Teaching teens and toddlers!

Our first weeks teaching really was like being thrown in at the deep end. I heard that phrase over and over again on training, but realising; you're actually in India, you're in a classroom, chalk in one hand, blackboard behind, fourty faces in front of you, it's your turn, you have to speak, all eyes on you...

Daunting is an understatement... though hopefully a word that won't pop up again anytime soon! We're on week two and we're settled, we're in control and we love it. With 3 lessons every morning and 3 every afternoon we're told, 'teach English, speak English' - after all we are English, so we must be good at it, right?! This is the impression we seem to get from almost everyone.

So over the last week it's been reinforced that we can teach whatever we please, play games with the pupils and improve their pronounciation. Having such freedom is good but with such a vast blank slate it's also rather mentally challenging. Good job we bought our imagination to India with us! Trying to get the children to speak out loud about something in context takes some planning, so this week we've gone for animals. 'This is a tiger and this is an elephant, they live in the jungle'. Sentence construction is something we've picked up on that we have to work on with the children. They're good at identifying 'tiger', 'elephant', 'yellow', 'grey', but to string sentences together is proving tricky and a good place for us to start.

Last week was an introductory week in which we choose to teach the children about ourselves, including some differences between England and India. It was a shock to see that some of the excercise books even had the wrong flag labelled for the UK! The tiniest things we're able to point out make us feel that this time spent away is definetly worthwhile. 'Simon says' has also been a popular one. Some kids are rather good at it now, which makes trying to get them out and find a winner before the bell for next lesson a challenge in itself!

After spending twelve and a half hours in the afternoon with nursery kids this past week, running the lessons and repeatedly singing rhymes, they're getting it and they love it. When I feel like my throats burning out, just twinkling my hands is enough to set off 'little star'.

What I've learnt so far...

1 Don't let one nursery child go to the toilet. The rest of the class will follow like sheep and chances are the three year olds dont really need to pee, they just love the slide

2 Remove all chalk slates from the middle of the Hockey Cokey circle. Unless you're trying to run a gym class tumble tots is not the aim

3 Whatever the flow is, just go with it.

So that sums up our first weeks teaching, whilst today in school we celebrated Republic Day. Republic day is 'a day to remember when Indias constitution came into force, completing the country's transition toward becoming an independent Republic.' We least expected to be planting trees, watching a magic show, wishing the whole school a happy morning, wearing our saris for the first time and handing out sweets but everyday chucks something new at us and we're trying our best to catch it with open arms.

Here are a few photos to paint a picture... And as always - all the best from afar, X

Dams, Dosas and Dosing

Sunday was significant - a good day eight. It drew an end to the first week, festival celebrations and marked the start of our teaching.

Madam cooked us dosa for breakfast. Dosa is a pancake, though made with rice flour. We spent the morning hand washing clothes, snoozing and cleaning our room whilst we waited for the family to return from church. We took the school bus again, but this time to the Mallavaram Dam. The dam is part of a project which allows water to collect and be stored within the drainage basin. The level is controlled by changing the pressure of the gates, allowing water to flow out of the dam and into the city. I strangely enjoyed seeing it in use - it's the Geography in me! 

It makes me smile every time I think of this day. Monkeys everywhere! Though they were rather funny to watch I'd be lying if I said I wasn't slightly scared - it's different when they're not behind the bars at Paignton Zoo. The visit really showed us how far we'd come in the past eight days. We finally just relaxed and acted like one of the family. I painted the sisters nails, we showed them photographs of home, shared fruits, looked after the kids, ate popcorn and laughed a lot.

The food here is completely different to home. It has a distinctive curry smell which reminds you you're in India. Especially eating right handed - you can't escape it! Everyday we're given copious amounts of rice, spices, vegetables and sauces. We've also been introduced to idly, vada, and dosa which are regularly purchased from the street stalls and eaten as a quick breakfast. I'm not yet tip top on my Southern Indian Cuisine but I'm sure it'll come! Here's a few pictures to paint an idea. 

I will be writing about our first weeks teaching at the end of the week! Wish us luck... X

 

Villages and little lessons.

Losing track of days! Time is flying. 

