"I am very lucky"

Hey everyone – it’s Kitty teacher here; formerly known as Kirsten. It didn’t take long for me to get a petname – no one ever gets my name right, no matter what country I’m in! I really do love the name chosen for me in India!

It’s been a month now since I began teaching at Madhi High School. I can honestly say I’ve never been a part of a teaching experience quite like this before. Each day I encounter something new and I’m blown away by the eagerness of the students. I have one class in particular that impresses me with their knowledge and desire to learn. I’ve started meeting with 5 of these students and we call ourselves The Super English Club (this name was chosen by the students!). We meet twice a week during lunch recess and I bring them fun poems to discuss and teach them silly idioms that we laugh about when I explain to them the meaning of sayings like; “I’m all ears.” Things we say in our everyday conversations become extremely funny when you try and explain them to someone learning your language. These 5 kids are among the brightest of my students . I started to notice how they would turn and help their classmates with information I was teaching when they were confused. I got to thinking how peer mentoring could be used in the classroom so, Meet, Dhuval, Khrunal, Riddhi and Pooja have become a part of an experiment with me. Each week I look forward to hearing what they have to share with me about their readings and I find myself so excited when I see them helping their peers in my classroom. Pooja and Riddhi both would like to go to Medical School in the United States. They plan to come back to India and open hospitals. Dhuval and Meet dream of becoming scientists and inventing new products to help their country become successful. Dhuval says that he will become the richest man in the world through this. I have no doubts this could happen. Khrunal – small, bright eyed, immensely intelligent Khrunal – aspires to Presidency. They are all 13 years old and dreaming. In this India, will these dreams become realities? Will the dreams of their youth be thwarted by hardship and obstacles, exams and financial difficulties? I have so much hope for the positives for them.

Today I received a note from one of my 8^th Standard Spoken English students named, Akashi. Entitled "I am very lucky", here is what she writes:

I am lucky because Miss Kitty teaches for me. My family loves me. I have two very good friends named Tuishu and Reshmu. I am very happy of my self.

Your lovely student,

Akashi

Even after this short time, I think that I am the lucky one to be teaching them. Until next time…peace from Bajipura, Gujarat. Enjoy the pictures of some of my students at Madhi High School, Madhi, Gujarat.

From Meghan to Meghna

This is my first blog entry of my new life in India. I should preface this with the fact that this is my first time out of North America. The common reaction to this response is, “WOW, you’re brave.” I don’t yet find I need bravery to face India, but I am feeling overwhelmingly excited to be in a place that is vastly different from my home country. So far I feel the necessity of drinking in every moment of this experience. The excitement of discovering all the wonders of my surroundings is amazingly overwhelming, from soaking up delicious curries with rothies, to feeling the wind through my hair in the tight rickshaw with horns screaming in the background.

I will be staying in Bajipura, Gujarat, which is directly across from a temple that has daily prayer at 7am and 7pm, a mosque is also located behind us that has call to prayer five times a day. Outside my bedroom I have the roaring highway and I wake up to the camp fires of mothers preparing breakfast. We also see the farmer preparing his cows to carry him down the road.

The rest of the town is small, quaint, and friendly. From beautiful elaborate houses to small shanties, or simply whole families living under a tarp or tree for shelter. We have a dairy where the whole town gathers just before dinner to collect their milk. The river runs behind the town and women do their washing while their children swim naked. Also the farmers bring their cows to come cool down and take a long refreshing drink. The town highlight is an ice-cream stand that we frequent. They also have 10 rupee sodas that are so refreshing in the heat.

We seem to be the main attraction of the town currently. As we walk down the road traffic accidents occur and people nearly fall over. As I sit talking on the phone a crowd begins to circle and they don’t seem to mind the ten minutes of awkwardness they share as they take me in.

Both the Gujarati Medium and English Medium schools are a short walk from my home. We walk down the busy highway, me nearly being hit by the elaborately painted trucks. We pass busy bus stops, street vendors, and the occasional animal. The most commonly sighted animals are goats, cows and the dogs that are not friendly, which is a great source of unhappiness for me.
We arrive at the school and are quickly greeted with GREAT enthusiasm. Every child says, “ Hi Maim, Good Morning.” I will hear good morning all day long even if it is 5pm. Some students also progress to “How are you.” The response to this is always, “I am fine,” or if they do not know the answer they just laugh and run away.

I also have another name at the school. The challenge of introducing myself as Meghan, has quickly been alleviated by adapting my new Indian Meghna. It is helpful for all the students and teachers and also quite entertaining since they think that I was born with an Indian name. Now if only I could come up with a quick solution for learning everyone’s’ names. With classes of over seventy students and my horrible pronunciation problems I don’t think I will be able to come up with an easy fix for this problem.

