So today was a multitude of terrifying experiences for me. It was the first day of school. Where do I begin? So I got up and had my morning chai and a delicious breakfast of idli and sambaar which was so good. I was ready for an adventurous day at school. Maybe I forgot I was in India, or something, but lesson learned: Mariah. Remember, you're in India. Always prepare for the worst possible outcome.
We started the day out with an assembly. Kerry and I introduced ourselves to the entire school (~500 people). For me, this was terrifying in and of itself. I sat in on the morning yoga class during first period with the 4th standard students (age 9 I think) and it was peaceful and relaxing in the hot morning weather. The PT master recited mantras and instructed students to sit in the full lotus position. We stretched our legs and sat in meditation as he tried to teach the class a mantra. It looks like I'll be sitting in on the yoga class Monday-Thursday from now on, and we'll be learning more mantras.
We sat in on a Hindi class. It was a good refresher. My understanding of Tamil sucks. It's more similar to Sanskrit than to Hindi. After Hindi, Kerry and I went up to an arts and crafts class where we were introduced to the class. This is where our advisors said, "See ya!" And dipped from the classroom. We looked at each other and just said, "well, they have paper. Looks like we're doing origami." There were about 30 kids and they were rambunctious and wouldn't stay in their seats for more than 30 seconds. We taught them to fold a paper heart. The next class we had went easier as we were prepared to teach something. Whatever, the kids loved it either way. I'm trying to stay positive about this as Kerry is, but I'm pretty much scared shitless.
The English class was the worst for me. I panicked. The coordinator literally just dropped us in the room and didn't tell us how much English they knew, and I had 40 pairs of eyes staring at me with wide smiles. I sang "Head shoulders knees and toes" with them. They all knew it. Great. They already knew past and future tense but their grammar is quite poor. 2 periods passed and I asked the coordinator how much longer we have to teach for? And she said, "Oh, you can be done now! They have English for four periods. There is another teacher coming." Really? Really? You could have told me that earlier.
It's so hard to remember my creative side when I'm in front of a group of people, no matter who they are. Even if they're 10 year old Indian kids who think anything I say is golden. Tomorrow is a new day and I have a plan this time. I'm going to have them do journals every day. We're starting with autobiographies tomorrow, thanks to an idea from my dad's friend who teaches language arts to middle schoolers. Hopefully, at the end of this, I become better at speaking in front of people, which is my worst quality.
In other news, the lock broke on our door today so that was another minor catastrophe. I had fun playing charades with the warden and my elderly neighbors who only know Tamil. Then we had a spider in our room and again, I had to muster up some of my elders with brooms to come shoo the spider out of our room. I mean, it was a really big spider!!!!!
Tomorrow's a new day and I'm gonna give this a shot again. Hopefully I'll be more prepared this time.
We started the day out with an assembly. Kerry and I introduced ourselves to the entire school (~500 people). For me, this was terrifying in and of itself. I sat in on the morning yoga class during first period with the 4th standard students (age 9 I think) and it was peaceful and relaxing in the hot morning weather. The PT master recited mantras and instructed students to sit in the full lotus position. We stretched our legs and sat in meditation as he tried to teach the class a mantra. It looks like I'll be sitting in on the yoga class Monday-Thursday from now on, and we'll be learning more mantras.
We sat in on a Hindi class. It was a good refresher. My understanding of Tamil sucks. It's more similar to Sanskrit than to Hindi. After Hindi, Kerry and I went up to an arts and crafts class where we were introduced to the class. This is where our advisors said, "See ya!" And dipped from the classroom. We looked at each other and just said, "well, they have paper. Looks like we're doing origami." There were about 30 kids and they were rambunctious and wouldn't stay in their seats for more than 30 seconds. We taught them to fold a paper heart. The next class we had went easier as we were prepared to teach something. Whatever, the kids loved it either way. I'm trying to stay positive about this as Kerry is, but I'm pretty much scared shitless.
The English class was the worst for me. I panicked. The coordinator literally just dropped us in the room and didn't tell us how much English they knew, and I had 40 pairs of eyes staring at me with wide smiles. I sang "Head shoulders knees and toes" with them. They all knew it. Great. They already knew past and future tense but their grammar is quite poor. 2 periods passed and I asked the coordinator how much longer we have to teach for? And she said, "Oh, you can be done now! They have English for four periods. There is another teacher coming." Really? Really? You could have told me that earlier.
It's so hard to remember my creative side when I'm in front of a group of people, no matter who they are. Even if they're 10 year old Indian kids who think anything I say is golden. Tomorrow is a new day and I have a plan this time. I'm going to have them do journals every day. We're starting with autobiographies tomorrow, thanks to an idea from my dad's friend who teaches language arts to middle schoolers. Hopefully, at the end of this, I become better at speaking in front of people, which is my worst quality.
In other news, the lock broke on our door today so that was another minor catastrophe. I had fun playing charades with the warden and my elderly neighbors who only know Tamil. Then we had a spider in our room and again, I had to muster up some of my elders with brooms to come shoo the spider out of our room. I mean, it was a really big spider!!!!!
Tomorrow's a new day and I'm gonna give this a shot again. Hopefully I'll be more prepared this time.
Find out who these children are. Develop relationships with them. If you need more ideas let me know. Hopefully you can find some materials to use. Above all, stay calm and relaxed and project the DFWM attitude.
ReplyDeleteYou are much more skilled then I would be. You go MoMo! I cant believe you get to do yoga and mantras everyday! :D
ReplyDeleteDude you would HATE the first graders. They're so cute but when you have to teach them they get super excited and all jump out of their seats and crowd around me, and I have 20 little kids saying, "Maam, can i drink water? Maam, can I go to the bathroom? Maam can we color? Maam can we play a game?" It's like a zombie attack but cute little Indian children.
DeleteCome to think about it, I had a dream last night that the kids were all napping and one of them sat up super straight and looked at me with her big huge eyes open super wide just staring at me (because in reality, they do all stare at me with their big huge eyes). And she looked possessed and it was super scary but I told her to go back to sleep so she did.
Give it like 3 weeks and you'll be able to express yourself. I had a similar experience tutoring in dads class.
ReplyDelete