We are at the two month mark as of tomorrow so I thought I'd delve a little into what we do 50% of the time here in Udaipur - Teaching.
Sarah and I teach at Bedla Daycare - a local daycare in our community. We teach 2-6/7 year olds (we dont really know their ages - half of them don't even know their age) and its lots and lots of fun. There is lots of games and songs, with a little content (we have to teach them something!).
The content is really basic - the alphabet, numbers 1-10, colours, body parts and we try to make it as interesting as possible with colouring ins, songs with heaps of actions and lots and lots of games. The kids' attention span is collectively about 5 mins so we constantly are changing what we do - a challenge for us. We also usually have to do a lot of spontaneous teaching as our lesson plan can very quickly go out the window - sometimes only 5 kids turn up, 2 of whom can talk or the kids are really distracted, meaning doing any kind of content is useless. The most rewarding part of the experience is definitely seeing the improvements with the kids. We have kids who when we started didn't talk and just sat on the wall. Two months in and they are talking, albeit slowly. It's a slow process and it took weeks to see but hearing "My name is" come out of their mouths is music to our ears. One special case was Mohit, a three year old who previously had never spoken. One day, about 6 weeks in, he suddenly said "My". That was all we needed. Sarah and I looked at each other like we had just won the lottery. He's now moved onto "I am fine" and "two" - we are making progress! It's the best feeling in the world!
Lauren and Shelby teach at Sonariya Daycare and although I cannot speak for them directly, their experience sounds like it has been much the same. Their kids are slightly older (3-8) but they have the same challenges and rewards as us, making it a fantastic experience. It's going to be heartbreaking when we leave in a month!
We also teach at orphange in the evening for an hour. I teach the first graders, consisting of 6 boys. I did have one more, but unforetunately, we found out this week that he had actually run away from the orphanage and could not be found. It's really sad to think of a 7 year old by himself out in Udaipur so we are hoping he comes back soon. First grade is a challenge because they are so young and hence have little discipline. But even in the month I have been teaching them, I have seen improvement in their behaviour and their response to verbal discipline. Unforetunately, in their environment, they are punished with violence and so react with violence. Hence, verbal punishment falls on deaf ears, especially in English, a language they barely understand. It's been a struggle, but seeing the improvements makes it worth while. I teach similar things as in Daycare - colours, alphabet, animals, numbers, but also spend a large amount of time on writing. The boys are really cute and lots of fun (most of the time).
Again, I cannot speak for the others, but I am pretty sure their experiences have been equally rewarding at Orphanage. Sarah teaches 2nd grade - which is also rather challenging in terms of discipline whilst Lauren and Shelby teach fourth grade - a completely different challenge altogether.
So far, we've been having lots of fun teaching and am learning just as much about ourselves as the kids are learning about English! It will be extremely tough leaving them!
Thanks
Emily
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