Phones, phones, phones

Getting a cell phone here is a pain in the ass.  After many struggles with AirTel, Idea! finally seemed to be the winner with a phone that has been in service for over a month.  It has now been shut off due to yet more paperwork problems or something (like mismatched signatures).  Frustration abounds.  Not having a phone for myself was bad enough.  No phone at all is totally unacceptable.  Prepaid sim cards are kind of the way to go here and I think it may be time to just ask Shama (our maid) to get one for me in her name.

Facebook

Okay, okay, I finally signed up for that Facebook nonsense.  The blog will automatically post as Notes there.  So if you prefer Facebook for that sort of thing, you can add me as a friend and get all the updates that way.

Little monsters

I mean that affectionately, of course.  Housie is so popular I have created a problem for myself.  My 6th standard class was so obsessed with getting to the game, I almost had to skip it.  I still think it is a great tool for reinforcing the lesson.  Hopefully as the game gets harder, they will see that they have to pay attention to the lesson in order to even play.

I am trying to integrate motivation for the whole class to pay attention during the lesson/activity (even when a student is not active) right into what we are doing.  To teach different ways of answering "How are you?" I had my 3rd standard kids sit in a circle.  I passed out flashcards with the different answers, a picture of it, and the Marathi word.  Going around the circle, each student asks the person to their left "How are you?" and they respond with the word on their card.  Then we each pass the card to the next person and start over.  These are also the pictures/words in the housie game at the end of class.  The kids want to be sure they know how to say their word even before it is their turn, but they would not listen while the other kids were talking to hear how it is said.  Hopefully as they get used to this activity, it will eventually motivate them to listen.

Starting to get hot

Apparently it reached about 95 degrees today.  I had class, so I was out at the hottest time of day and in small, unairconditioned, unfanned rooms filled with warm little bodies.  Fortunately I wasn't miserable.  Unfortunately it means it is still going to get much hotter.

Little visitors

Boaz and I are sitting on the couch eating dinner or something.  He's looking at me, talking, then shouts "OH MY GOD!" mid-sentence.  Obviously there is a giant, rabid, spider lunging at me from behind with its deadly poisonous fangs.  Or there was just a lizard in the entry way.

 

I've seen a little cat in the courtyard a few times and found paw prints across our table on the veranda.  Today I caught him lounging on my chair.  I can't tell if he's a stray.  He's friendly, but not very clean.  He seems to like cheese.

Our stuff has arrived

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is ludicrous how visibly happy I am to be sitting on a couch right now.

Mornings in India

Things in India get started a little later.  Boaz's office sends a shuttle for him and other expats in the morning that doesn't even arrive until 9:20 and he's the first pickup.  Some shops are open about 9 on weekdays, but most things don't open until about 10.  Malls, restaurants, etc. never open before 11.

I like to sleep in, so this seemed totally awesome for a while.  It's almost eerie, like waking from a coma in a zombie apocalypse, if you go out at 9am on a Sunday.  (I've been watching a lot of zombie movies while I've been sick.  Maybe too many.)  Those rare days that I want to get an early start become a waiting game, assuming I remember that nothing is really open.  A few times I've headed out early, but only been able to do 1/2 my errands because everything else was still closed.

Sick again!

I don't usually get sick this often, so I'm pretty grumpy about it.  Probably I can look forward to getting sick a lot more here.  Not only are the viruses foreign, but now I'm doing volunteer work in a building that sees 250+ kids, from who knows how many schools.  Dengue fever hasn't been ruled out yet either.  Our stuff has been processed by customs and will hopefully be delivered soon.  Being stuck in an uncomfortable bed all the time doesn't help with the grumpiness. 

First class?

I did my first classes today.  They went really well, I think.  I hadn't actually prepared enough material for them.  The other volunteers had emphasized not expecting too much from the classes.  It makes sense.  This is an extracurricular for them and they only see us twice a week for an hour at time.  But all of my classes were pros at reading as a group, at least phonetically.

Housie was big hit.  I caught myself doing a lot of India no-no's.  I pointed at children to call on them, I patted a kids head.  Nobody called me out, but even I know that these are rude behavior here.  There's a lot of learning to go around on both sides I think and we're getting to where we can share that with each other.

Prepping for class

One of the more obvious challenges I saw in the session I sat in on Monday is keeping the whole class engaged.  The volunteer started the class with some conversation.  "How old are you?  What is your favorite color?  Can you ask Didi some questions."  Then she wrote the alphabet on the board and had each of the students come up to name all the letters.  This is where the other kids started fidgeting and chatting with each other.

One-on-one time is important, but how do you find the time in just 2 hours a week and review past material and continue to cover new stuff?  I am thinking once a week I'll have the kids do a written worksheet while I read with each of them individually.  Otherwise, I want to focus on group activities as much as possible.   Maybe start each class with a short review game:  pass around a bag full of flashcards that the drawer can identify and then the group has a chance to do a follow-up, like spell the word or use it in a sentence.

For the first class I think we'll just do some introductions and questions followed by a game.  I'm hoping they like Housie (Bingo) and prizes.  I'm really hoping they'll even help come up with the clues/words/pictures for future game boards.