Reactions

“Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." - Charles R. Swindoll
Friday's class had ended on a melancholic note since we had realised that the kids were not able to recall the basics taught two weeks back. Monday dawned bright and fresh, and we entered our class only to find very few students present. It would be an outright lie to say that I was not worried, I was scared as well and within a minute only I had thought of about ten different possibilities explaining the weak strength of the class.We knew that two kids had taken an off for attending the wedding of their cousin, but the absence of the rest, remained a mystery. However, within a few minutes it was surprising to see those two kids walking in through the door ! I couldn't keep my bafflement to myself and asked , "did you not have a wedding to attend ? ", and pat came the reply "Humara mann nahi lag raha tha wahan jab yahan class honi thi...hum mummy ko kheech kar le aaye." (" Our hearts were here only, where the class was to be held, so we dragged our mother and got us here. ") I just hope that that particular class was especially of use to those two and would prove to be helpful for them at some point of time in their future!
 
As promised, we had notes prepared(yes, on maths) and photo-stated already.
The class was spent in doing difficult problems on decimal multiplication and division and a worksheet was also given for homework. I was almost expecting the kids to be in a sober mood after the scolding they got from us on Friday, however, as the quote above holds true, the kids decided to be back with more zest and enthusiasm and were keen on showing us that they have understood whatever taught till now! Aren't I absolutely glad to be around people with that kind of an attitude ?

An interesting thing happened on Tuesday! A friend of ours (Shruti) had been wanting to come to Parichay since quite a long time. It was either her liking for kids or our daily description of events which had her very excited and finally did she come with us on Tuesday. If she was very excited, I don't know how to describe what the kids were! They wanted to know everything about this girl, but like I had expected not even for a single second were they shy or scared to see a new person in their community. They seemed at ease with her and it was almost like they had known her since long! The day was spent in doing decimals (yes, for the last time) and we ended up taking around three "tests"(five questions each) in class only, which generally consisted of a "star question"(the fascination of these kids with getting a "star" was something new which came to our notice today only) ! The result seemed satisfactory and I just hope they are able to maintain the result in the few questions that will be given tomorrow morning to check their learning.

A different kind of excitement was brought into me by Shruti, a desire to make things more interesting by playing games. Yes, she loves to do that and even promised the kids with a game tomorrow IF they score well in the revision questions given in the morning(which hopefully they would). No, the games are NOT Maths related and this time I am pretty determined to continue with English and maybe touch upon their ever-favourite subject Science. It is a very rare chance to come across such people who care for others way more than they do for their own self, who are willing to take some time out and spend it in thinking of games to play with the children to make them happy. Yes, the kids are surely going to love her for this and as much as we all are looking forward to tomorrow, I am sure so are they! As of now, we have two games lined up for tomorrow which would help them with their English, and also make learning more fun.
I had mentioned once about a morning prayer which they all sing together before starting off with the class. That prayer seems to have become a part of me. I am still trying to learn the words, but my day doesn't seem to get started properly till I do not hear those kids sing it!

Now I can just hope that their reaction to our revision question, ours to their answers and theirs to the games planned are just the same, happy and ecstatic. 
 

Words

"Aap hume badha hassate ho, jab aap chale jaoge tab hum yahi yaad karke royenge " ("You make us laugh a lot, after you leave, we will remember this and cry " ).
One single line that left me speechless and not in a state to say anything to that sixteen year old girl. Worrying and speculating about the future is not the kind of hobby that I like to indulge in. I am more of a believer of the fact that the present, this moment is the only thing we have as of now, and it is better to seize it. It took me some time to get over what the girl had expressed, and I just left after asking her to not to worry so much about what the future holds.
I was discussing this incident with my friend and co-intern Shivangi, when she told me "unhe kahiyo rulane ke liye thodi na hasate hain" ("Tell them, we don't make you laugh so that you cry "), this line hit me hard and it made me realise what that sixteen year old girl had said was actually what we all do!
In our day-to-day lives, we often think of the past, the happy moments and instead cherishing those memories we end up brooding over them. Instead of being glad for the fact that we had the opportunity to live such moments, of being with our loved ones and enjoying, we tend to be upset comparing those moments with the present situation. A famous quotation by Dr. Seuss is the only thing that comes to my mind in such situations, "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened". The next day when I go to visit the kids, I will surely tell them of the same and make them understand it's significance.

