ATTEMPTING (key word here) to teach English has definitely been keeping me on my toes these last 6 weeks. After never having taught before and getting thrown into working with over 55 kids, I'm pretty sure everyday for the first two weeks I was so exhausted I felt like I had ran a marathon. Or maybe that's because my commute is quite the adventure in itself as well. Or maybe it's the 90 degree weather and no AC ANYWHERE. I"m not quite sure. But either way, I now feel a little more in teacher shape. :)
My commute is about an hour each way... which includes nice long walks dodging bulls, falling bricks, hopping over cable lines, and trying not to get hit by a motorbike. And of course a nice, crowded,sardine like bus with no air-conditioning.
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| My walk home |
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| This is one of the nicer piles of bricks. |
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| I really hope no one needs to use the internet |
To sum up the Education System in Nepal, here is yet another quote from my 96 year old roommate...
"The Nepal education system is like a blind man, wearing a black hat, groping around in the darkness." Which basically sums it up.
The kids here are soooooo eager to learn, it's unbelievable. Before I even ask a question, all their hands are raised shouting for me to call on them. I then call on one and they say "Teacher you didn't ask a question." And then I say "Well you had your hand raised." They all shyly smile, sit down, and we continue on. :)
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| Rishav- one of my favorite second graders :) |
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| Jishank- my favorite 3rd grader...and yes i have favorites :) |
The other day, one one of the 4th graders didn't think I was watching so he threw garbage out the window. I then gave the class a 3 minute lecture on littering. Most of them knew it was wrong, but then they asked me if there was garbage on the streets in Milwaukee. When I told them no, they all looked around at each other in complete shock and couldn't believe it. I think a garbage clean up project is soon in order....lucky them. :)
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| Class 4 |
My class 3 kids saw a rainbow reflected on the ground in their classroom because of the reflection of a ruler. I have never seen kids sooooo excited for a little reflection like this. It was like they seriously just won a million dollars. They finally decided that it was really good luck to see a rainbow (after one of the girls announced that it was) and there were LITERALLY fist pumps flying through the air from excitement.
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| Part of Class 3 on the day of the rainbow :) |
Both Nepal and India are known for the all too famous head bobble And what is that you might ask? WELL. Basically, if you ask someone a question and if the answer is yes, they shake their head no. And it's not just a little shake, their head LITERALLY goes back and forth a few times in the direction we would consider no. So OF COURSE this left me a little confused in certain situations. For example, when I ask the kids if they understand. They all shake their heads no, but say "Yes, teacher." But sometimes they just shake their heads...which takes me a few seconds to realize that really means yes. :)
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| 4th grade boys |
AFter 6 weeks, I've finally learned that to keep the second graders under control, stickers work great. I've also learned that they don't always have to go to the bathroom when they say it's urgent...let's just hope nobody has an accident in my room. :)
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| Class 2 :) |
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