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!
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!
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