School in India has been such a culture shock to me, from the loud rambunctious children of the US to the well mannered robot like children of India. As we walk into the class all students stand and say, “Good morning teacher.” The atmosphere of the school is very formal. All students wear a full uniform. They also have to sit up straight on benches that have no backs, quite different from the students in the US slouching in their desk chairs. Also any time the whole school comes together the children pile themselves into tight efficient lines and then squeeze into the tightest space. This is all done in minutes and seemingly with no complaint of the limited space. In the US I can picture fights breaking out over the lack of space, but here it is just the norm.

Now it is not that the students are exactly robots because I certainly have students that misbehave, but it is a different type of disobedience. While students in the US walk around like they own the school, students here know that there is a higher authority and that if it is not the teacher in the room there is certainly no one that will try and defy the supervisor or the principal. I have not seen students respond to any adult quite the way children in India respond to their principal. Also there is a much more clear feeling of a culture of achievement. It is not so cool to be at the bottom of class in India. There is embarrassment in misbehaving and for doing poorly in school. Students understand that being successful is cool in the end because it can get you out of the poverty that you may be living in or the poverty that you see your neighbor living in.

My students in the US had limitless knowledge of sex and drugs, but here the students seem years behind in the street knowledge that my students had acquired. The students are so playful in their naivety and it is such a wonderful thing after seeing many of my students struggling with the amount of knowledge they had about grown up issues.

The religious presence in the school is also, quite a shock for me. Although there are different religious groups represented within the school, all students come together for Morning Prayer and all the festivals celebrated at school are from the Hindu tradition. This does not seem to cause division in fact all students seem to participate regardless of their religious background.

So far I am feeling quite at home in my little village. I am also feeling completely welcomed at the school. While the teachers and students are most certainly pointing out all of my difference they are also certainly welcoming me into their community and are completely willing to learn about my different background.

Kem Cho!

Welcome to Nanubhai Education Foundation’s blog! My name is Milly, and I am one of two interns who are working here in India this summer. Five weeks since arriving in Bajipura, I have become accustomed to life in the village, but every day is still a new and exciting experience. It is my first time in this country, and coming here was one of the biggest decisions I have ever made in my not-so-long life, but my time here so far has been incredible!

My focus has been on before and after school Spoken English classes at the R.V. Patel Gujarati Medium High School—in the mornings I teach 9^th, 10^th and 12^th standard girls, and in the afternoons I teach 9^th and 10^th standard boys. For several weeks I taught 6^th and 7^th standard students at the partner English medium school as well. Pictured above are some boys from my afternoon class and the yellow smiley face ball that they have come to call the "Milly ball," which we sometimes use to review vocabulary in the past and future tenses.

Living and teaching in rural India has been challenging but rewarding. As I walked into school on the first day of classes, I could feel every child’s eyes hooked on the three new American teachers— some students would shout out “Good morning teacher!” (even in the afternoon) while the shy ones would chuckle and hide. Before arriving in India, I was worried about the classes I will teach: Will they understand what I am saying? Can I control a classroom full of kids without knowing Gujarati? How can I be effective with limited resources? But within the first few days my worries melted away as I got to know the students and they got to know me.

During the first several lessons, the Spoken English students learned different ways to answer the question “How are you?” other than the standard “I am fine” response. At first the students had trouble using the other responses; however, after several rounds of Simon Says (in Spoken English Class style), the students had a better sense of what the different phrases meant. Now when I see them out of class and ask them how they are, they might say "I am so-so" or give me a thumbs up and say "Teacher, I am doing great!"

Despite the language barrier, I have begun forming great relationships with some of the local teachers and students, one step at a time. I am currently working on mastering the Gujarati alphabet, which is far more difficult than I imagined, but I will keep trying!

Namaste and thank you for reading,

Milly

Bringing the Creativity

Nanubhai Fellows will teach 50-70 students at one time in a standard public school English class. With so many students at one time, many teachers feel overwhelmed and helpless to connect with students on an individual level. Our Fellows, however, have come up with some creative ways to create personal connections with students and have their individual voices heard that range from debates to personal information cards to bringing in classroom surprises. View their innovations in the photo album below:

Fellows' Innovation!

they will marriage

Spoken English class began this week to mixed results. At first, teaching the hostel boys in the morning was disastrous. There was about 40 of them, and they all live together in the hostel so I think their testosterone is above average. Whatever it was, I could not calm down the classroom, ended up punishing several and sending one kid out of the classroom.

