Shabadavali — Putting Joy in Punjabi Learning
To ensure Punjabi, our maa boli (mother tongue), continues to flourish in future generations, we need innovative approaches. Khalsa Schools notice a disproportionately large drop off rate as the levels progress—students grow disengaged as the material becomes too difficult to comprehend.
With Shabadavali, we want to make learning Punjabi interesting. Inspired by the success of online education apps, the Shabadavali web app gives students an engaging, playful and consistent way to practice and improve their Punjabi vocabulary.
Preserving Punjabi is the first step to promoting both culture and religion for future generations. Punjabi fluency is critical to understanding the Shabad Guru. In interviewing over 50 Khalsa School students, teachers and parents, we learned that traditional Punjabi education strategies can sometimes feel “boring” and “monotonous.” Shabadavali is the first-of-its kind Punjabi web.
Retention over Memorization
Our detailed examples and comprehension questions allow students to understand when to use the word instead of just memorizing its definition. By allowing students to interact with the same word multiple times and engage different senses, we boost both their Punjabi vocabulary and their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.
For example, a parent of a fourth grader at Bay Area School shared “My daughter used the word ਮਮਤਾ (mamta) casually in one of our discussions. We normally don’t use that word. When I asked, she said that she learned it from Shabadavali! I am happy that she is learning and remembering new Punjabi words.”
By game-ifying Punjabi learning, we are excited to see our Maa Boli grow and prosper.
Our App So Far…
- Implemented web app for desktop and mobile
- Incorporated text-to-speech functionality so students can hear Punjabi words and sentences spoken out
- Added Nanak Coins — after correctly answering 13 questions, students earn 1 Nanak Coin (after the tera-tera Saakhi). They can later redeem Nanak Coins for virtual items, power ups, and physical items such as Khalis Books
- Built vocabulary curriculum for Level 4 Punjabi and Japji Sahib
- Currently launching with early-users in Bay Area Khalsa Schools!
How You Can Help Preserve Punjabi:
Our web application is entirely sangat-funded. Your donation will allow us to:
- Continue adding vocabulary content for all Punjabi levels and develop more Gurbani-based curriculums
- Hire artists to draw culturally-relevant illustrations to showcase the meaning of words
- Build a dashboard where teachers and parents can track student progress
- Develop an AI-based speech-to-text feature which allows students to practice speaking the word in a sentence and get live feedback
- Support ongoing updates and improvements based on feedback from students, teachers, and parents to maintain high engagement and effectiveness.
