Learning Curves

-
Wednesday -
Today was the first official day of teaching for Debbie and I. This week, I was taking class (grade) 4. The way Indian culture represents numbers is different and the teacher's style of doing maths is different from what I am use to. So this was a large learning curve for myself, on top of trying to provide an English learning input. The maths teacher's name is Dhanunjai. The Head Master, Balaji also came in to the class when I was helping in the Arts and Crafts class. Due to transportation issues or other possible reasons, sometimes the teacher's are unable to make it in to school on time or at all. This led to me teaching some or the Arts and Crafts class alone. I was fortunate enough to have a class with Gouwsya, one of the teachers who teaches many subjects across grades. Not only does she seem to be a bright enthusiastic teacher, but she really wanted to use the opportunity to learn from us as well - a sign of a great teacher in my opinion.
Morning Mediation
After school, Debbie went in the Jeep to drop the children home.
Then Ronny drove Debbie, Rajen and I to Sanipalli Hill wasteland development site again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Everybody Wants to be Friends, but Nobody (I) Has Time

-
Image
Sunday - After breakfast, Debbie and I caught the bus from Mekala Palli, our local village, to Penukonda. While waiting for the bus, some of the local children came and as usual, tried to pluck up the courage to say hello, shake our hands and ask for their photos to be taken. Having your photo taken is all about the Pose It's Often hard to capture the fun and Enjoyment they have between taking Photos Happy to have a photo all to Himself Waiting, we also saw one of the girls from the classes I've been helping teach in. Once on the bus, it was a relatively easy ordeal. Arriving in Penukonda, we saw the girl from class and her family, so we said hello. It was nice to meet one of the children's family. One of the school children and her Family We then met up with Basha (organiser of the women's textile factory), who took us to some of the clothing stores in Penukonda and some temples and monuments around Penukonda, then to his house. Flowers and P
Read more

Small Points for Big Futures

-
Image
Friday - Starting off the day, we assisted the children and teachers at the SEDS school in revising for their English Exam. When it came time to take the English exam, they were a teacher short, so I ended up having to oversee the exam by myself, which was an interesting experience of feeling confused and unsure of if what I was doing was correct. After the English exam, I went downstairs to help the children revise their maths. Although when I inititally went down, I was bombared with children jumping on me. At first I was lifting my arms while they would hold on, but after having every inch of my arm being held onto, my ability to lift my arms became quite difficult. Studying for English Debbie checking a student's answers Revision time with Alex Exams are create universal Feelings Morning Tea Lunch Time FOOD! Debbie helping with Maths Breaking for lunch, Debbie and I ended up meeting Rajen's sister and some of her family. Returning bac
Read more

The Rise of Penukonda

-
Image
Sunday - Waking up, my eyes have been quite irritated and feeling puffy in the morning. I hope it subsides. After breakfast, Ronnie took Debbie and I straight up to Penukonda Hill. Getting through Penukonda was more of a hike than the actual Penukonda hill! There was a political rally in Penukonda on top of the usual Sunday market mayhem. Once we got through Penukonda itself, we travelled some roads having construction on them to near the top of the Penukonda hill, until we could not pass any further past all the construction vehicles. We found a bend in the road where we could park, then continued via foot, determined to meet the top. Arriving at the top of Penukonda Hill, we were greeted by beautiful birds and the remains of the fort which rest across the hill. The Penukonda (Penu refering to gold or made of gold, konda refering to hill) once served as an ancient tactical lookout, as well as the residency of the same king who ruled over Hampi. The king of Hampi would often ret
Read more