Dalena here. Mine and Pamela's apologies for being MIA up till now--finding time to come to the internet cafe while balancing our increased schedule has posed a bit of a challenge, but we are reportedly getting the internet connected at our house tomorrow (fingers crossed that this is true!) after which updates--and pictures!--should come more frequently.
To bring everyone quickly up to date: Pamela and I just finished our third full week of teaching at Khatiwala High School in the English and Gujarati mediums. Surat is a fantastic town, full of lots of little luxuries including a movie theater, a 4-story mall, a Big Bazaar (the Indian equivalent of Wal-Mart, where they sell essentially anything your heart could desire, so long as you're not craving non-veg foods), and a handful of mainstream Western restaurants (McDonalds, Subway, and Pizza Hut). Our routine here consists of waking up around 6 or 6:15 in order to be at school by 7:10 to teach in the English medium, which goes until 12:30. I've picked up classes in the 6th, 7th, and 8th standards which I teach on a rotating schedule, taking two classes per week, which gives me the welcome opportunity to see the same students all week. After 12:30, we return home to lunch and break for a couple hours, before returning to school at 3:25 to teach in the Gujarati medium until 5:45. In the Gujarati medium, I teach the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th standards--each section of each class once a week. Teaching in each medium has its own distinctive flavor: the English medium kids are incredibly high-functioning but also overly verbose (especially on topics unrelated to the lesson), while the Gujarati medium kids seem enthralled with the lesson, but keep mum when I try to get them to respond in English!
Whenever I get the chance, I'm trying to work with both mediums more on getting comfortable with original composition work in English, something not highly touched upon in the government curriculum. They're used to regurgitating answers, or copying sample composition works, rather than conveying their own original ideas, so I hope to get them to stretch that ability! Some exciting opportunities have come up relating to the supplementary material at the back of lessons, which the teachers usually skip over. Regarding one poem I taught to 7th Standard, "Punishment in Kindergarten," by Kamala Das, the supplementary material included an explanation of metaphors and compound epithets, and workin with students to come up with their own. The kids had a firm grasp of similes, and were able to give me numerous examples they had memorized from their textbooks ("as proud as a peacock"; "as timid as a church-mouse"; "as straight as an arrow"...) but were surprised to learn it was possible to take out the words "like" and "as" and simply say that something IS something else. After demonstrating this possibility with the example, "My mother was a monster this morning," (this got a big laugh from the whole class) I was finally able to get some fine responses, including "the students were animals," "the road was a snake," and "school is a zoo."
Compound epithets (two words joined together by a hyphen which describe a noun, according to the students' texbook) are a part of language I don't recall learning about, so it was a learning experience for me, as well! Kamala Das uses multiple compound epithets in her poem, including "honey-coloured sky," "blue-frocked woman," and "steel-white sun." My 7-B class in particular jumped on this part of speech and gave me some great descriptions including, "cane-furnished house," "well-dressed teachers," and "elephant-coloured sky." While I'm not sure exactly what color this last one brings to mind, I appreciated the creativity! I'm now noticing many more compound epithets in my own reading...
Saturdays at school are a fun experience as well, as every alternate Saturday the students engage in different group activities, including a Spelling Bee, a Fancy-Dress Competition, and, two weeks ago, a Talk Show Debate. I had the chance to watch the 10th-12th standards debate about the topic, "Do Indians excel more in India or abroad?" which the students argued passionately (and loudly!) about, denouncing racism in America, emphasizing the need for change in India in terms of improving living conditions and eradicating bribery in business, and even praising Barack Obama as a symbol of change in America. At one point, an 11th Standard student turned to me directly and asked me, "Excuse me Ma'am, but are the Indians in America happy?" What a broad question! I could only tell him that my own friends from college seemed happy, but I couldn't speak for all the Indians in America. At the end, the Principal unexpectedly asked me to bring the event to a close with my own remarks. After a pause, while I waited for the students to quiet down, I tried to sum up the strong points of the conversation. One of the first points that had been made, I remarked, was one of the best: that it shouldn't matter whether Indians live in India or in America, they have the potential to excel in both places. What is important is to be aware of the challenges of living in each place. America does have it's own problems, among which racism is one, but they too can have a voice if they choose to live in America and help to change the problem. It was good to see such expressions of patriotism and also pushes to change being voiced in the same room. One female student was particularly heartening with her cry that "The world is a community! India is just part of the community, and all the parts of the community need to take care of each other. If India becomes the next superpower, we will again have the same problem as with America, and there will be more war..." Good words to remember as students from both "parts of the community" converse more! I'd like to see Pamela and I implement her idea of organizing pen pals between our students and those in the US... it seems like it could bring some very worthwhile dialogues at all age levels.
My internet time is up for the day, but I'll be in touch with more updates and photos soon!
Thank you for reading,
Dalena
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