As on the teaching front, two days were spent explaining articles and doing a worksheet which consisted of thirty sentences, half of which were done in class and half given as homework. There were two Maths worksheets which were pending to be discussed, they were seen to as well. Yesterday, a test was conducted on articles, and the result seemed satisfying enough.

However, not everything is going perfect and just as planned,the thing that seemed disturbing was when we were discussing the Maths worksheet on BODMAS,the children appeared to have forgotten basic decimal multiplication and division, on which we had spent about a week. This fact troubled Prateek and me a lot. There isn't any point in going ahead and doing things of higher level when things done just a week before are not clear. There had been a test on the same earlier, and the results were pretty good! It is confusing to see those kids who got all questions correct not only in homework but also in class and in the test not being able to do a basic question! This is not how things were meant to turn out and thus we decided that we wouldn't do anything new, but rather do more questions on decimals, give out hand written notes, solve worksheets in class and maybe take another test. It is important to get these basics clear before one can proceed with higher stuff. Yes, that is the plan for the next two classes atleast.
Disregarding the prevailing disappointment, the kids have managed to surprised us once again! They are organising a "function" for us, scheduled around the date when we would officially be leaving Parichay. They are organising the entire thing on their own without the guidance of any elderly! This was meant to be a surprise for us, however being kids, it is definitely difficult for them to hide such a thing.
Yesterday while leaving, we were just talking with the kids, and we got to know that one girl(the same sixteen year old girl) dances very well. I asked her whether she would be dancing during the function or not, she replied in negation stating that her mother wasn't allowing. She then asked me whether I would like  to see her dance, when I replied in affirmative, she said "phir hum zaroor dance karenge, kya hojayega? bas thodi daant hi toh sunni padhegi ghar par "("then I will definitely dance, what will happen ? I will only be scolded at home").
Once again, that girl had left me with no words to say! We left after persuading her to not to go against the wishes of her family members.

On our way back I was just remembering Mr. Bajpai's words on our first day, he had told us that these kids are so innocent and filled with love that we'll definitely enjoy our time here. Truer words were never spoken. Seriously.

Developments

Another two days passed at Parichay. The days seem to be flying now. Time left seems so less and the amount that we need to teach can never end. It's almost like we feel the need to complete everything, just teach the kids everything we know, to the best of our knowledge, let us pass on everything, however nice an idea it might seem(to me atleast) it is absolutely not feasible. I don't really think I need to go into the details as to why passing on loads of knowledge in just a small span of time to kids who need their own time in understanding basics is a bad idea. The thought of leaving this community (though there is still a lot of time left) has already begun haunting ours as well as the children's minds. Just today a girl asked me "Didi, aap yahan se jaane ke baad hume bhool toh nahi jaoge ? " ("After leaving from here, you won't forget us, will you ? ") It took my entire persuasive powers to convince that girl that it's not that we won't visit ever again, it's just that the frequency would go down considerably.
This has been her consistent question since the past two days, and today she even went on to ask me "Aap hume jab yaad karoge, toh kaese yaad karoge ? " ("How will you remember us ? ") and the only thing I could say was, when I am worried, or have too much on my mind and things don't seem to make much sense, I'll remember you all, remember the moments spent here, remember your energy and thus things would seem much more simpler. That seemed to satisfy her and we proceeded with the class.Upon our way back when Prateek asked us whether we all would really be leaving the community on the day decided, I realised, I was not the only one thinking of having a long term relation with Parichay.  
Yesterday was spent in Maths(yes, again), despite my deterministic thoughts of NOT doing Maths, but rather continuing with English, the moment when the entire class starts screaming "Hume BODMAS pe aur questions karwa do, hume woh karna hai !" ("Give us more questions on BODMAS, we want to do that ! " ) then there isn't much importance given to your thoughts, and you do tend to give in to their wants. After all, how often does someone find a bunch of kids so willing to study ? That too Maths ? So yesterday was spent in Maths.
However, things were different today, not giving the children a chance to give their ideas we just went and started with English ! The class was centred around the basics of articles, mainly the difference between the usage of "a" and "the".
In the past two days, the kids made me very angry, and that is somewhere because of the informal kind of atmosphere created which definitely enhances learning but also seems like a barrier at times.
There was something that I learned today, it needs a lot of courage to scold someone whom you care for. One can either give in to the wants of a dear one and let them have their own way, or be strict upon certain principles and help in the development of that person. I might not be making much of a sense right now. Let me explain. There is this one kid in the class, for whom I have developed a great sense of fondness, not only is he an always smiling, happy-go-lucky kind of a boy but he also knows how to cool you down when you lose your temper by saying just the right things, by cracking jokes which might make you want to shout, but you end up smiling just at his sheer innocence. Now here is where the problem lies. His ability to make you smile. This makes me (rather forces me ) to ignore his mistakes, which I believe is not the right thing to do, and it took me a lot of courage to scold him and make him do some questions that he was supposed to do but had not done in class.
The point I'm trying to make is, that I understood that when people, your dear ones scold you, its for your good only and it does not make them any happier than it makes you while being on the receiving end. The kind of person you are today, is greatly attributed to the people who scolded you in your life and did not let you have your way always. Be it a teacher, parent, sibling or even a friend, I'll say take some time out today and thank them, because it is only because of them that you are the person who you are today.
Oh, and if at any point in your life you had the heart to scold someone dear to you, then I must commend you upon making someone's life better.
As for now, it's time to make a worksheet for the always-ready-to-do-worksheets kids. No, its not Maths, its English now. 

