Video Transcript

Namaste, and welcome to The Pin Oak Press, a student-produced journalism program here at Pin Oak Middle School. My name is Jade, and let’s dive into today’s story.

Pin Oak offers eight languages in our magnet program: Latin, French, Japanese, German, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, and Hindi. Pin Oak is HISD’s premier foreign language magnet school and one of only two middle schools in the nation that offer a Hindi program.

This academic year, Mr. Shahi joined the Pin Oak language program. He teaches all grade levels and also directs the Hindi Club. Irem had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about his experience at Pin Oak so far. Let’s see what he had to say.

“Since I was young, I’ve always been very interested in languages. I wanted to learn different foreign languages like Spanish, so I started teaching myself. Later, I pursued formal study for several years. Since my family is from India, I was always connected to our own language, Hindi. I started teaching myself Hindi and became fluent in reading and writing. Eventually, I realized I wanted to share it with others, and that’s what led me to teaching.

I’ve been teaching for two years now. This is my first year at Pin Oak, but last year I taught Hindi at the Awty International School, a well-known private international and French school here in Houston.

I want my students to be able to speak at least basic conversational Hindi. Even if they don’t master reading and writing, I want them to know enough to get by—what I call ‘survival Hindi.’ I also want them to learn about Indian culture, including food, dress, music, and traditions. With Charger Fest coming up in April, we’re planning something big to celebrate.

To make my lessons engaging and interactive, I incorporate a lot of technology and games. We use tools like Kahoot and Quizziz, and I encourage students to create and perform skits in front of the class.”

A big thank you to Mr. Shahi for his time and for allowing us to interview him.

That’s all for now, Chargers! See you next time.