So last week I was officially moved to the Tamil medium only school. I am so excited to be working there! The children tend to come from very poor families and there are several children attending the school that stay at the Children's Home. They are the most beautiful children you could ever imagine. They all are a little disheveled. A bright pink blouse with the uniform because they don't have the white blouse. A white blouse which is actually a brownish yellow and the buttons aren't lined up. Shorts which are too big and are held up by zipping down the pants a little and putting the last button of the shirt through it and buttoning it. Some wear shoes, most don't. I love them and all their beautifulness.
On Monday I went for my first full day of teaching. I was all prepared-lesson plans in hand, smile on my face, and nervous as can be!! I was scheduled to teach one period in each standard. The school serves standards 1st through 5th. I would be starting my morning out in 5th and working my way down. Well after about 20 minutes of being in 5th standard the teacher (who also serves as the headmistress) told me I would now be teaching two periods in 5th standard and two periods in 4th standard in the morning. The students were all shy and eager to impress. The teacher was even taking notes and asking clarifying questions. She speaks a little English and hopes to learn more from me while I am at the school. I quickly improvised and moved on to my lesson for the 4th standard since I had not prepared for two periods in a row in the same class. It was successful. Unfortunately, I had come down with some sort of illness and needed to go rest. So I tried to tell the headmistress that the day before I had bad water and didn't feel well. Well, she took this as I needed water. I was feeling like throwing up and here we were unable to communicate. Finally, one of the kids chimed in and they all pieced together what I was trying to say! She insisted that I go home and rest and come back when I was feeling well. Thankfully she is a very lovely woman.
I returned to school yesterday after two days of resting. It was madness! I felt so overwhelmed because all the kids talk while you talk. The expectations for the classroom are different here than they are in most American educational settings. I kind of let it get me down yesterday. But I went home and spent my whole evening determined to teach these children and I did in fact come up with a few things which were seriously effective. You cannot imagine how silent a poster with colors/greetings/weather on it can make a classroom full of Indian children! I really got the fifth graders working hard today which felt good.
Today when I arrived at my school all the children were outside singing a song. I am not sure what song but it sounded so lovely. It almost made me cry from happiness because they are all so beautiful and they all seem like they are marginalized by society. But here they stand in front of their school in their mismatching outfits, their messy hair, their bare feet, and mostly pride- pride in themselves, pride in their Tamilian culture, pride in their school, pride in each other, and pride in their country.
As I walked to my class I continued to see just how beautiful and communal these children are. There was a boy crying and sitting on the ground. I went over and bent down and asked why he was crying. A rather fluent fifth grader told me he is new and didn't have a lunch. Well, just behind him a group of boys were working to remedy the situation. They had their lunch containers and were all putting food into a container which had some vegetable curry in it. They were beautiful with their little hands at work trying to get all the food from various containers into this one. The oldest came over and handed the container to him and grabbed him by the backpack rather aggressively and walked him to the 2nd standard classroom while all the other children followed and waved him good bye. I had to tell myself not to cry over and over!
On Monday I went for my first full day of teaching. I was all prepared-lesson plans in hand, smile on my face, and nervous as can be!! I was scheduled to teach one period in each standard. The school serves standards 1st through 5th. I would be starting my morning out in 5th and working my way down. Well after about 20 minutes of being in 5th standard the teacher (who also serves as the headmistress) told me I would now be teaching two periods in 5th standard and two periods in 4th standard in the morning. The students were all shy and eager to impress. The teacher was even taking notes and asking clarifying questions. She speaks a little English and hopes to learn more from me while I am at the school. I quickly improvised and moved on to my lesson for the 4th standard since I had not prepared for two periods in a row in the same class. It was successful. Unfortunately, I had come down with some sort of illness and needed to go rest. So I tried to tell the headmistress that the day before I had bad water and didn't feel well. Well, she took this as I needed water. I was feeling like throwing up and here we were unable to communicate. Finally, one of the kids chimed in and they all pieced together what I was trying to say! She insisted that I go home and rest and come back when I was feeling well. Thankfully she is a very lovely woman.
I returned to school yesterday after two days of resting. It was madness! I felt so overwhelmed because all the kids talk while you talk. The expectations for the classroom are different here than they are in most American educational settings. I kind of let it get me down yesterday. But I went home and spent my whole evening determined to teach these children and I did in fact come up with a few things which were seriously effective. You cannot imagine how silent a poster with colors/greetings/weather on it can make a classroom full of Indian children! I really got the fifth graders working hard today which felt good.
Today when I arrived at my school all the children were outside singing a song. I am not sure what song but it sounded so lovely. It almost made me cry from happiness because they are all so beautiful and they all seem like they are marginalized by society. But here they stand in front of their school in their mismatching outfits, their messy hair, their bare feet, and mostly pride- pride in themselves, pride in their Tamilian culture, pride in their school, pride in each other, and pride in their country.
As I walked to my class I continued to see just how beautiful and communal these children are. There was a boy crying and sitting on the ground. I went over and bent down and asked why he was crying. A rather fluent fifth grader told me he is new and didn't have a lunch. Well, just behind him a group of boys were working to remedy the situation. They had their lunch containers and were all putting food into a container which had some vegetable curry in it. They were beautiful with their little hands at work trying to get all the food from various containers into this one. The oldest came over and handed the container to him and grabbed him by the backpack rather aggressively and walked him to the 2nd standard classroom while all the other children followed and waved him good bye. I had to tell myself not to cry over and over!
I don't know how you didn't cry over that little boy not having lunch and the other kids giving him one. I cried reading it!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like they were better for you today!
Love you!
Erie
All I have to say is....WOW
ReplyDeleteThanks for being part of all this, Kylie!
ReplyDelete