Playway Books Pvt Ltd · Ernakulam

A teacher wrote this because her students kept failing the same thing.

Not the chemistry — the language it is written in. Symbols, valency, formulas, equations: the part every syllabus assumes and none of them sets aside time to teach. It was first used in a Kochi classroom in 1992 and published four years later.

It was published then as Metro Kits, Kit–I — The Language of Chemistry, Playway Method. It is now The Language of Chemistry, Playbook®. Same method, same author, same tokens.

1992 to now

Thirty-four years of the same idea.

The method did not start as a book. It started in one Kochi classroom in 1992, because the language of chemistry was the part the students kept failing and no textbook set out to teach it. It became a book four years later.

1992

The method is used for the first time, at St. Aloysius ISC School in Kochi. Students who had been struggling to write symbols and formulas start getting them right.

Illustrative — no photograph of the 1992 material exists. Shown: the current edition.
1995

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations asks ICSE schools to send in approaches they have tried that work on the hard spots its Pupils Performance Analysis keeps identifying — writing symbols, formulas and balanced equations among them.
1996

Published as Metro Kits, Kit–I — The Language of Chemistry, Playway Method, by a chemistry teacher in Kochi who was tired of watching students memorise what they should have been able to work out.

Illustrative — this is the current edition, not the 1996 original.
2002

On 4 December the Principal of St. Aloysius ISC forwards a copy to the Council. On 18 December the Council replies that the method “certainly will help in making the basic concept of writing correct chemical formula and balanced equations clearer to students”.

Not the original letter — the same date, printed on the book’s own back cover.
2008

NCERT’s Department of Education in Science and Mathematics writes on 1 July calling the activities “thought provoking” and suggesting the book be introduced as a handbook in Class 7.

Not the original letter — no photograph of it exists yet.
2022

Playway Books Pvt Ltd is incorporated in Ernakulam, and the method is republished as The Language of Chemistry, Playbook®.

The current edition, shown alone — no photograph of the 1996 original exists for the comparison.
2026

A second title for Grade 10 to 12 is in preparation — the same method against board-level material.

The book she wrote, with its two punch-out sheets — not a portrait of Lilly Joseph, which has not been photographed.

Not a portrait — none exists yet. Shown: the book itself.

The author

Lilly Joseph

“Chemistry involves the study of a large number of Elements and Compounds. It is very inconvenient to write the Full Names of Elements and Compounds. The creation of Symbols and Formula solved this problem… The 10th standard CBSE, ICSE and SSLC Examinations reveals the fact that the students find it very difficult to write Symbols, Chemical Formula and Balanced Chemical Equations.”

From the preface

Her own words, from the book's preface — the only first-person statement of hers on this page. A longer statement, written and signed for the website itself, is still to come.

The letters

Both of them, in full, and how they came about.

These are appreciations of the method. They are not accreditation, they are not approval of the book as a prescribed text, they are not current or ongoing, and Playway Books does not describe them as any of those. The second entry also records a correction: the book's back cover names the wrong two institutions, and the earlier Playway Books website repeated it.

CISCE · 18 December 2002

Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations — Research, Development and Consultancy Division, New Delhi. 18 December 2002.

The Council publishes a Pupils Performance Analysis each year. It identifies, year after year, the same difficulty: students cannot reliably write symbols, chemical formulas and balanced chemical equations. In 1995 the Council’s Research, Development and Consultancy Division wrote to ICSE schools asking them to forward approaches they had tried that worked on that difficulty, so the approaches could be shared.

The method had by then been in use at St. Aloysius ISC School, Kochi since 1992. On 4 December 2002 the school’s Principal sent a copy of The Language of Chemistry, Playway Method to the Council. Fourteen days later the Principal received the Council’s reply, which said the method

certainly will help in making the basic concept of writing correct chemical formula and balanced equations clearer to students.

That is a letter of appreciation for an approach. It is not accreditation, not approval of the book as a prescribed text, and not a current or ongoing endorsement — and nothing on this site describes it as any of those.

NCERT · 1 July 2008

National Council of Educational Research and Training — Department of Education in Science and Mathematics, New Delhi. 1 July 2008.

A copy of The Language of Chemistry, Playway Method was sent to NCERT’s Department of Education in Science and Mathematics. The reply, dated 1 July 2008, comments:

It is a good attempt for using ‘Play-Way Method’ in the teaching of ‘The Language of Chemistry’.

Activities given in the manual are thought provoking.

This is well appreciated that suggested activities follow step up procedure and guidelines for self-assessment are given in the activities.

The letter goes on to suggest the book be introduced as a handbook in Class 7, so that students would be able to write symbols, chemical formulas and balanced chemical equations easily and correctly.

This is a letter of appreciation for an approach. It is not accreditation, not approval of the book as a prescribed text, and not a current or ongoing endorsement.

One correction, on the record

The book’s back cover credits this letter to the CBSE Board, and the earlier Playway Books website repeated that. It is wrong, and it is corrected here rather than quietly left standing: the letter is from NCERT, and the 2002 letter is from CISCE rather than “the ICSE Board” — ICSE is an examination, not a body that writes letters of appreciation. The preface of the book names both bodies correctly. The dates were never in doubt; only the institutions were. The back cover is to be corrected in the next print run.