Me...A Teacher...?

I haven't updated this in a while, but getting on the internet here is quite a nuisance.

The sickness subsided after a day, but my stomach remained on the uncomfortable side. It's all okay now and I'm back to eating food I shouldn't be eating. It's all delicious. And there's this pizza place in town which, surprisingly, makes legit tasting pizza! The subs though...not as good.

As far as actual work is concerned, last week was incredibly slow. I was barely at the school, Sardar Kanya Vidyalaya (SKV), because I had nothing to do. I did receive a book last week about the school and its programs, and it had the girl's daily schedule. Here's what it looks like:

4:45 am – Wake up, write prayers in the notebook
5:15 am – Mass-prayer
5:30 am – Yoga
6:00 am – Eat refreshments
6:45 am – Clean according to what batch one’s in. This includes cooking/cleaning dishes and the kitchen, watering plants/cleaning the garden, cleaning classrooms and the teacher's office, cleaning school grounds, or cleaning bathrooms.
7:15 am – Bath and wash clothes
8:15 am – Eat breakfast and finish cleaning
9:55 am – Begin school prayer
10:10 am – 5:00 pm – School
5:15 pm – Evening cleaning according to batches
6:00 pm – Eat dinner and wash dishes
7:15 pm – Evening prayer
7:30 pm – Homework
9:15 pm – Bedtime


This is the schedule Monday-Friday, every week of the school year, unless it's one of the 4 celebrated holidays. It's an absolutely absurd schedule that requires a work ethic I don't even think I'm capable of having. They girls at SKV, on the other hand, are forced to go through it because they were born into a poor household. It's the worst for the 10th graders. They have to take an exam given by the state at the end of the year, so they have to stay before school and after school to prepare for the exam. Upon passing the exam, they can choose which area they want to focus on for the last two years of high school: science, arts, or commerce. The girls at SKV, though, are urged to score well so they can get accepted to a good school after they graduate from SKV. So, they're literally taught the test.

It's a really frustrating state-wide system. The kids are forced to choose which area they want to go into at an early age, and the teachers are forced to teach to pass the exam. Outside of SKV, when the kids aren't in school, they're in tutoring classes. And the academic atmosphere is so competitive that kids are being put in tutoring as early as 2nd grade. It's absurd.

Anyway, my job at the school from now on will be to teach English to 8th graders and 10th graders. All girls take English classes during school time. For about 10 girls in the 8th grade, though, English is a huge challenge. They come from really rural areas where schooling is incredibly poor. The 10 girls I'll be working with literally don't know how to read English, which is a huge problem given that they're put in a class of about 40 girls everyday and are asked to read and comprehend writing that is well beyond their level. So, I'm stuck Googling "how to teach reading" and still left clueless. We worked on phonics yesterday, so hopefully reading simple Dr. Suess poems won't be too much of a leap.

As far as the 10th grade girls go, they simply don't know grammar, but are more interested in reading stories. They're fun to work with though, and they're mischievous, especially this one girl, Mamta. She loves to talk but hates to focus. She keeps asking me for my phone number in the U.S. so they can keep in touch with me once I leave. I'm there for well over a month, though, so what's the hurry?

Everyone at SKV, even after 3 weeks, still keeps staring at me and laughing. At this point, I'm starting to think they're laughing at me rather than laughing out of amusement for seeing someone new. I don't really mind - many of them have rarely been in the city, let alone seen a girl wearing shorts. They other day, I mentioned I had learned Italian. They asked me what that was and then asked me to say something. So, I said 'Ciao. Come stai?' and now, everytime I enter the classroom, they shout ciao!

So, in short, my SOL placement is finally beginning to pick up but as far as the research part of the project goes, I'm still no where. My adviser was supposed to call me 'early this week'...whenever that is.

In other news, monsoon was supposed to start yesterday, but word is it may not come until next week. I can't wait until it rains...I'm getting really angsty at this point. I haven't seen rain in over a month and I want the heat to subside a little. Just one more week...