Teaching yesterday had its ups and downs, and I'm beginning to learn my strengths and weaknesses in the classroom. I've realized that I'm much better with the older students (sixth and seventh standards) than I am with the younger, due probably to a combination of the maturity of their students and my own patience and limitations. When it comes to patience, I've really had to learn to accommodate. Despite what I previously though, the language barrier is extraordinarily difficult to overcome. The smaller kids know only the simplest terms, and inasmuch as the older students have their rudimentary English skills down pat, it's still tough to maintain a conversation. However, I've learned to assuage my frustrations through means that don't require language skills... i.e. playing games, mainly. To be honest, I'd rather be a good friend than a good teacher to these girls. The majority of them come from situations unimaginably traumatic - domestic violence and homelessness, namely. There's a handful of students who come in from the village, but the vast majority are boarders at the home, having been rescued by Home of Hope. When I talk to them, I try to get an idea of their histories through the simplest of questions. For example, "where are you from?" tells me a lot. If the student says "Josephnagar" (the local village), they most likely live at home with their family: specifically, a family that cares enough to send them to school. If I get "Bangalore," "Hassan," or elsewhere, they're boarders at the home, which suggests something in and of itself.
But I digress.
After classes yesterday, my mom and I took the time to explore the village of Josephnagar a bit. We managed to get some great pictures; however, the highlight of the afternoon was being invited into a local woman's house. It was much like what one would expect of a home in a rural Indian village - quaint to an extreme (e.g. chickens in the living room) but overall pleasant. I'm actually a bit envious of the simplicity of life here; meanwhile, my BlackBerry sits menacingly in my backpack.
For me, today was a better day for teaching, most likely because I was given the older students for the majority of the day. I spent a lot of time teaching them "basic questions" in English: identifying their name, their age, where they're from, etc. It was a success, I think... I returned home after school to overhear a girl ask her friend, "where are you coming from?"
Because it's Friday, and this is a Catholic home, my mom and I went to mass tonight. Having grown up in a different sect of Christianity, I was pressed to find any possible parallels between an Episcopalian service in the southern United States and a Catholic service in the hills of southern India. The service itself was conducted entirely in Kannada, with the priest occasionally interjecting scolding commands directed at the children into his own sermon. I was clueless throughout, but it provided my first real opportunity to reflect on both the trip so far and my impending senior year of high school.
Besides, as my mom put it, there was nothing good on t.v. tonight.
For me, today was a better day for teaching, most likely because I was given the older students for the majority of the day. I spent a lot of time teaching them "basic questions" in English: identifying their name, their age, where they're from, etc. It was a success, I think... I returned home after school to overhear a girl ask her friend, "where are you coming from?"
Because it's Friday, and this is a Catholic home, my mom and I went to mass tonight. Having grown up in a different sect of Christianity, I was pressed to find any possible parallels between an Episcopalian service in the southern United States and a Catholic service in the hills of southern India. The service itself was conducted entirely in Kannada, with the priest occasionally interjecting scolding commands directed at the children into his own sermon. I was clueless throughout, but it provided my first real opportunity to reflect on both the trip so far and my impending senior year of high school.
Besides, as my mom put it, there was nothing good on t.v. tonight.
