The Most Insane Vacation of My Life

So I came home early from school today in order to prepare for my journey with the school. There is something quite exciting and at the same time unnerving about accepting an invitation to go on a trip in which you have no idea what the agenda is, exactly how to prepare mentally, and not even knowing the appropriate things to pack. I knew very little about what I was undertaking, but I did learn that I would be going to a water park, some temples, and maybe a few mountains. The number of days I would be gone was also quite vague to me.

I packed the usual items, but I also packed five days worth of food to nourish me for the entire journey. I have learned to fear getting sick, while travelling here in India. After a horrific month of stomach problems due to a trip to Delhi, I was not going to take any chances. With all my bags in tow I wandered down to the high school already feeling ready for bed, as we were leaving nearly at 9pm.

Upon arriving to the school I found that this was an event for all of Bajipura. The whole village arrived to bid farewell to their family and friends. We were taking around 100 students and around 500 people were there to say goodbye. The goodbyes included coming onto the bus and creating great confusion and craziness. The small aisles of the bus were crowded with parents anxiously scoping out what would become their child’s new home for the next few days.

We started down the highway with the kids screaming in excitement and blowing the extremely loud musical bus horns until we were out of town. Soon after that we heard another scream from the kids as the bus driver began blaring familiar popular Hindi songs in the bus. As soon as the music started the requests started for me to get up and dance in the bus aisles. I feel it would be dangerous to dance in bus aisles in any country, but on Indians curvy, sometimes out of shape roads and additionally all the crazy drivers, this was nearly a death sentence or at least risking serious injury to partake in dancing.

Once I realized there was no relaxing with a dance party occurring in the bus, I also was informed that this was to be a night journey. “Oh perfect a night journey, let’s get to the sleeping,” I thought. As I started to tune out all the noise and attempted to close my eyes. My hopes were soon crushed as I realized that I didn’t really fit in the seat. My luggage sitting at my feet was already giving me some anxiety, but I also realized that my knees were also scrunched against the barrier at the front of the bus. The teachers informed me that I could go to the back, where the boys were literally screaming, to lay across two seats. The boys made room for me and welcomed me by asking me a long series of questions, “What’s your mother’s name?” “What’s your father’s name?” I felt like I only seconds ago closed my eyes go to sleep when the bus was stopped and everyone told me to get out. At three o’clock in the morning my eyes were nearly completely shut and I was stumbling up the steps to a food hotel. I was greeted with,“ Teacher is there something wrong?” “What happened teacher?” “You’re tired teacher.” After all of this I could only think “Yes, and why are you not tired and grumpy, IT IS THREE AT NIGHT!” The teachers told me to sit down and I was served a cup of tea, which I knew was not going to help me fall asleep any faster.

We arrived the next day at four thirty in the morning. Except for a handful of kids there was no sleeping that took place on our bus. At most the kids had an hour of sleep under their belts. I began thinking of the nightmarish outcomes with teenagers facing no sleep, but the kids were all chipper as we went to take bucket showers. There were only a total of two showers to be shared by all fifty of us. It was amazing to me that there was no one complaining and all the girls happily got ready in the dirty and crowded position that we were in.

The first morning we made our way to a Shiva temple. As I was waiting in line to enter the temple I bent down to touch the steps just as all the students had done, but as I stood up I clobbered my head against the tiny archway leading into the temple. This happened in the midst of the woman, behind me in line, pushing me with her entire body. There is nothing more awkward than a woman pelvis bumping you in order to push her way to God. As I banged my head I heard on the announcements, “Please maintain the peace by not talking loudly and maintaining the calm atmosphere.” As I heard this I was ready to scream the most profane word as my head was pounding from the collision. Fighting stars in my head and tears in my eyes I made my way to God Shiva.

I realize that my writing about this trip is sounding quite negative, but really it was the biggest cultural experience that I have had in India. This trip was extremely eye opening because I was completely isolated from any foreigners and I really became independent in a, “cultural stretch,” as I have named it. Not knowing the language and never knowing where I should go and when the next time I would eat and sleep was, is both trying but also made me stretch my patience and cultural sensitivity. I had to let go of all expectations and just take in each experience both with all its craziness and the negative down falls, but also taking in the extraordinary pleasure of the people I was with and the places I got to see. By the end of the trip although I had slept three days on the floor of a bus amidst stinking feet and people stepping on me and was not always in the most pleasant mood, I also was learning Gujarati in order to fend for myself and was learning incredible flexibility and patience.

