A Typical Day In The Life Of Amrita Miss, Teacher Extraordinaire

So, I've been at the school for around three and a half weeks. You'd have thought I'd have settled into a routine by now? But no, it's still pretty chaotic! Nevertheless, I thought I'd try and give you an idea of what I get up to on a daily basis.

At 5am the day starts. Well, not technically my day, as I usually don't get up for another couple of hours (I don't get paid to get up at 5am, and, well - I don't get paid at all!). I usually wake up at about this time though, because of the light and noise outside. However, the students have to get up with the sun to do "physical training", before drinking some milk tea and going to the classroom to do homework.

At around 7am, Amrita Miss gets out of bed and has a wash, and puts on some Western clothes. Sometimes I might go for a wander, but not that often as this would entrap me into doing something (like star jumps or running round the block or being very enthusiastic early in the morning - which I can do, but it's best to have enthusiasm in reserve), and I like having the time to myself! I usually do some lesson preparation - this could involve cutting up pieces of paper for a task, or thinking up ideas of what I can do with whatever random classes I end up with that day. I still have no class routine, but for the last couple of days I've been able to specify some classes where I've thought of particular projects for them to do.

At around 8.30, Amrita Miss ventures out into the school yard. I'm greeted by an onslaught of kids saying "Good Morning Mam", "Hello Miss" and "You look beautiful today Miss" etc. I take my empty water bottle to fill with hot water as it's safe to drink, and go to the "canteen". This is in the building furthest away from mine, on the second floor. There's a kitchen with two hobs that are heated using gas, with one table in the kitchen and some benches etc. Outside there's a kind of hall with tables and benches, and a sort of fire where they do some of the cooking. There are also shelves with veges on, like cauliflower and the despised jack fruit!

I have my brekkers (dhaal bhaat, though ONCE I had bread and jam, which was very exciting - though they still tried to make me eat rice afterwards) and fill up my water bottle. Then someone - usually Sita Didi (big sister) - helps me put on my sari. This is interesting, especially with her kids running around putting their uniforms on and the fact that neither of us speaks each other's language very well! But she is lovely, as are most of the people working in the kitchen.

At around 9am, the school is filling up, and there are kids running everywhere, playing table tennis, basketball, football, tag and random games where they beat each other up. By about 9.15am a bell rings, and it's time for all the classes to line up in the quad and playground for assembly. This involves doing physical exercises and saluting, in time to whistles that are blown by the teachers. The kids also sing the school anthem every morning.

 

At around 9.30am, assembly finishes and the kids march off to their various classrooms. A few minutes later, the first class of the day begins. There are eight periods in the day, each lasting around 45 minutes each. The lower classes work until the end of the seventh period, with only the older kids having lessons in the eighth period.

 

At around this time, I try to get an idea what the hell I'm supposed to be doing from Shiva Sir. At first, this was quite an ordeal, but after some battling he's telling me more in advance (i.e. less than 30 seconds), and also asking me which classes I want to take on particular days. Result! This does not always happen or work, but it is better than it was at first. Over the last three days, I've been allocated classes where there's been an issue: first, another teacher had the same class and had started the lesson; second, another teacher had the same allocation but I'd already started teaching and the kids voted for me (!) and third I was allocated a class, but they went off to have a music lesson! This kind of thing is not unusual.

 

So, usually I take between 4 and 5 classes a day. So far, I have taken from class two (around six or seven with not such a strong grasp of English) up to class eight (young teenagers...some with a more teenage attitude than others!). There are periods one to three, then a short break at about 11.45am. As there's not much time, there's generally a stampede to get out of the classroom. Then follows periods four and five.

 

After this, at around 1.20pm there is Tiffin break. Apparently, Tiffin is a well-known British word, but I wasn't familiar with it until I came here. Tiffin lasts for about half an hour, and crucially, involves food! By now I'm generally pretty hungry, and excited as this is one meal that doesn't always involve rice. Sometimes we have samosas, sometimes roti and curry, sometimes beaten rice, curry and doy (yogurt), sometimes rice pudding, sometimes a boiled egg.

 

Then it's time for afternoon classes - periods six to eight. For the younger kids, school finishes at around 3.15pm (kindergarden and nursery earlier I think). For older kids school finishes at 4pm. Around this time, there's a sense of mayhem, as kids of different ages rush out of class, play in the playgrounds and clamber onto the various school buses. Depending where they live, some have to stay later as each bus might do a couple of different journeys. There's generally a pretty joyful atmosphere, with kids running around enjoying the sunshine.

 

So where is Amrita Miss by now? Well it depends on how the mood takes me. If I'm around at 4pm, I might go and have a cup of tea and snack in the kitchen with the hostel kids (the children who live in the school) and maybe hang out with them in their rooms for a while. Yesterday, they gave me noodles and something very spicy (looked like jerky but was vegetarian) and the day before they painted my hand with henna. They drew hearts with A's to represent Amrita/Amelia and Andrew! And they told me that if it went dark, it meant by boyfriend loved me very much. It duly went dark!

 

Sometimes, I'll decide to leave the school for some chill out time - maybe to go for a walk or to get the bus to the Internet cafe. This helps me preserve my sanity! There's a place with a swimming pool up the road, and I'm hoping to venture up there at some point during the week too. What happens each day depends on where I'm needed - I never want to disappoint the kids. They are generally so enthusiastic - every day different groups are begging me to go to their class, so I think I must be doing something right!

 

By 6.15pm or so, the hostel kids are in classrooms doing their mountains of homework. At some point after this, I'll stroll over to see them. I'll usually take my pile of reading books that people have sent me from the UK, and sometimes some other goodies - like sticky stars for good work, or craft materials. Dinner is at around 7.15pm, and usually I'll sit with some of the other teachers and/or family members at the table in the kitchen, while the kids sit in the hall together.

 

Then it's back to the hostel, and time to spend a couple of hours working with the kids. This is one of my favourite times of day, as I can give individual attention much easier than in the classes. I'll read with them, help them with their homework and chat to them in English, answering any questions they have. On some times, I'll give them pencil crayons and paper to work with if they've finished their homework, and I try to always spend some time with the kids that are having the most problems.

 

At around 9pm, the younger kids are sent off to bed and I go for a chat with the older ones until they are sent to bed too. Generally I'll stroll back to my room at about 9.30pm , and chill out for a while - reading etc, often by a candle when the light doesn't work - before going to sleep at whatever time the mood takes me. Sweet dreams...