*Pictures at the bottom. It's a long one today, so feel free to skim if you'd like. :)
Uh...wow. That's about sums up my day in the school. It's so different from American schools! We started out with the UKG (aka kindergarten) kids singing songs and getting to know their names. They have the hardest time speaking English and are therefore the most difficult to understand. From there we went to the little library (emphasis on little!) and picked out some picture books. We were picking books to read to 1st standard (1st grade) but it was the equivalent of picking books for the beginning of kindergarten. Then we headed up to the computer lab with the UKG kids. There wasn't a whole lot for us to do (but then again, the actual teacher doesn't usually do much in the computer lab anyway) but it was fun to watch the kids color the letters in and then be so excited to tell you what it was. :)
Then the real party began. We headed down to 1st standard, and got to do some one-on-one reading. Initially I was really excited for this part. But it turned out to be harder than I expected. The little boy I was reading with wouldn't let me read the book (who doesn't want to read Harold and the Purple Crayon?! I mean really, it's one of the best picture books out there.) and he was just quite the handful. He actually reminded me a lot of one of my students from this past year. Only he could barely speak English. I think that was the hardest part for me. But, I finally figured out that he loved counting, and so we started counting windows and pies and whatever else was in the illustrations. :) And then we headed back to UKG. It was coloring time. Saturday is parents day, so Rosie (the education coordinator) was brave and pulled out the paint. It was the first time paint had ever been used in the school, and the first time any of those kids have ever seen or touched it. (That just boggles my mind!) But the loved getting their hands painted and stamping it on the paper. We sang songs and played and ABC game afterwards. Then we got a super long lunch break! It was so nice to come back and sit in the air conditioned room for a bit.
After lunch, we once again headed back to UKG. :S I'm so glad I don't teach kindergarten! The kids are super cute and fun to play with, but I am NOT cut out to be a kindergarten teacher! Anyway, their paintings were dry by then, and so we had them color in the letters of their names, the heart at the bottom, and then write their name. They were so excited to tell you what each color was, all the letters in their names, and then to show off the finished product. :) Made me really miss my first graders! They have interesting names here: Moosha (moose-a), Swetha (svet-a) and now I can't remember some of the others. I'll probably get them all down right when it's time to leave.
We had another short break, and then my all time favorite part of the day, 5th standard!! I absolutely LOVED teaching the older kids! Our block of time was for value education. This week we're talking about honesty and integrity. I got to start class and get them hooked on the lesson. Which was harder than I expected it to be. But, I managed, and the lesson was so great! They acted out the story Stone Soup, and we even had time to split into groups and make up our own skits. I just hope my 5th graders are as enthusiastic about school as these kids were!
Saw my first spider today. I pulled a towel off the rack in the kitchen and there it was behind the window. Thankfully it was behind, or I probably would have screamed bloody murder. I was freaked out still, though, and hung the towel up as fast as I could and basically ran out. Hopefully that's the only encounter I have in the next 2 weeks. I don't think I could handle seeing a bigger one.
Uh...wow. That's about sums up my day in the school. It's so different from American schools! We started out with the UKG (aka kindergarten) kids singing songs and getting to know their names. They have the hardest time speaking English and are therefore the most difficult to understand. From there we went to the little library (emphasis on little!) and picked out some picture books. We were picking books to read to 1st standard (1st grade) but it was the equivalent of picking books for the beginning of kindergarten. Then we headed up to the computer lab with the UKG kids. There wasn't a whole lot for us to do (but then again, the actual teacher doesn't usually do much in the computer lab anyway) but it was fun to watch the kids color the letters in and then be so excited to tell you what it was. :)
Then the real party began. We headed down to 1st standard, and got to do some one-on-one reading. Initially I was really excited for this part. But it turned out to be harder than I expected. The little boy I was reading with wouldn't let me read the book (who doesn't want to read Harold and the Purple Crayon?! I mean really, it's one of the best picture books out there.) and he was just quite the handful. He actually reminded me a lot of one of my students from this past year. Only he could barely speak English. I think that was the hardest part for me. But, I finally figured out that he loved counting, and so we started counting windows and pies and whatever else was in the illustrations. :) And then we headed back to UKG. It was coloring time. Saturday is parents day, so Rosie (the education coordinator) was brave and pulled out the paint. It was the first time paint had ever been used in the school, and the first time any of those kids have ever seen or touched it. (That just boggles my mind!) But the loved getting their hands painted and stamping it on the paper. We sang songs and played and ABC game afterwards. Then we got a super long lunch break! It was so nice to come back and sit in the air conditioned room for a bit.
After lunch, we once again headed back to UKG. :S I'm so glad I don't teach kindergarten! The kids are super cute and fun to play with, but I am NOT cut out to be a kindergarten teacher! Anyway, their paintings were dry by then, and so we had them color in the letters of their names, the heart at the bottom, and then write their name. They were so excited to tell you what each color was, all the letters in their names, and then to show off the finished product. :) Made me really miss my first graders! They have interesting names here: Moosha (moose-a), Swetha (svet-a) and now I can't remember some of the others. I'll probably get them all down right when it's time to leave.
We had another short break, and then my all time favorite part of the day, 5th standard!! I absolutely LOVED teaching the older kids! Our block of time was for value education. This week we're talking about honesty and integrity. I got to start class and get them hooked on the lesson. Which was harder than I expected it to be. But, I managed, and the lesson was so great! They acted out the story Stone Soup, and we even had time to split into groups and make up our own skits. I just hope my 5th graders are as enthusiastic about school as these kids were!
Saw my first spider today. I pulled a towel off the rack in the kitchen and there it was behind the window. Thankfully it was behind, or I probably would have screamed bloody murder. I was freaked out still, though, and hung the towel up as fast as I could and basically ran out. Hopefully that's the only encounter I have in the next 2 weeks. I don't think I could handle seeing a bigger one.
My school outfit. I'm in love. I WILL find one to wear on the first day of school!
That orange building is where we did the washing, bandaging, oiling, etc. And that's the cute old man from yesterday's post.
I was soaked yesterday walking back from the dining hall to the Elephant House. I loved it!
I like today's outfit the best so far.
ReplyDeleteI agree, just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well.
ReplyDelete(on a related note- If I want Matt to get me something like that, how much do I need to send with him? and how are they sized?)
Cost wise, I don't know. We're going shopping and to the beach, etc, on Saturday and I plan on finding out. My guess is anywhere from 200-2000 Rupees...about $5-$40. I have no idea on sizing, either. Some that I think will fit me end up not even going over my shoulders. I'll see if I can find that out as well. :)
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