My first Indian wedding!

One of the women that works at the education center, Swati, generously invited me to her wedding.

You can barely see her here surrounded by, oh, about 30 women in a room the size of a big closet.  Having trouble getting shots of the bride will be a theme for the evening.

Optometry

After my post on subtle challenges teaching at AIC, I talked to Eric.  They do handle optometry.  In fact, they had an 'optometry camp' just two months ago and all the kids at the Education Center were checked out.  Probably the girl in my 9th standard class just missed that day.

I know she had been out of school for some time and only recently returned.  It was in the previous volunteer's report.  And she is very shy/quiet, but her English and reading skills are about as good as the other kids in the class.  I actually hope nearsightedness is a problem for her and that glasses will help her level of engagement/confidence in both our sessions and the rest of her classes.  (And not provide another source of self-consciousness.)

Why am I so uncomfortable?

I'm actually not at all uncomfortable with Shama (our maid-cum-savior) anymore.  I was uncomfortable with maids even back home.  Maybe out of being such a slob or mostly feeling weird about not doing anything while somebody else deals with my mess or knowing that it's not like I have more education than this person, but I make at least 4 times what they do an hour, if not significantly more and there's more variety and I hate doing what they are doing right now and how the hell is that fair?  This commonly applied while traveling for work and staying in hotels or even staying at my parents'.

Shama is college educated in hotel management and now works as a private maid largely because her mother can no longer manage the household, her daughter is now at college, and her husband has passed.  It gives her the flexibility she needs and working for foreigners affords her a pretty good wage here.  She's been a great help to me in getting more involved errands done and translating flashcard words for class.  She takes pride in what she does, and I do too now.  Whew!

I've run into a sort of similar problem with one of my lessons for the kids:  What do you want to be when you grow up?  I prepared flashcards in advance.  (I prepare everything in advance and make almost all of my stuff from scratch - from flashcards and bingo boards to worksheets - 'cause I'm obsessed.)  And here's where I struggled.  I want to encourage them to be anything and everything they want.  I also want to be realistic.  The word 'realistic' just used, right there, even sounds patronizing, bourgeois, classist - oh my god, I am the devil.  But I still want to be realistic.  So I am using a mix of occupations from tailor and driver and maid to scientist and teacher and pilot and actor.  Oh please, let me not be an asshole. 

Speaking of subtle problems

As I mentioned in my first post about AIC, I figured there would be some subtle challenges to this teaching endeavor.  There are plenty of obvious ones:  limited time; potentially limited motivation; totally different style of teaching; 3rd language for these kids; I have no experience teaching kids, much less teaching ESL; etc. etc.  Eric has talked about the fact that it took them a little while to figure out that the Health Outreach program needs to work hand-in-hand with the Education Outreach program - kids that are sick or whose parents are sick cannot come to class.

I'm hoping this means that they can address optometry as well.  One of the girls in my 7th/9th standard class is obviously nearsighted.  I do some 'fill in the blanks' grammar work with the older kids, which I prepare before class on a large sheet of paper.  She cannot read it from the back of the class and is too shy to want to come sit closer.  There's also a girl in my youngest group who wants to use the book on the few occasions that I write the text on the board to copy.  I am thinking because she has trouble reading the board.  It could also be my handwriting.  Add that to the list of subtle challenges.

Where to sit?

So the kids here just sit on the floor for class.  They have little clipboards or clipboard like things that they use for writing surfaces.  The teachers all sit in plastic patio chairs.  (Yes, those ubiquitous mass produced ones you're thinking of.)  I don't usually sit in a chair, despite many efforts to get me to do so.  It's akin to trying to refuse food in any Indian home.  I'm usually standing at the board, crouching with a book, or sitting on the floor in a circle with the kids.

Usually during my second class the cook (I think she's the cook at the center) brings us tea.  Today they were out of tea masala, so it was hot, sweet milk instead.  I was sitting in a circle doing the 'How are you?' exercise with the kids and not paying attention to her talk with the Marathi teachers.  I don't know if she had been trying to ask me if I wanted milk or what.  But she walked right up to me, grinning all the time, and pinched my cheeks really hard.  Maybe she thought it was cute that I was sitting on the floor like a child.  I'm really not sure.

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.

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.

Volunteer work at AIC

 

I started talking to AIC before leaving the States and submitted my formal application shortly after arriving, but hadn't heard anything for a while.  I was beginning to worry that Grampa gave me a bad reference and this whole thing wasn't going to work out.  Turns out the HR-and-everything-else guy I've been talking with, Eric, had been back Stateside.  So he e-mailed me Saturday.  We met at the education center on Sunday.  And today I got a glimpse of the work I'll be doing with the Ashraya Initiative for Children.  You can read about all of their programs on their website.

I'll be starting with the education outreach program.  AIC arranges enrollment; pays tuition; provides supplies, uniforms, and a place to bathe and study for about 250 slum children.  The kids in the program return to the education center before or after school for additional instruction, help with homework, etc.  I was lucky enough to catch the weekly dance class yesterday.

All of the new students are enrolled in English medium schools, but originally many of the students were sent to Marathi medium schools.  (Marathi is the regional language in Maharashtra.)   Volunteers like me work with these students for two 1-hr sessions each week to teach them basic English.  I'll start Thursday with 3 groups of about 10 kids from the 3rd to the 9th standard.

I'm excited.  The kids are all delightfully friendly.  Even on the street near the center they run up to shake my hand, yelling "Didi! Didi!"  But I'll admit I'm a little intimidated too.  I sat in on one session with a 2nd standard group today, but I'll be leading my own classes already next time.  There are some obvious challenges and I'm sure more subtle ones as well.  The volunteer that is leaving is preparing some detailed reports on each of the groups for me.  I'll be talking more this week about how I'm trying to prepare too.