classes. Students who grew up with mixed identities such as children of immigrants will find this activity meaningful and will find compassion and companionship. Embracing and appreciation for culture is seen to have a positive correlation with language learning. It is therefore valuable to introduce projects in language classes which help students hold their identities and heritage in high regard. It is also a great opportunity for the students to showcase their creativity in language, art and imagination with this project.