10 weeks in Kadod passed by like the blink of an eye and I am now back in San Francisco. With the craziness of teaching our last few classes, saying goodbye to everyone in Kadod, and packing to come back to the US, I was unable to let you all know about the last few activities we completed with the kids. So here it is…
For our last two weeks in Kadod, our Spoken English students read, comprehended, memorized and performed an original play that Priya and I wrote, titled “The Rain Dance.” The students were extremely excited to read the play and comprehend what was going on in each of the scenes. After teaching some new vocabulary and holding role-playing activities with the play, the students completely understood what was going on in the play and started acting!
In “The Rain Dance,” a drought has caused villagers in the town of Chicago to , as their crops need water to grow. In need of rain, the villagers seek help from Shooting Star, the village leader. Shooting Star then suggests that the villagers seek aid from soldiers who have recently arrived in the village. Together, the villagers and soldiers decide they will hold a rain dance to call the rain. The idea is a success, and while everyone comes together in the rain dance, the rain falls and everyone celebrates!
The students really enjoyed acting out the play with each other and in front of their classmates! Some of the students played the roles of villagers, soldiers and a few even played the role of Shooting Star, the town leader. After the students had enough practice with the play, Priya and I decided to let them in on a little surprise: the students were going to perform the play for our Spoken English Celebration Program!
As it got closer and closer to the day of the program, the students got more and more excited! Some of them even decided to dress up to truly fit their roles.
Vicky, dressed as a soldiers, accompanied by villagers Divyesh, Nikhil and Vivek
Our Spoken English Celebration and Final Program was attended by Principal Mahida and his family, Raj (President of NEF), Cat, Melissa, our entire Spoken English class, and many other students of KHS. To start off the program, Jinita, one of our 9th standard students, sang an English song titled “My Heart is Beating.” Then, the students started the play! There were 5 scenes total in the play and each of the students in our Spoken English class was in 1-2 scenes.
All of the students memorized their lines and acted to the best of their abilities! We were so proud of each and everyone of our students. At the end of the play, the girls from our 9:00 am class also performed a Garba, (the rain dance in our play) that I choreographed and had been teaching them for the past 2 weeks.
The girls and I practicing the routine for their final performance!
The girls are such amazing, hardworking and motivated dancers!
They performed brilliantly even though we had limited practices that occurred right before our daily morning prayer and during the 2nd half of our lunch break. After the rain dance occurred, all of the students stood up, cheering “The rain has come….The rain has come!!!!!!!” The rain had indeed come, and this ended the performance.
Afterwards, we congratulated the students for the brilliant work they have completed over the past 10 weeks. After the program ended, Priya and I realized that each of our students has grown so much in the past 10 weeks. All of the students have come so far and their hard work has truly paid off!
Now that I am back in the US, I have been reflecting on my experiences in Kadod, teaching at Kadod High School. I have realized that over the past 10 weeks, I’ve had some of the best experiences of my life. I am so lucky to have had this opportunity to develop strong relationships with such enthusiastic, thoughtful, and diligent students and I will truly miss each and every one of them. I feel like I have become a member of the Kadod High School community and I am sad that I will not be able to communicate with my students as often as I would like. However, I know that I will never forget what I have learned in Kadod and I will take what the students, teachers, and administration of KHS have taught me everywhere I go. Kadod has become a 2nd home for me and I hope that I hope that I can continue to learn from everyone in Kadod in the future!
Thank you for reading our blog for the past few months and again, if you have any questions about Kadod High School, any of the work our students have been doing, or about Kadod, please let me or Priya know!
I hope you’ve enjoyed our Nanubhai 2008 Summer Blog!
Thanks,
Vanisha
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