I was most amazed with the students. While I sometimes felt like I was on the verge of a small break down due to lack of sleep and the difficult conditions, the kids were extremely positive the whole time. They slept in a hospital, which was rumored to have swine flu infected patients, without saying much of anything. They waited in long lines in temples to be pushed past the deities in less than seconds due to the amount of people. They waited for meals patiently and stayed positive while they were falling out of their seats and sleeping with the necks cramped in ridiculous positions. They never complained about anything being dull or boring, but took each new experience with highest level of enthusiasm. I stressed about losing the students with no emergency procedures in place and very little knowledge of when we should meet up, yet the students always came together in a reasonable amount of time and truly looked out for each other and as a result we faced no major issues.

I have always been known as a bubbly positive person, but after this I truly realized that after four days of sleepless nights that I could not even hold a candle to my Indian counterparts who were still dancing in the aisles as the bus was flying around corners and the kids were also flying through the bus. The enthusiasm to experience the newness of different places and the ability to stay positive regardless of the challenges is something I truly want to learn from this experience. I am always grateful for new experiences, but I want to try and emulate the students and teachers of Bajipura High School in the positive and zealous way they approached the most insane vacation of my life.

Welcome to Bajipura

Along with welcoming the New Year recently (according to the Hindu calendar) the teaching Fellows at Bajipura also welcomed Drew Tilson, the newest addition to the Nanubhai teaching staff. Drew hails from Indiana and has been a great addition to the school in Bajipura. Drew gained a wealth of experience while working in China at Sias International University for three years. He enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures which is part of what led him to India. I sat down with Drew to enjoy a cup of chai and to talk about his experiences thus far.

Lyndi: You’ve been in India for about 4 weeks now. What are your thoughts on your new home, such as the food, the climate, the people, etc.?

Drew: It has really been enjoyable; the people and food have been fantastic. The weather has been nice too, especially since it is getting cold back in Indiana now. I am learning and seeing new things everyday which I really enjoy.

Lyndi: What have your experiences been like in the classroom?

Drew: The kids have been very energetic and excited to learn. It is great to see so much passion; when I ask questions in class hands go up all over the room and students always wants to show me what they can do.

Lyndi: How does teaching in India differ from teaching in China?

Drew: They are similar in that you can see that passion and hunger for learning, but in India the passion is much more apparent. My university students in China were also eager to learn, but they were more reserved. The students I am teaching in India are younger and their energy levels are very high. It is difficult sometimes to teach in an ESL environment, but the students and their efforts make it worth every second.

Lyndi: What do you hope your students will learn from you?

Drew: Learning is a lifelong process, and it does not finish once they are out of school. I hope they continue to ask question and grow in their knowledge of the world around them.

A Thanksgiving without the Macy's Day Parade

The last two months living in India have been full to the brim with festivals. All of them interesting, full of sweets and quite the experience. At home in New York, families are listening to Christmas music, singing “I’ll be home for Christmas”, baking pumpkin pies and celebrating our own types of festivals. While I miss my family and friends and the smell of fresh snow fall as it twinkles from the woods behind my parent’s house, it’s almost hard to imagine that at this moment, my sister is baking a cheesecake, my brother is home from college, the air has a chill to it and someone is forgetting to make the green bean casserole because I’m not there to remind them. There is no chill in the air in India in November although, Kushboo might tell you differently as she sits in my class wearing the thickest fleece I’ve ever seen. I told her today she makes me hot just looking at her. But, the other essentials that make the holidays so important have still been present in rural India this week.

Taiyaba and her family in Kadod were kind enough to open up their home, for the second year, to the Nanubhai fellows so we could prepare a “proper” Thanksgiving feast. It was a day of improvisation, ingenuity, creativity and family. The turkey was substituted by a “free range” chicken; freshly slaughtered and prepared in a toaster oven and the “smashed” potatoes were expertly mashed by Taiyaba’s daughters who were happy to be able to take charge of part of the preparations. In our little tiffin lunch boxes, the apple pies baked to perfection; the smell of cinnamon wafting out our apartment door and into the warm afternoon sunshine. Drew did his manly part in the kitchen by opening the cans of cranberry sauce with a knife and a little elbow grease. Soon, the table was full of food; a stray goat wandering in from the yard to watch the commotion and then, to add to it.