Teaching the girls in the afternoon is like night to the boy's day. Initially, my co-teacher Kathryn and I were teaching the whole group together (about 20 girls and 20 boys). Yesterday, however, we seperated the boys and girls and attacked each group seperately. When we instructed the boys to go in a different room, a bunch of girls started cheering. I completely sympathized. The girls in spoken English are mostly girls from 9b, the "smart" girls class. Needless to say they are VERY enthusiastic, standing up and raising their hand for every question and calling out "teacher, teacher." One girl, Mili, who is very bright, tall, and confident, put her head on her desk when I passed her over and called on someone else.

"Teacher I am crying!" she said, and pretended to wipe tears from her eyes. For the rest of the class whenever I called on someone else she would fake blubber and say "Teacher I am crying! I am crying!" I couldn't help but laugh.

In class we gave the students paper and pencils and told them to draw their "favorite things." The boys had a hard time understanding this- many of them drawing the exact same thing (popular items included bicicles, flowers, elephants, and mango trees). On boy, however, drew a picture of a pretty girl. When I walked by to look at his paper, another boy said "it is you!"

The next day we had them introduce themselves and explain their drawing.

When we got to the boy, he said "I draw girl."

Kathryn then prompted him, "And why did you draw a girl?"

He paused and mumbled, "I draw girl. There is boy... They will marriage."

Everyone laughed and the boy looked very embarassed. After class, though, as I was leaving he ran up to me with a bunch of other boys crowded around.

"This is for you!" he said, handing me the picture. "It is you!"

New Teachers, New Classrooms

Check out the pictures of our new teachers in their classrooms, posted below:





Spoken English classes, the free before and after school classes we offer to high school students who can't afford the high priced coaching classes their urban peers attend, have begun at our partner schools: Kadod High School, Madhi High School and Bajipura High School. We cap the classes at 20 students per class so that we can maintain good teacher to student ratios that are conducive to small group work where students can practice speaking English. However, our principals have been asking us to expand our class sizes, saying that they have waiting lists for the classes that are over 50 students long! In some of our schools, we are adding extra classes to accomodate the overflow of enthusiastic students!

More pictures of our teachers at work are available here:

Our New Teachers!

2009 School Year Begins!

Hello everyone!

I'm Cat Biddle, Nanubhai's Executive Director, and I am so excited to announce the beginning of our new school year and a new round of blog contributors to keep you updated on the triumphs and trials of teaching here in rural Gujarat with Nanubhai.

I'd like to introduce our stellar staff this year who'll be contributing to our blog:

AT KADOD HIGH SCHOOL!

Claire Greenwood graduated with honors in English from Wesleyan University in 2009, where she completed a poetry manuscript for her senior thesis. As a junior in college she spent four months in Bodh Gaya, Bihar, living in a Burmese monastery. During her stay in Bodh Gaya, she briefly ordained as a Buddhist nun in the Theravada tradition. Buddhist practice's emphasis on "right livelihood" (the notion that one's career should help others) is primarily what attracts her to teaching. She is excited to come back to India and share a skill that is valuable (English language), as well as polish her Hindi, take many trips to Bombay, and buy even more bangles. She plans to live in India for at least two years and then return to the states to get an MFA in creative writing.


Kathryn Sheriff joins Nanubhai as a full-time secondary English teacher at Kadod High School. She graduated in the spring of 2009 with a degree in Religious studies from Carleton College. While at Carleton, Kathryn was able to focus her studies on South Asian religion, culture, and art history through course work and a semester studying at the University of Peradeniya in Kandy, Sri Lanka. While in Sri Lanka, Kathryn was a volunteer English teacher and activity leader at Evelyn Nurseries Orphanage, where she really fell in love with the region and teaching. Kathryn is looking forward to teaching English, eating as much Indian food as she can bear, learning Hindi, and becoming a part of the Kadod community.

AT MADHI HIGH SCHOOL!

Kirsten Hill graduated from Houghton College in New York with a degree in International Relations with minors in Intercultural and Religious Studies. Her interest in cultures led her to study for a semester in Thailand at Chiang Mai University where she studied the language and Asian history and culture. While there, she taught English classes to Buddhist monks in University and volunteered working at a Montesory school with internally displaced children from Loas, Cambodia and Thailand's many hilltribes. This experienced drew her to decide to teach abroad after obtaining her degree. Kirsten is interested in women's issues, development and all things cultural. She is a self-professed bookworm and curry lover. She is looking forward to learning a new language, meeting her 8th, 9th and 11th year students and learning how to properly put on a sari!