We arrived on Tuesday. On Wednesday we went dress shopping in the markets, had a tour of the school and to the police station to register our visas. On Thursday the police station seemed to take up our whole day again, both entertaining and frustrating. It's unlike any other police office you've ever been in. It's crazy, overcrowded, paper and people everywhere (I'm sure you've got the jist of India now!). We met with the police head chief where he casually asked Jade how her parents met. It's rather different to our home police stations - they were all so strangely accepting of us being in the office headquarters. Even if having 'UK, United Kingdom, UK, UK' being repeated like a broken record in your ear whilst trying to type is rather frustrating it was also rather comical feeling like you're in a sketch from Little Britain - 'Computer says No!'... After all I'm sure they rarely get to practice filling out English visa forms in a city so off the tourist track.

We've also come to terms with a half hour journey easily being mistaken for an hour or even two - it's all about just going with the flow. Half the clocks don't work out here anyway and it's rare to even see one. Frequent breaking down of cars and buses is another thing. We rather find ourselves jumping out and into auto/rickshaws leaving the poor Indian behind to wait for a bump start. If only they had the AA out here! 

On Friday 16th we were taken by our hosts school bus to the villages with the family on an outing to meet the sisters where they have to live with their husbands relatives. It's the tradition on the last day of Sanskriti, (a southern festival), to feast and have bonfires to symbolise new beginnings and a fresh start. Ironically this was the first day we'd worn our new dresses too. 'Wow, you look like a doll', they said to me over and over - and to Jade, 'you look like a heroine'. We were labeled as 'mannequins' and were rather shown off in the villages. Everyone as expected stared, wanted photos, and to give us a tour - proud of the village they lived in. A little boy did however cry in what looked like shock when he saw us. 'It's the skin, so fair' was the phrase I remember most from the day. I guess it's nice to be appreciated for being so awfully pale - though I am hoping to come back a bit less ghostly! 

I learnt some rather simple lessons from the journey too... Watermelons do not grow on trees, they grow from the ground. I was also extremely excited to see my first wild hippo - though they looked very much like shiney buffalo. I've grasped now how to distinguish between the two, doh! I shall let you know if I ever really do see a hippo in India rather than embarrassingly confusing a killer animal with a cow. I'll put it down to, 'we all have our moments'.

The village was a complete contrast to the city. Water pumps as you see in documentaries really do exsist everywhere. They are fitted like you see on the adverts at home, and are invaluable to the people in each village. Many of the villagers have to wash outside with buckets of water whilst some even sleep outside, their only transport being a bicycle and only foods being subsistently grown crops that are taken from the vast rice, chili and tabacco fields that surround their homes. 

I'm beginning to feel I'm taking a lot from just being here, seeing and experiencing. Though certain aspects are shocking when you compare lifestyles they are just differences, temporary differences for us that we just have to accept. The cultures are different, climates are different, behaviour and morals are different but that's how it is.

I appreciate home a hell of a lot more since being away - it's comforting to know I have my family, friends, work group, school groups and everyone at home. I am grateful to have this opportunity to get a real feel for someone else's world, their contrasting reality. This experience is allowing us to teach and be taught. I have begun to recognise that people are just people wherever you go, just living as every other person. As human beings. No utopia. Just simplicity. If you're truely happy there is nothing more to search for. That is living.

Here in Ongole!

We made it!! We stumbled off the train in Ongole at around 5pm on Tuesday.

One thing I won't ever take for granted again is South West Trains! If you imagine a train in India (minus the people hanging off the roof) - that it what you get. Therefore it wasn't a huge shock as this really is the 'real' India. However after 12 hours, top tier of a sleeper train (3 beds, one above the other, six in each compartment), we feel now like our room at our project is something we shouldn't take for granted... We have a shower ( with warm water when the sun heats it), two plugs, a flushing toilet, desk, side table, 2 plates, cups and spoons, 2 chairs and double beds. I really wasn't expecting this accommodation after using a bucket shower to start with! Our room is comfortable so I'm sure we'll easily settle in. We've seen our first monkey too, and cows and goats, dogs, lizards and an oversized caterpillar. (It's the little things that count!).

As spoken English is almost non existent here, hopefully we'll be able to see the children progress over the months we have with them. This evening we learnt our first bit of Telugu. 'How are you?' is 'Ella oo-na ru' and 'I'm good' is 'Bagu Nanu'. It sounds simple but just learning small phrases is enabling us to break the language barrier and it's entertaining too.

The experience so far has been a real eye opener. I feel after only five days I could tell you a lot about India. Ongole is infact a city too - a small city, but to us it feels huge and is crazy busy! Everyone is friendly, the food is spicey, the weather is warm but not too hot and it's exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

Here are some photos of our room so far & train journey! ... X

Ps. Happy 18th George (you're still my baby brother)!