After spending our first night in Hubli, we woke up still a little jet-lagged but eager to get to our service learning sight. We met with our contact person, Angelina, who you will hear about a lot throughout this journey, and were informed about what the plan would be for the day. As we sat on the freshly swept steps of the Desphande Foundation Auditorium, the eight people in our group tentatively listened to her speak. She gave a brief overview of the Akshara Foundations and told us a little bit about herself and then she said, “First you will be working in two school and then next week, I will find you four more schools.” All eight of us had our heads spinning and eyes trying hard to make eye contact with someone else. My first thought was, ‘What? Six schools, how will we ever have time to complete the curriculum in all six schools?” After Angelina was done speaking we tried to clear things up with her letting her know that two schools would make up a large enough group for us to teach. After we thought the confusion was cleared up we headed out as one big group to a school in Hubli called Kendriya Vidyalala. We decided that once we got there we would split into two smaller groups of four and each group of four would take a class of 20 to teach.
When we first arrived at the Kendriya Vidyalala School we were greeted by a schoolyard of excited, wide-eyed children and enthusiastic teachers. We walked to the principal’s office with children tapping us on all sides, wide smiles spread across their faces. “What is your name? From where you come?, How are you mam?” Little voices were echoing everywhere and it was difficult to tell which child was asking what question. When we finally arrived at the principal’s office, she seemed to have little time for chatting. We had a small cup of tea with her, introduced ourselves briefly and were placed into the classrooms. She kept saying, “The students will be very excited to see you. We’ll give you as much time with them as you need.” It seemed odd to me that she seemed to have no interest in why we were there and was so eager to have us placed in the rooms. Nonetheless, we were excited and very nervous, and we followed along to our respected classrooms. The students were just as excited and maybe a little more than I had anticipated! All the students stood as we entered the classroom and a grin filled all of their faces. It was very different than any other classroom I had ever entered.
The first day’s lesson was a little shaky. The children were very intuitive and obedient, which was wonderful but the teachers were very eager to speak for the students. It was also our first day so we were a bit nervous and all of us were very new to the curriculum!
After about a half hour into the lesson, the principal ran into the room, asking for Krupa. Krupa is a student at Northeastern who is doing her co-op in Bangalore, Karnataka, India right now. She took the 8 hour train ride to Hubli to give us a brief training on Peace Games. Thank goodness she was there. The principal was inquiring about Krupa because she wanted her to write a brief article for the paper. It was frustrating because after only two days in the country, the staring and gawking from local Indians was already getting to me and now we come to a primary school where the principal and teachers are only interested in having us there because we are American. Krupa ended up writing the article and as we were leaving the principal said, “Now be sure to send us some pictures of you teaching the students.” We all just fake smiled and walked out the door. Upon exiting the classroom, we were bombarded by students asking for our autographs… I just want to say, I NEVER WANT TO BE FAMOUS. All the attention was really starting to wear on me.
All in all the day was a success because the joy on the student’s faces and their timid emotions were priceless. I felt like they did really enjoy the curriculum and had a lot to offer especially to their community. When they were asked who they considered Peacemakers to be, most of them replied, Gandhi, some Nehru. Then one little boy stood up and said Barrack Obama. I grinned and thought of the day he was elected. That little boys comment reinforced to me how lucky I felt to be an American and I knew that aside from all the grabbing, questioning and annoyances from the teachers, this was going to be a rewarding experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment