"Teacher pleeaasse!"

In the last month, amidst so many new sights and smells, I have been learning to live with some new roles as well. First, I am a foreigner living in a very small village and second, I am a new faculty member of Madhi High School. Both of these have been an interesting and exciting adjustment.

The population of Bajipura hovers around 5,000 and there is not a move I make that goes unnoticed. By now, the community knows that I like to run early in the morning, I like buying saris at the Sunday market, and that I need ice cream or chocolate at least twice a week. Even one of my students who lives in a different village knew that I bought bananas last week! It can be a strange feeling to know that people take note of everything I do but I don’t let that stop my day to day life. Often, our attempts to blend in by wearing salwar kameez or saris can actually set us more apart. Slowly, we are becoming a fixture, not just an attraction, here in Bajipura. I was happy when I was asked to join two important cultural events that sent me door to door with the other women in the village asking for blessings. Even though we could not communicate sufficiently, there was an understanding that went beyond words.



Madhi High School is about 10k from where we live in Bajipura and every morning we are picked up and taken to school in a van. The commute to school is something that I enjoy because every day I see something new. The road to school is lined with fields of sugar cane and rice patties and is shared by cars, freight trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, goats, cows, pedestrians, and tractors. Many times we have to stop for cattle and even once for two goats butting heads in the middle of the road. The river is also a shared place; it is where people wash cars, wash clothes, bathe and even where cattle find respite from the heat. It is astonishing to see what an economic divide there is here. On the same road to school there is a fantastic mansion flanked on either side by utter poverty where people use pumps to gather water and electricity does not exist. It is exactly these people that we are hoping to help; rural people thirsting for opportunities.

The students at Madhi impress me. Many come from tiny villages and despite such a lack of resources (and sometimes even a lack of electricity in the classroom) they are still dedicated to learning, at times with overwhelming eagerness. My first two weeks of teaching started slow as the students adjusted to me and I learned how to interact with them. After they became comfortable with me they showed me just what they are capable of. My questions almost never go unanswered and the difficult part is picking just one student to answer. Their hands go up with impressive speed and if they feel that perhaps I didn’t see it they start to wave with an urgency reserved for life and death situations. Just in case I still didn’t see them, they start to call out “Teacher! Teacher! Teacher pleeeaassse!” When I pick one student to answer the others let their hands fall with a disappointed sighing sound, until the next question that is, when their hands once again fly up with speed.

Greetings from Surat!

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

Introducing Bajipura!

When I first arrived in Bajipura, it was around 2 pm, the hottest hour of the day. Seeing about three elderly people in the entire village, I thought, my goodness I’m in the middle of nowhere! But I soon found out that in the (relatively) cooler mornings and evenings, the village is full of life; there are children playing in the streets, students walking to and from school, workers commuting, and families socializing on outdoor bench swings (which every household here seems to have— we are determined to get one for our apartment too).

There are about 5,000 people living in the village of Bajipura. As we walked down the street to explore the village for the first time, I noticed that many of the newer houses have ornately carved doors and walls that are brightly painted in yellow, red, orange, green and blue. Every several hundred feet along our main street, there are temples of various faiths; there is one right in front of our apartment as well, and twice a day the songs of prayer ring throughout the entire street. There is also a river that runs through Bajipura; in the afternoons, there are women washing clothes, children bathing, and water buffaloes grazing on the green grass. My favorite spot is the bridge, where I can dangle my legs and read a book or do some writing—but some child would always manage to find me and curiously ask what I am doing!

All 5,000 people probably knew about us foreign teachers the day we arrived. The children were the first ones to greet us; any time they see us, they would stop whatever they are doing and scream out, “Hi Teacher!” Walking through the village, there is always some family that invites us into their home—the first several weeks were the peak of mango season, so every household would kindly offer us ripe orange mangoes that no matter how many I had eaten, I could not resist. Despite our non-existent Gujarati skills and the villagers’ limited English, we all somehow manage to communicate with smiles and wild gestures. Every week there is somebody new to wave to while strolling down the street.

On Sundays, Bajipura is at its liveliest. From the morning until the afternoon, there is an outdoor market that extends from the heart of the village to the river banks; the village square fills up with booths and vendors selling everything from clothes and jewelry to kitchenware and vegetables to samosas and shaved ice. There are mountains of chili peppers that reach up to my waist, and racks of clothes that seem to go on forever. We try to practice our awful bargaining skills, only to realize that the vendor is selling for a price lower than what we suggested!

Bajipura has proved itself much livelier than I had initially thought—and despite its small size, every week there is something new that I discover.

Namaste and thank you for reading,

Milly

"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!