If you have a child in Kerala, or a Malayali family with children in it, this class is unavoidable. And even if you do not, it explains something about Kerala you will otherwise find puzzling: the sheer intensity with which this state takes education. Start with the question you will be asked about any child, always, immediately: ഏത് ക്ലാസ്സിലാണ്? (ethu classilaanu?) — which class is he or she in? That is the FIRST question about a child in Kerala. Not what are they like. Not what do they enjoy. Which class. And the follow-up, which arrives shortly after: പഠിക്കാൻ മിടുക്കനാണോ? (padikkaan midukkanaano?) — is he clever at studies? മാർക്ക് എങ്ങനെയുണ്ട്? (mark engane-undu?) — how are the marks? Those questions are asked without embarrassment, by relatives, neighbours and near-strangers. To an English speaker they can feel intrusive. In Kerala they are ordinary courtesy — the equivalent of asking after someone's health. Understanding why changes how you hear every family conversation in the state. In this class: • The school vocabulary — class, marks, exam, tuition, syllabus, result • The questions you will be asked about your own children, and how to answer them • Why Kerala asks about marks the way other places ask about the weather • How to talk about a child who is not academic, without causing offence Quizzes below. Dr. Reshmi R Nair — SpeakMalayalam.