Canada, the great white North, is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world, and Malayalis started migrating to the ‘land of the maple leaf’ in the late 90s. Also known as the land of immigrants, there is a huge Malayali diaspora in Canada today that grows in size with each year! As a country, Canada is like a mini-world where cultures from all over the world collide and coexist, and raising children in such an environment can be a blessing as well as a challenge. On one hand, your kid will get the best education, exposure, and opportunities, but unless you have a close-knit community of Malayalis around you, your child stays isolated from their culture.

Children learn everything faster, including languages, but as a Malayali parent in Canada, one of your biggest struggles might be teaching your kid Malayalam, their mother tongue, while they are mostly exposed to languages like English and French. When you grow up in a multicultural society, holding on to your roots and culture can be a struggle, but doing so is extremely important! Forming a connection to their culture and mother tongue fosters a sense of identity and belonging in children, and Akshharam is an online Malayalam language learning school with a mission to make this journey of Malayali children to their roots easy and gratifying!

Learning Malayalam in Canada: the struggles

A multicultural society can give your child tremendous exposure to the world, but at the same time, it can create a distance between their own culture! This alienation from their own culture can make it difficult for kids to communicate with their relatives or grandparents, and as they grow up, it might exclude them from their own community.

For kids, exposure is the best teacher, but even if you make an effort to speak Malayalam at home, your kid, who spends most of their day at school, might still end up gravitating more towards other languages like English. Many Malayali children who have grown up outside of Kerala with limited exposure to their culture and language have shared their struggles, and lacking a sense of identity and belonging is at the top of the list!

Unlike the Kerala academic year, which begins in June and ends in March, in Canada, the school year starts in September and ends in June. Except for the 2-month summer holidays and other regular holidays, your child will be busy throughout the academic years with schoolwork. If you are a working parent, teaching your kid Malayalam by yourself is going to be a big challenge. But even without work, teaching a language should be done with care! If learning Malayalam ends up feeling like a burden to your kid, and you fail to make it exciting, she or he might end up hating it! So how do you introduce the culture you treasure and the mother tongue you love to your precious little one? Akshharam is the answer!

Akshharam

Language is a medium of communication, but when it has been around for enough time, it becomes a medium that can translate the life of the group of people who speak it! Malayalam is deeply interlinked with the culture of Kerala, and learning it can truly widen your child's perspective on their own culture. Akshharam Online Malayalam Language Learning School is an online platform for Malayali children who are growing up outside of Kerala to learn Malayalam. We offer live Malayalam classes taught by real tutors, and the carefully crafted curriculum, regular assessments, and teaching methods make our sessions the most effective and fun medium for your kid to learn Malayalam!

Our learning module is divided into four programs:

• Harishree
• Vaayanashaala
• Thoolika
• Kilikonchal

We have tailored these programs to suit children at all levels of Malayalam prowess, so even if your little one is a complete beginner, we have got it covered. We started our journey with a mission to pass on the Malayalam language to our children growing up in distant lands and enabling them to connect to their roots. At Akshharam, we understand your challenge as a Malayali parent in Canada when it comes to teaching your kid Malayalam and making it interesting and exciting for your child. Balancing that journey with the school system, your own work, and other external commitments and distractions is a lot of work! But we have designed our program to fit seamlessly into your child’s routine, and you can customize the lessons too!  

Connect with us

Have you ever heard the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child”? It really does, but many of us don't even have our own family near us to make the incredible journey of raising a child a little easier for us, right?! However, technology is slowly erasing the boundaries and creating opportunities for our kids to build a true connection to their culture, roots, and extended family. If you are a Malayali parent in Canada, create the best opportunity for your kid to connect with their roots by enrolling them in Akshharam’s Malayalam language communication class online! Connect with us to learn more about our Malayalam language writing class online.