For the past five consecutive years, Mayoor School, Ajmer has been the exclusive school in India to partner with the School for Global Education and Early Learning, Kean University for the STARTALK Hindi Programme. The partnership has espoused the concept of international mindedness and facilitated inter-cultural awareness through systematic engagement of the students from Kean University and Mayoor.

For making concerted efforts, Mayoor School has been acknowledged as an international partner on the website of Kean University and Academic Impact Initiative. Furthermore, the school receives a Certificate of Recognition every year for serving as an international school partner in the project from the Kean University President.

About Kean University STARTALK Hindi/Urdu Program

Kean STARTALK Summer Program is a Global Project-Based Learning Program offered at Kean University as an undergraduate course for both high school and college students. The course has been specially designed for native and advanced speakers of Hindi/Urdu residing in the United States of America. It helps students develop superior proficiency in Hindi/Urdu for use in U.S. heritage communities, when visiting relatives in India, for cultural enrichment and in future careers in the global workplace.

Development of linguistic and global competencies is a significant attribute of the STARTALK program. It is actuated through the involvement of partner schools in South Asia.

The STARTALK program leverages Information Technology for cross-cultural interaction between students of the partner institutions wherein the entire communication takes place in English and Hindi/Urdu. Video-conferencing /web-based tools provide a platform to students for application of acquired content. The theme of the Project for the year pertains to a real- world global issue. The bilateral engagement comprises collaborative collection and collation of theme-specific data, research and analysis and daily discussion through Skype. Steadily, the students gain remarkable knowledge about the history of India, contemporary society and prevalent issues and South Asian culture and tradition products. Simultaneously, the partner school students benefit equally from widening of academic horizon and permeation of global awareness in them.

Mayoor School- a significant partner in linguistic symbiosis

Our commitment to perpetuate global awareness among our students is shown by Mayoorites’ participation in the STARTALK Hindi program.

The program integrates linguistic competence with vital skills that are hallmark of 21st century education. Through the innovative project-based learning, the program supports

1.    Fostering of Creativity and flexible thinking

2.    Digital connectivity and ICT literacy

3.    Cross-cultural interaction and global awareness

4.    Critical thinking and cultivation of problem-solving skills

5.    Collaborative team environment and communication

For our students, the program proves to be an academically, linguistically and culturally enriching experience. The students from grades IX-XII who can communicate effectively in English and Hindi are selected for participating in the Skype sessions. Additionally, the selected students show proficiency in using IT tools like Movie Maker, Power director and Google Translate that are needed for dissemination of project results.