Doin' It For The Kids

OK, so this week was my first week at school. It was supposed to be an organised, leisurely start to get me up to speed with what I'm meant to be doing.

However, in Nepal nothing seems to go to plan - in fact there is no plan! Instead of observing classes, I was quickly thrust into the spotlight - on Tuesday I was supposed to be observing a science lesson, but had to make up a story on the spot for the kids twice in a row...this was fine. But on Wednesday, I was thrown into the deep end with no guidance, warning or direction.

I walked into the classroom expecting to be observing - but no I was taking the class! Of course, I hadn't prepared anything, so I had to make it up as I went along. Since then I've been taking about four classes a day, with no guidance - so I've just been picking something random and trying to teach it as best as I can!

It's been pretty up and down - half way through Wednesday I just wanted to cry and run away and I missed everyone from home so much. The kids were so exciteable and noisy, and the classes are so huge (between 30 and 45 pupils each) that it was a bit overwhelming when I wasn't expecting to be teaching! But when I sat down and thought about it, I realised that the noise they make is often related to the fact that they are excited and many of them are really enthusiastic - it's often "miss miss, ask me miss" and shouting out the answer, wanting to write on the board. And when I say "no talking" or "be quiet", sometimes lots of them say "be quiet" - which makes more noise!

Thinking about it, I guess my lesson style is a bit different to what they often get. I did manage to observe one lesson, which was basically the teacher talking to the kids in quite bad English, and them looking bored and not knowing the answer when he asked them. I'm trying to encourage interaction, and this leads to more noise - and since I'm not at all experienced I guess I don't always get it right! I'm planning on some games over the next few weeks - so if anyone has any ideas let me know.

Overall, I'm feeling much more positive than I was earlier in the week - the kids are generally so interested, and some of them are so cute I just want to pick them up! They do so many little things that make me think it's not all bad. There are around 20-30 kids of all ages staying in the school's hostel at the moment, and at night I help them with their homework, read stories and talk to them in English - this is one of my favourite times of day. In one of the classes I took was a particularly cheeky boy called Amrit. On my first homework session he asked me to sit next to him and help him, and totally turned around - so hopefully I'm making a difference just by being there. Well, it's a start - and today I'm enjoying a well deserved few hours off!