I thought of my family throughout the day. I missed working in the kitchen with my mom and carrying out the traditions that have been in place since I can remember. I missed the commotion of my big, Polish family. Still, with our feast before us, we all went around the room and said what we were thankful for; at Taiyaba’s urging. This year, I personally, have so much to be thankful for. This experience will always stand out as a highlight in my life and the friends we’ve made continue to change our perspectives daily.

When it came to my turn to say what I was thankful for, I thought of my mom, who sent so many of the ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner. She always welcomed the neighbor from next door who had no family in the area to eat with us, or the family in the church who maybe couldn’t afford a big meal for the holidays. This year, I was the one in the guest’s seat, feeling blessed to be a part of the family, overwhelmed by the kindness, thankful for the smell of stuffing, my new friends around me and my family back home. It was a new and different experience and a little like cooking a holiday meal with all the accouterments available while on a camping trip but, it was a great time and I just wanted to take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and encourage you to consider all the ways you are blessed this year.

A Swine Flu Parade

It all began with the arrival of 3 government trucks decorated with Swine Flu posters at around 11 one morning. I wondered what this could possibly be about. Had they finally come for the American teachers who were in the newspaper for their possible H1N1 infection? Were we in for a long assembly on health during Swine Flu season in India? My questions were answered just after lunch by my new housemate/co-worker, Addaia, who returned from her class 20 minutes early saying something about a Swine Flu parade. Confused and excited for another weird Kadod event, I emerged from my house to find this scene in the courtyard:


It seemed that the government officials were there to raise awareness in rural Gujarat on the H1N1 virus. What better way to do this, of course, than a parade of 300 excited 9th grade students through all of Kadod. Each student was equipped with a sign and they were off. Of course, as this was a parade in India, much of the marching was done next to speeding cars and trucks.


After about 10 minutes, the students had a wonderful idea to begin chanting things like "Swine Fluki, hi hi!" and "H1N1, hey hey!" It was an amazingly entertaining experience for students and teachers alike.


What better way to begin a second semester of teaching at Kadod High School?

The Guidebook: The Evil Guidebook

Some how one book that is meant to help the students with their studies has been one of the largest deterrents for student learning in my classroom here in India. This book is for cheating in the class and on the exam. All of the writings of the textbook are translated into Gujarati, which is the most useful part of the book. Where the book takes a turn for the worst is when all of the assignments and questions that are in the textbook are all answered in the guidebook. This completely eliminates all student thought. Students become expert copiers. Students simply copy the question and the answer from the guidebook for all assignments given by their Indian teachers. Teachers check student notebooks for completion of all assignments in the textbook, but really there has been no completion, since students have only been copying all the answers not actually processing any of what is written.

In order to curb the culture of copying I have tried to assign writing assignments that are not found in the guidebook. Many students are confused about the assignments because they are only used to copying for the guidebook. These new assignments bring out student laziness and then in the end the assignments that induce thought are not even completed. As I scan through student notebooks I am puzzled because very few students have any of the class work I have assigned or any homework in their notebooks. They only have the meticulously copied guidebook written in their notebooks.

After correcting seventy six notebooks from my 9A class, I went on a copying and guidebook tirade. I wrote some Spanish sentences on the board and I asked students to copy this into their notebooks 10 times. After completing this I asked them to tell me what this means. Students looked at me with confused glances. I said as many times as you copy something you are not going to learn it, so simply copying from the guidebook is not resulting in your learning.

Although I went on this rant I don’t know what affect it will have. The first essay I was assigned to teach, I launched into a large brainstorming session and gave students an easy framework for creating a simple, but well written essay about their village. As I corrected their essay notebooks I was expecting to see my framework being put to use, but alas there is also an essay guidebook and as a result I read 76 of the exact same essays. At first I naively said to the teacher that “All these essays are copied should they receive credit for this work.” To which the teacher replied, “Yes, they receive credit, it is from their essay guidebook.”

The guidebook tragedy goes even further. My co-teacher pulled out a small book that was in English. I asked her about the book and she informed it is a small guidebook. We both started laughing to point of tears, since her and both know the negative impact that this book is having on student learning. She said sadly, but also through laughter that this book is made so students can sneak it into the exam room in their pockets.

