Tuesday, November 28, 2006
28th November 2006
Well finally i have got around to adding to the blog site. For any of you that know me well you will know that keeping in touch is not particularly one of my strong points, apart from the odd e mail here and there...but here i am!
Well where to start! Charlotte has done a fantastic job in her regular up dates of our adventures so far and the enthusiasm and passion that shines through in Charlottes writing represnts both of our love for being in India, it's great!
Living with the Chakmas has been fantastic, from the start we have been made to feel very welcome and as time goes on we can see, by the occasional verse of chakma song, that some are not as shy as they originally seemed. We were lucky enough to have some time at the start of the projct to visit the temples that we would be teaching in and meet other members of the Chakma community, and we were met with such genuine kindness and hospitality that we have been very thankful of.
We are now well into our classes and they are going really well (although at times i might not say that, when my advanced grammar classes are firing extremely difficult questions at me, followed up with the dreaded question within the grammar classroom...why?!). It seems that quite quickly the rapport and trust has formed enabling us all to share experiences, knowledge and jokes and as the weeks go on the relatiosnships continue to grow. Its such a priviledge to be in a position where we can discuss 'real life' issues with Indian people and create an environment of continuous learning from each other. An experience that will have an ever lasting impact on me.
The outreaches are amazing. When it was said during our volunteer training that in the past there have been groups of 100 children being taught, I could not even imagine us doing such a thing....well last Sunday at Ashok Negar Joy, Charlotte and I did just that. The numbers have been rising over the weeks and this week Joys head count revealed that they had reached the 100 mark! Doing the outreaches is so uch fun and if the children enjoy them as much as we do then it can only be a good thing! Last Saturday Charlotte and I accompanied by Vikram one of the Indian volunteers did the outreach in Seelampur, this allowed Joy some time as she has been doing 2 outreaches in a day. It is our smallest outreach which is actually quite nice as it can be more personal allowing you to get to know the children and do some the activities which are more of a challenge to control with larger numbers. So we are keen to take on this outreach allowing Joy to focus on the afternoon one in Shanti Negar where we have been unable to attend due to an outbreak in Dengue fever.
On top of all the teaching we have found plenty of time the cram in many shopping trips, trips away (which Charlotte has mentioned)relaxation time and even time to do our new found hobby...sudoku (thanks mum for introducing that!) it has resulted in many an hour of entertainment, with the only words muttered between me and Charlotte... "can you pass the rubber please".
Well i have to return to class now lesson number 3 of the day is due to start.
Bye for now!
...and if i have made any grammatical mistakes, keep them to yourself, i dont want to know!!!
Well where to start! Charlotte has done a fantastic job in her regular up dates of our adventures so far and the enthusiasm and passion that shines through in Charlottes writing represnts both of our love for being in India, it's great!
Living with the Chakmas has been fantastic, from the start we have been made to feel very welcome and as time goes on we can see, by the occasional verse of chakma song, that some are not as shy as they originally seemed. We were lucky enough to have some time at the start of the projct to visit the temples that we would be teaching in and meet other members of the Chakma community, and we were met with such genuine kindness and hospitality that we have been very thankful of.
We are now well into our classes and they are going really well (although at times i might not say that, when my advanced grammar classes are firing extremely difficult questions at me, followed up with the dreaded question within the grammar classroom...why?!). It seems that quite quickly the rapport and trust has formed enabling us all to share experiences, knowledge and jokes and as the weeks go on the relatiosnships continue to grow. Its such a priviledge to be in a position where we can discuss 'real life' issues with Indian people and create an environment of continuous learning from each other. An experience that will have an ever lasting impact on me.
The outreaches are amazing. When it was said during our volunteer training that in the past there have been groups of 100 children being taught, I could not even imagine us doing such a thing....well last Sunday at Ashok Negar Joy, Charlotte and I did just that. The numbers have been rising over the weeks and this week Joys head count revealed that they had reached the 100 mark! Doing the outreaches is so uch fun and if the children enjoy them as much as we do then it can only be a good thing! Last Saturday Charlotte and I accompanied by Vikram one of the Indian volunteers did the outreach in Seelampur, this allowed Joy some time as she has been doing 2 outreaches in a day. It is our smallest outreach which is actually quite nice as it can be more personal allowing you to get to know the children and do some the activities which are more of a challenge to control with larger numbers. So we are keen to take on this outreach allowing Joy to focus on the afternoon one in Shanti Negar where we have been unable to attend due to an outbreak in Dengue fever.
On top of all the teaching we have found plenty of time the cram in many shopping trips, trips away (which Charlotte has mentioned)relaxation time and even time to do our new found hobby...sudoku (thanks mum for introducing that!) it has resulted in many an hour of entertainment, with the only words muttered between me and Charlotte... "can you pass the rubber please".
Well i have to return to class now lesson number 3 of the day is due to start.
Bye for now!
...and if i have made any grammatical mistakes, keep them to yourself, i dont want to know!!!
# posted by Vicki @ 12:20 AM 
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Great to hear from you. I loved reading about the joys and challenges of teaching English to Indians. It sounds like you are having a great time.
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