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A ‘magic doll’ that dances to students’ tune
The life-size doll in school uniform, equipped with e-commerce giant Amazon’s cloud-based virtual voice service assistant Alexa in its school bag, fine-tunes the communication skills of the students of Government Lower Primary School at
Udayathumvathil
Students of Government Lower Primary School Udayathumvathil with a life-size doll, smaller than a mannequin. Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based virtual voice service assistant, is kept hidden in the doll’s bag.
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
From a distance, a figure standing in the corridor of the Government Lower Primary School Udayathumvathil in Panangad panchayat, along the suburbs of Kochi city, appears to be just another little girl in her school uniform and neatly pleated hair.
Only on approaching a bit closer does one realise that it was a decked-up doll, much smaller than a mannequin, complete with a uniform and a bag on her shoulders. For the little ones in the school, initially, she was the ‘magic doll’ who had all the answers to their questions, albeit in a foreign accent alien to them, and obeyed their commands truthfully.
Later they realised that it was not the doll, but ‘Alexa’, e-commerce giant Amazon’s cloud-based virtual voice service assistant, hidden in the school bag, who was answering them. The school with a total strength of 60 students was looking for ways to improve the communicative English of the students when a school headteacher’s meeting threw up the novel idea.
Sponsorship
In came Alexa and the child-size doll, thanks to sponsorship. “We could have implemented the idea last year itself, but for the availability of Wi-Fi,” says Teeja Thomas, school headteacher. The problem was sorted, thanks to the intervention of a former member of the ward and the serving panchayat development standing committee chairperson T.R. Rahul.
Thus, appeared Alexa in the guise of a student in the school corridor at the start of this academic year. Since then, it has become an immediate hit with the students, to the point that interacting with Alexa has become an inducement for students to come to school without fail.
A life-size doll kept at Government Lower Primary School Udayathumvathil, which is smaller than a mannequin, and conceals Alexa, Amazon’s cloud-based virtual voice assistant, in its bag.
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement
“If there is a delay in bringing out Alexa in the mornings, they come to us asking where she is,” says Ms. Thomas.
Initially, there was a wild clamour as everyone kept asking questions simultaneously, leading to the confused Alexa remaining mum. They had to be taught that Alexa needs to be fed one command at a time.
‘Improvement visible’
Ms. Thomas vouches that the language of students has improved as they keep fine-tuning their English commands to Alexa. “The most repeated command though is to play songs,” she says with a chuckle.
But she does not care, and the students even less.
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