This lack of learnign saddens me. I have a passion for real teaching that creates real student learning. In some ways I realize that this guidebook is their sad and true reality. Many students come into eighth standard without the ability to read English. They are reading material at about the fifth or sixth grade level of the United States, which is nowhere in their reach. Without memorizing the material there would be no way they could come close to passing the exam. For many students memorizing or even cheating is the only way that they will be able to move on in school. In order to rid the evil of the guidebook the whole system must be changed. Since each semester is based on the completion of a large exam, the focus cannot be on genuine student learning, but about preparing for the high stakes testing. For a tenth standard student passing the exam is the only way to move onto higher secondary school. If they fail this exam they must wait a year and retake it or just stop going to school. Passing the exams becomes the most important thing to these students regardless of the fact that their ability is way under the level of the exam they have to fight to be able to pass. Memorizing the guidebook becomes their only weapon, besides copying during the exam.

Where is the light at the end of the dark guidebook tunnel? I guess only through education reform can we really impact language learning here in Gujarat. At this point making large reforms in the education system is a bit beyond my position or authority, but I will try to do my small part and encourage the students to think for themselves during my classes.

“Ma’am! Ma’am! Story? Story?”

It is the last period of the day, and I walk into an English medium first standard classroom. The chaos that takes over the children at the end of the day can be heard even in the hallway, but as soon as the children see me the chaos has a different face. Immediately, the children start to clear their desks, some fold their hands and put their fingers on their lips, and some run up to me and try to look at what I am holding behind my back. “Ma’am! Ma’am! Story? Story?” I smile and then and give them a quick nod, but remind them they must sit down quietly and clear their desks before story time can begin.
Principal Madam wanted Dalena and I to take over some Library periods in the English medium, as an opportunity to have an extra period to work on the students listening and oral reading skills. She assigned me all of the classes in first standard, and told me to ask the librarian for the books the school had for these classes. I browsed the books, and I mostly saw small fable books, without many pictures and difficult English—in other words, nothing so promising. However, I worked with the materials I had and read those small stories to the children. At first, I had them sitting in their chairs and I would go around, reading the story aloud and take time to show each child the picture in the book. Not only did this take a lot of time, but I realized the children started to get really bored if they were not instantly getting the satisfaction of looking at the pictures as well.
From then, I started a search of English books that were filled with fun pictures and easy text, so the children can easily understand what they were hearing, and also continue to stay interested. I found some books at a huge retail store called Big Bazaar, but still their selection was limited. Luckily, a few weeks later my school had a Scholastic book fair and I was able to get my hands on some quality books I thought my children would really enjoy. Now, I just had to overcome the next hurdle—keeping them interested.
The biggest challenge I was up against was changing the schedule of the children and their expectations of their library period. Since the library periods are in the last period, I also have to ensure that they know they need to stay calm, and that it isn’t a free period to just have fun and listen to a story if they feel like it. Having the children stay in their seats clearly wasn’t working so I decided to use the classroom set up to my advantage. In the front of each of my classrooms, there is a small platform in front of the blackboard. I decided that I would sit on top of the platform and I would have all my students sit in front of me, like how I remember having story time when I was small. No hitting, touching, talking or playing rules were implemented and very quickly, all the children were captured by the story I read them. They stayed still staring at the pictures, murmuring “wow” as the images came across their eyes, and even erupting into applause at the end of each page because of their excitement. It is really a sight to see! They are so excited about getting this story time each week that sometimes they forget the rules they must follow before they can get a story, but being clear about my expectations each time I walk into the class has really helped.
Now after 4 months of being there, they are getting the hang of Library period, they know what to do when I walk in the door (after some reminders of course), and they are getting used to breaking from the norm and sitting together to enjoy a story as a class. Now that I have gotten this far with my students, I really want to take it a step farther and have them begin to read stories on their own. I would like to take advantage of having two teachers in the class to do guided reading in smaller groups, buddy reading projects, and other fun reading/story based activities. My ultimate goal for the end of the school year is for the students to write their own short creative stories, illustrations and all. Wish me the best and I will let you know the progress of my work! Of course, if anyone has ideas please feel free to contact me with tips or suggestions. I would love to hear from you!

Until next time!