Realisations

Upon reading my recent posts, a (trustworthy) friend of mine asked me “Yeh bache kya sachi main itne ache hain? “ (Are these kids really this nice?). This made me go back and re-read everything that I had written to ensure, rather check if I had written things that I didn’t intend to or had sugar coated some stuff to make it look like a prettier picture than what it actually was. A wave of relief swept over me when I realized that neither was there anything incorrect nor could I find something that seemed to convey a different meaning than what I intended it to.
The conclusion? Yes, the kids are really this nice.
The class today was about BODMAS, it was relatively light since we thought of taking a break from Mathematics for some time and hence did not want to start off with something new. The entire time went in doing some problems regarding the same and discussing what they wanted to learn from the next week.
Also today it’s been more than a week since we started visiting Parichay and got to know these kids and now I can’t imagine a time when I won’t be meeting them regularly. During the class today, a girl asked me as to what were my plans for the rest of the vacations, after finishing working with them. When I had no particular answer to offer, she made me promise that I would come to teach them and not forget even a single one of them. She was excited by the prospect of going to college after a few years (she is studying in 10th right now) and exclaimed with great wonder “Mujhe acha lagta hai jab main kisi aese se milti hun jo college jaata hai “ (I feel good upon meeting someone who goes to college). This girl has the potential in her, and I just hope things go the way she wants them to.
Another thing that I ought to have mentioned before is my dilemma about allowance of talking in class. It is something that I have not been able to decide  whether it is acceptable or not. As I observe, the kids here not only want to learn, but they also want to help their friends in understanding the stuff that seems difficult to them. This poses a problem for me. Having a class in which everyone is talking among themselves is not an ideal situation to teach, but then I think that maybe there is some method or some language which I am not able to use to make things clearer to these kids because of which maybe their peers can explain better. After all, even today there are many instances when things seem to be understood better from the mouth of a friend than from someone many years older to you, irrespective of the fact that the latter might have more experience and knowledge.
If there is something that makes me angry in class, it is this, and this anger is not just directed upon the kids, but also on me, since I am not able to understand the decision to make, the path to take, and the way to make something so clear to them so that they do not feel the need to talk only. It irritates me when I realize I do not know what to do, but then comes my co-intern (I believe I haven’t mentioned his name ever till now, he is Prateek) to my rescue and he always seems to know how to handle such situations. 
This is another thing that I noticed in the past few days, while working with someone, there needs to be a minimum level of understanding and comfort so as to make the work excel, and thanks heaven for their existence between me and Prateek!
Going back to class, the topics to be covered next week would be of English and Science.  English happens to be their favourite subject and Science seems to arouse their curiosity, the next aim now is to make these subjects appear even more fun while enhancing learning and also keeping their interest in them high! As happy as I am to not to be travelling for an hour and a half to reach them, I am also eagerly waiting for the weekend to be over and Monday to be here soon!

