Teaching English in Rural Areas of Haryana: Challenges and Approach

Teaching English in a small town of Haryana where a majority of students hail from rural backgrounds is a challenging task, some of the challenges being insurmountable and sometimes disheartening. The only saving grace is the curious, innocent faces of the students who are eager to learn and hold their English teacher in high esteem, which prompts us, as teachers, to find ways to get better of the problems being faced by us and make teaching of English interesting and pleasurable.   The present paper is a modest attempt , based on my own experiences, to understand and analyze the challenges and roadblocks coming in the way of our teaching of English as a second language in a classroom of Haryana, where students often resort to Haryanvi dialect to communicate. It also offers some approaches to the teaching of English which make the language come alive in classrooms, making teaching and learning a lasting, enriching and enjoyable experience