By: Katrina Lewin
Puja Aggarwal, a pre-K teacher from East Windsor, is teaching Hindi to children at the library at Hickory Corner in East Windsor as part of an internship for a course she’s taking at Rider University.
Though she has a master’s degree from a university in India, transferring credits internationally was a challenge, and she is once again working towards an undergraduate degree.
One of the courses she is taking, community and leadership, requires a 21-hour internship. Mrs. Aggarwal, who juggles a full-time job, family and studies, was unsure of how to find the time for an internship.
She considered dropping the class before speaking with her father-in-law, who suggested that she approach the library, and Marilyn Fischer, the branch manager at the library, who suggested that she teach Hindi, the national language of India to children.
East Windsor has a large Indian population, but many families speak dialects at home, and not the more formal Hindi.
Mrs. Aggarwal loved the idea because the course is an "integration of my profession and community service," she said, though she "wasn’t sure how many people would come."
Ms. Fischer also said she was nervous that no one would be interested in the program, but there are 12 children who attend the class every week, making the program a success in the library’s eyes.
Of the 12 students, 10 are American-born of Indian decent, and two are Indian-born children who were adopted by an American family at a young age. This course allows them the opportunity to learn about their Indian culture.
The course requires homework and studies on top of their regular schoolwork, but despite the workload, the students all have a desire to learn the language, and were excited to learn new words.
The children, who are as young as 5, learn the basics first: colors, body parts, numbers, the names of fruit and the alphabet, which is comprised of 12 vowels and 36 consonants, through worksheets, stories and a video.
They also spoke of cultural events, like Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil.
Because every student she is just beginning to learn the language, "I explain everything in English first," she said, "then we do it in Hindi."
Children tend to learn more quickly than adults, so families are glad that their children are able to begin education in Hindi when they are young. "Whatever they learn here they will never forget," Mrs. Aggarwal said.
She collects homework and reviews the concepts of previous weeks at the beginning of each class, and improvement is obvious. "It used to take an hour, but now it only takes 10 minutes," she said.
The course will run for nine weeks, and may or may not continue after that. "I would like to continue," she said. She is thinking about teaching additional classes in the summer. Though she finds the course fun for both the students and herself, her busy schedule may not allow her to continue the program right away.
"The library is very happy that (she) volunteered to do this," Ms. Fischer said. There had been a Hindi story time a few years ago, which was also a success, but it wasn’t as structured as aninstructional class.
Reaching out to the Indian community is something that the library needs to do, Ms. Fischer said. "It’s wonderful for us to be able to offer this to the community."
Mrs. Aggarwal gets more out of this than just internship hours. "Teaching is my passion. I love to teach," she said
New students of all ages are welcome to join in the free course, which meets Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Hickory Corner branch of the Mercer County Library. For more information, contact Linda Cholewiak at 448-1330. Registration is required.