Lyndi Milton joins Nanubhai this year as a full-time teacher and brings with her experience she gained while teaching in China. After earning her Bachelor Degree in Business Administration in 2004 Lyndi made a bold career change and moved to rural China to teach university-level English. Lyndi spent three years in China and during her time there she and her fellow teachers lead efforts to improve the confidence and self esteem of the female students on campus. This was accomplished by developing a lecture series geared towards the needs of the female population and by leading focus groups for the Annual Women's Symposium. During her free time, Lyndi ran in several major races in China, including the Great Wall Marathon, and spent time traveling around SE Asia. It was during her time in China that Lyndi's interest in non-profit groups began to grow, which ultimately lead her to the Nanubhai Education Foundation. Lyndi is dedicated to the efforts of Nanubhai and is eager to not only teach in India, but to learn from her experiences there.

Mansi Shah (Summer Intern) is a Development Studies major at Brown, interested in rural education, health care, and all things India. After working on health and education projects in the Dominican Republic and teaching ESoL to several Hispanic populations, she is excited to learn much more as a 2009 intern with NEF. While forming meaningful relationships with students this summer, Mansi is also hoping to work on issues of female participation, improve her Gujarati, and tap into the post-election frenzy for her senior thesis. Though she plans to attend medical school in a year, she loves knowing that teaching will continue to find its way into her future plans.


AT BAJIPURA HIGH SCHOOL!

Krishna Pandya graduated from Temple University in 2008 with a degree in Cultural Anthropology and minors in Asian Studies and Religion. In the summer of 2008, she participated in a Study Abroad in India program to research on the Swaminarayan faith of Hinduism. During her stay in Guajrat, India, she felt the desire to contribute to the rural public education system and provide the preparations that the children need to build a strong future. Moreover, she felt that her broad range of experiences would allow her to serve these educational needs. In the past, she has worked as a Teen Leadership Assistant at a branch of Philadelphia public library where she tutored students from grade 1-12. She has also had an opportunity to tutor high school students through Temple University's Russell Conwell Center. She is very excited to go back to Gujarat as a Nanubhai Fellow! In future, she plans to pursue a PhD in Cultural Anthropolgy and publish her ethnographic film on the Swaminarayan faith of Hinduism.

Meghan Cunningham graduated from Nazareth College in 2008 where she majored in English Literature with a concentration in Inclusive Education. In 2009, Meghan was an Americorps Teaching Fellow with Citizen Schools. She served her fellowship in Vance County, a rural area in North Carolina, that has high poverty and some of the worst performing schools in the state. Throughout college Meghan tutored in programs that served English Language Learners. These students were rewarding to work with and it became a strong desire for her to learn how to best teach these particular students. Teaching with NEF provides her with opportunities to learn more about effectively teaching English Language Learners, while also satisfying a dream to travel and to immerse herself in the rich culture of India. This experience will someday help Meghan better serve immigrants and refugees in the United States.

Milly Egawa (Summer Intern) is currently a junior at Georgetown University, double majoring in Anthropology and Spanish. She joined the NEF team through its internship program during the summer of 2009 with the encouragement of her roommate, who has sparked her interest in Indian culture. It is this interest as well as her positive experiences teaching English to immigrant children through the DC Schools program that have led her to work with NEF. Milly was born in Japan, and English is her second language; she therefore recognizes that the privilege of knowing English has opened up many new paths for her, and hopes that working with NEF will help create similar opportunities for the students of rural India. She looks forward to getting to know her students and to learning Gujarati--and to eating the local food as well!

AT KHATIWALA HIGH SCHOOL!

Pamela Colon graduated in May 2009 from Colby College with a B.A. in Human Development. She has always been interested in social justice and education, which led her to spending some time in a rural school in Kalimpong, India. Here, she not only fell in love with Indian culture, but also these trips re-energized her dedication to ensuring all students receive a proper education, regardless of their locality or class status. Additionally, she is interested in how different communities enable their youth to become successful, and hopes to find out more about this during her year in Surat. Most importantly, Pam is ecstatic to join the NEF team, as it allows her to combine all of her passions: teaching, research, and Indian culture.

Dalena Frost teaches 8th, 9th, and 11th standard English teacher as a Fellow at Khatiwala High School. She graduated from Williams College in 2009 with a BA in Asian Studies and a Concentration in International Studies. She first had the chance to go to India during the spring of 2008 through Emory University's Tibetan Studies program, and can't wait to explore more of the amazing country. Dalena has previous experience with the Indian International School in Japan, Seattle Center Academy, and the Youth Tutoring Program in Seattle, along with other teaching and tutoring experience. In the future, Dalena plans to obtain an MA in Counseling Psychology: Expressive Arts Therapy, and continue her work in education while sharing her passion for performance with those around her. During her time in India, she hopes to learn more about the rich Indian culture, study some Hindi, and perhaps learn some traditional Indian dance.