First Test

In the past two days there were many moments of self realization and self recognition. There were certain aspects of my nature that I did not know existed. We had decided to keep a short test today on whatever we had taught in the past few days. To make things simpler and ensure maximum learning of the students, we spent the entire class yesterday revising decimal multiplication and division by multiples of ten only.  We wanted to make everything clear so as to minimize the scope of error in the paper. 

It was yesterday that I felt that immense desire for these children to succeed and do well in whatever they were doing. I wanted them to accomplish even that simple task of a test to their maximum potential so much that I was willing to explain each and everything to these children all over again, just to make things crystal clear. I could feel the same sense of emotions from my fellow intern as well. The class was spent in doing some tricky questions, which required perfect basics of the topics and revision of everything done till date.

On returning back home, came the task of preparing the paper. Our first paper to be given to the kids. We did not want it to be a cakewalk, nor did we want it to be too difficult to crack, it shouldn't demoralize the students, nor should it give them a false picture of their amount of knowledge. It was at this moment when I realized my first weakness. I wanted to put in all simple questions and let the kids grab all the marks with open arms. Initially I wouldn't agree on putting even a single "tricky" question in the paper, however thanks to my fellow intern who saw things in a more practical way, we managed to create a balanced paper with just a few tough questions here and there.

Now one might wonder at this point the reason as to why I am elaborating so much on a simple fifteen mark paper that would be completed by the students in not even half an hour. This is so because it was important for me. It was more of a test for me than them to check whether I have been able to help these students in any way in the past few days.

The next day (today) dawned bright and sunny. We entered the classroom and found the kids already seated. The things that might confuse them were explained just once more and the test was given. After great deliberation among ourselves, me and my co-intern had decided upon a time frame of one hour for the paper. As expected, most of them completed it before half an hour and were eagerly waiting for us to check and return back the papers there and then. No, this did not surprise me, not this time. 

To my utmost happiness, two children scored full (one of them actually missing a full by 0.5 marks, but being a bit lenient, that much could be exempted I hope) and the average that students scored seemed good enough as well. Some of them lost marks due to sheer careless mistakes, but then it happens to the best of us at some point or the other. There still were some who were having difficulty in grasping a few basic concepts. 

Maths is a subject that can be understood only through practice and that is what we intend upon making these children do. We tried our level best and would continue to do so and just hope to make ourselves more clear this time.

Values

The last two days went by at a pretty fast pace with not much time to spare. The children at the community started being more free with us and we too started expecting more out of them. A very important thing that I forgot to mention which would help in bringing out the character and upbringing of these kids, is that every morning their lessons are started off with a prayer. This habit has been inculcated in them by their teacher and now has almost become a daily routine for them.

Yesterday the class started by continuing with division of integers(the meaning of which was still not very clear to them), we went on to explaining the different types of fractions and tried to relate them to real life with relevant examples. The most difficult thing was in trying to read the children's faces and understanding whether or not things were making sense to them. Even though they are quite open in voicing out their doubts and opinions, however while teaching something for the first time one couldn't be too sure to rely upon their reactions only.
The class ended with the discussion of the homework given the preceding weekend which each and every one of them had been able to complete. The fact that they were willing to put in so much effort to learn something new was far too over-whelming for me to even keep count of the children who had got their first homework absolutely correct!

On my way back home, thinking about their enthusiasm to learn more encouraged me to do something for them as well, and thus when I reached home I started working on the first worksheet that I would give them the next day. Contrary to my beliefs, a worksheet did not simply mean picking up a bunch of questions and jotting them down for the kids to figure out on their own, but rather it required time and patience so as to ensure that the level of the questions match the level of understanding of the kids.

The next day i.e.: today, was entirely spent on decimals. What surprised me the most (yes, again) was their continuous interest and desire to study Science. Though they were not unhappy in studying Maths either, but the question regarding when Science would be taught, was one that was raised almost everyday.
Another interesting thing I noticed today was the presence of values and immense respect towards us in these children. Early morning, my fellow intern managed to get a small cut on his finger from the board, though this thing escaped my notice, but the children were observant enough to realise it and even asked permission to leave the class and get a band-aid for him. This gesture of theirs touched my heart and any refusal from his side could not stop them from getting the needful.

