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| First Day of School Outfit!!--I'm wearing a 'Sawar Kamis' |
**I originally sent this as an email. Since
it was a significant part of my experiences, I decided to re-post it on my blog.
My first day of teaching! AAAAHHHH!!!! I was SUPER
nervous but God is SO good-- I had a BLAST!
I TRIED not to overwhelm you with so much to read but...here goes:
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| Front of the school--so not a typical school in India |
My school is based in the middle of a military base. Thank God
for the dry run I did the day before because I got lost twice trying to get to
my school--it's so far. I have to take 2 different forms of transportation
to get to my school--transportation in India is rough. You
either know the streets or you don't. Real talk--there is no such thing as a
'guide' book to understand the bus/auto rickshaws. Nevertheless, I made it on
time today (teachers must report by 7:45AM). After the students/teachers
performed their morning rituals (prayer, singing of country anthem/school anthem/introduction
of the new American teacher by the principal), I began my day by
observing my coordinating teacher's class. Altogether, I got to observe two
classes and I taught 3 on my own!!! I taught sections (same as grades) 8, 7,
and 6. In each class, I have 50 students--I KNOW! The moment, I step into any
class, the students sing (GOOD---MORNING MA'AM, HOW ARE YOU?---LOL! so cute!)
They sit only after I give them permission. I laid out a few of my rules but I
plan to go deep on Friday (why Friday?--I HAVE NO SCHOOL TOMORROW/Thursday 
because
of a random holiday India celebrates to honor brothers and sisters). In the
class I did not really do much, I just wanted to let the students get to know
me. Rather than spit out my bio and have them stare at me, I wrote out 7
truths/7 lies about me and they (as a class) had to decide which was
true/false. It was funny to see their reactions about which were true/false. After
that, I gave them their first assignment, which was to write me an
introduction letter.
because
of a random holiday India celebrates to honor brothers and sisters). In the
class I did not really do much, I just wanted to let the students get to know
me. Rather than spit out my bio and have them stare at me, I wrote out 7
truths/7 lies about me and they (as a class) had to decide which was
true/false. It was funny to see their reactions about which were true/false. After
that, I gave them their first assignment, which was to write me an
introduction letter.
When I got home, I read some of my letters and here is a quote from one
of my students:
"Dear Sandy Ma'am (yes, that's what they call me),
My name is ------, a student of class VII. As you are an American
citizen and came to India all the way from America to teach us English, all of
us are very excited and are respecting you for your kind heart." Most of
us can speak English, but the problem is that we need an English speaking
society to be more fluent and loud. I am proud to have this opportunity in your
class to become more strong in speaking English. I will make my family proud..."
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| School Courtyard, where morning assembly takes place |
*There are no words to describe how I felt after reading that.
The greatest thing was majority of the students spoke this way to me in their
letters. Once again, I still can't believe I am here. For sure, all
of my days will not be as good as this one (I will not lie, I did
have a low moment with section 6) but in the end, I just made the best of it
and tried to get though the 40 minutes I had with the students.
Typical classroom, two students per desk
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