Thane-born researcher secures USD 5,000 grants to teach Marathi in US classrooms

Jaee Sonalkar speaks on language ideologies in bilingual education during a conference in Chicago. Pics/By Special Arrangement

Growing up in Thane and studying in a Marathi-medium school, 34-year-old Jaee Sonalkar has come full circle with her mother tongue. Now a PhD researcher at Ohio State University, she has secured two academic grants with a combined value of about $5000 for research on teaching Marathi to immigrant students in the United States through more meaningful and communicative methods.

Grant support

Sonalkar received the Dissertation Writing Support Grant from the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations and the Outreach and Engagement Graduate Student Seed Grant from Ohio State University.

Having taught Spanish and English, she now aims to train community-school teachers to adopt practical, task-based approaches to Marathi teaching.

Practical learning

"For students of the diaspora, Marathi is more than grammar and sentence structure. It's the language that lets them communicate with their grandparents, helps them when they travel back home, and keeps them connected to their roots," said Sonalkar.

She is exploring ways to make lessons more relevant by replacing traditional exercises such as formal letters about power cuts with WhatsApp messages to cousins and extended family members. "We can try to use simpler terms for seasons, directions, and teach Marathi in a manner where immigrant students can appreciate it more closely in their day-to-day lives," she said.

Bridging gaps

Community organisations such as the Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal of North America run more than 50 schools through 125 branches across the US and Canada, serving over 5000 students with the help of 400 volunteer teachers.

Sonalkar said research on Marathi pedagogy and the teaching-learning process of the language sees a huge gap compared to other languages. "Having studied in a Marathi school, it is the language I have always thought in and experienced culture in. We must focus on making Marathi a meaningful language of thinking and identity while balancing students' multilingual needs," she added.