Experimenting Vernacular Language Teaching through Activities in Preprimary School: A Case Study

Vernacular language plays a vital role in children's cognitive, social and emotional development at the early stage of education, whether it is formal or informal.This case study examines the effectiveness of experimenting in Bengali language teaching through activity-based methods in a preprimary school setting at an Anganwadi center in West Bengal.This study was performed with young learners by using some gaming activities like picture-based conversations and hands-on learning materials to promote listening, speaking and early literacy skills in the mother tongue.The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 gives importance in using the mother tongue or local language as the medium of instruction in the initial phase and highlights Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) as a national priority.In this regard, the present study investigates the impact of activity-based approaches in teaching vernacular language at the pre-primary level through case study of a selected school.Qualitative data were collected through classroom observations and informal assessments of children's participation and language use.The findings reveal that activity-based vernacular language teaching significantly enhances learner engagement, vocabulary acquisition, confidence in oral expression and comprehension skills.Children showed increased interest in classroom interactions and demonstrated improved ability to communicate in their native language.The paper concludes that integrating activities into vernacular language instruction creates a meaningful, child-centred learning environment and recommends broader adoption of activity-based strategies for strengthening foundational language skills in early childhood education.