These kids are filled with immense energy and have the uncanny ability to see the bright side of things always. The huge smile that they carry along with them makes it absolutely difficult for anyone to scold them. Teaching and being with them can make one forget all their worries and learn to be thankful for everything one possesses. I can almost imagine them after having completed their worksheet creating trouble for each other and laughing their hearts out, like they always love to do :)

Meeting the Kids

11th May 2012. The second day when I had to go and teach those young kids whom I had met just two days back but who seemed a part of my life already.

After traveling for an hour, I was a bit disheartened to see the empty class-room when I reached the community. However, word spreads fast around there and within a few minutes I could see all bright faces with smiles on their faces and a polite question of "May i come in " on their lips.
The agenda for the day was Maths and English. The class started with concepts like number-names, place-value with division being the last thing before the much awaited fifteen minutes break.
I was greatly reminded of my own childhood when dividing a number by any number bigger than ten seemed like such a big task. Keeping this is mind, we tried to go slowly, explaining each step with patience and helping wherever we could. The surprising part about this entire thing was the excitement that the children had towards Maths. It was after quite a long time that I had found a bunch of kids who weren't afraid of numbers and I was determined to not let them lose interest in them either!

After the break, it was time for English. The children were comfortable in reading out sentences and understanding simple ones, but when it came to forming their own, it seemed like a difficult task to them. We tried to make a few concepts clear, one of them being the correct usage of articles.The satisfaction that was obtained upon seeing the kids correctly "fill in the blanks" given by us was immense!

What surprised me the most (yes, these kids have a tendency to surprise me everyday with something new!) was when just before the class ended one child asked us to give them homework so as to ensure that they wouldn't forget any of what we had taught during the weekend. This enthusiasm to not only learn new things, but also to test whether they learnt it well is a virtue worthy of being inculcated.  
As for the homework ? We did give them a bit on each topic taught, to ensure that neither do they forget what has been taught and nor do they spend the entire weekend busy doing that only!

After the class, I ended up standing outside the room, talking to a few girls, getting to know them more while they also asked me questions about about my background. I left the community with a smile that was to last for long, a heart filled with emotion and a promise of being taught Urdu by a bunch of fourteen year olds!  

Visit to Community

It all started with a mail. From an organization by the name of “AID”.
It said they were offering internship in Community Work with certain NGOs spread across the entire nation. I got in touch with them and after a small period of time they offered me to work with Parichay: A Delhi based NGO set up in a community located in Tukhmirpur area of East Delhi.

The first day I went there to meet its founder: Mr. Vijay Bajpai, a sense of dismay swept over me looking at the conditions the people of that community live in. I did not know how to conduct myself, how to react and most importantly what to expect out of my first visit, but what met my eyes was something I would never forget.
Inside a room was Mr. Bajpai (or so I guessed him to be) with around fifteen kids in the age group of three to six years reciting a poem. I was pleasantly surprised with the “Namaste” with which I was greeted the instant I entered the room by those young kids.

Their smiles lit the room! Their enthusiasm to recite the poem along with their teacher was incomparable to anything sensed so far, and their excitement to see me doubled up mine to work with them.   

That day, Mr. Bajpai briefed me and two other interns upon the history and background of Parichay. It was only when I got to know that this NGO was self-sustaining and that the community has undertaken activities like Spices and Handicrafts manufacture, did I actually understand the depth at which Mr. Bajpai was working to make this community a better place for its people.
It was decided that the next day we would be teaching children in the age group of nine to fourteen years. This would be done in two groups, divided on the basis of their age.

The next day was the first time when I came in direct contact with the children. The thing that touched me the most was their willingness to learn and confidence to clarify their doubts. That day went in simply understanding the children and the level at which they were studying at that moment.

A proper class was conducted in a room in which certain basic concepts of Mathematics and English were revisited. It started with simple addition, subtraction, the concepts of which were pretty clear to the children! Gradually the level of the class was increased so as to even enhance our understanding of their knowledge.

On my way back to home, it was the smile on those kids’ faces that kept coming back to me and I can’t help but look forward to the coming days!