Tuesday 12th Sept
Katie Revell
Tuesday 12 September 2006
Yay.
This computer seems to have a bit of a vendetta against exc-el, so it's taken me a while to get here. But I now have a good chunk of time so I'll try and tell you as much as possible.
I'm actually supposed to be taking a class just now but unfortunately they seem to have absconded. I think the problem is that we've been timetabled some periods that are usually times for study/library so a lot of the students don't realise they're supposed to be in class. Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to sort out the problem asap.
It'd be good to get properly started - although we we were given our timetables at the start of last week, I've only taught three classes so far. There are various reasons for this - changes to the timetables, Teachers' Day celebrations and a couple of holidays for the Feast Day of Maris Stella. Those that I have taught have been to varying degrees of success. The first was a group of around 35 15 and 16 year-olds. Although the standard of English was largely very good, most students were reluctant to actually say anything, which made initiating any discussion a bit tricky. When I talked to them in smaller groups or individually they seemed to be more willing to talk, so I think I'll try that in future.
There's also the problem of the accent - although some students are very proficient at English, there is a disparity between the so-called "Indian English" which they talk and our British English. This works both ways, and I often have trouble understanding the strong accent and sometimes antiquated phrases. The teachers are very keen for us to help the girls "improve" their accent and pronounciation, although for communication amongst themselves and other Indians, their Indian English seems to be more effective!
I do now have a better idea of the standard of most of the students, which means I can plan activities which should make the deadly silences less of a problem. Although the girls are very keen to talk to us outside the classroom, this doesn't seem to be the case in a more formal setting. Any tips for getting the shy ones to talk would be very much appreciated!
There also seems to be a problem of demotivation among some of the students, which I initially found odd considering the expense and relative privelege of this standard of education. According to the teachers, however, many of the girls want to gain qualifications only in order to get a good marriage, irrespective of grade. Arranged marriage is still very much the norm here which surprised me at first, especially among educated families. It's still very much seen as a business arrangement based on practicalities rather than passion. I can certainly see some of the logic and I'm sure the divorce rate is a fraction of that in Britain, but it still seems to me a rather joyless way to live.
We've been getting to know some of the kitchen girls better since we're still eating separately from the students. This has been fascinating despite their broken English. We've gathered that one of them was studying at the college but had to stop when her family could no longer afford the fees. She now earns 600 Rupees a month (around 9 pounds) working in the kitchen seven days a week. Her parents work in the fields earing 50 Rupees a day. That certainly puts everything in perspective.
There is a lot of poverty evident in Vijayawada, with most of the buildings being very run down and beggars a common sight. There are, however, some positive stories. Last week we visited a "Street Children's Village" with two of the Social Work teachers. The village was set up by an Englishman 20 years ago and now provides shelter, schooling and general care for boys who were formerly on the streets (in return for keeping to certain conditions such as giving up stealing and smoking). They also have a girls' village and there are around 7 other NGOs in the city doing similar things. The place just had a lovely atmosphere and is obviously very successful - the project's Vice Principal, for example, is himself a former streetchild. Hopefully we're going to do some work there on a regular basis; I will let you know how that goes.
We also visited a nearby school for mentally handicapped children. This, too, was run by an NGO - the government does provide some support but is obviously completely overstretched. Again, there was a great positivity about the place despite the deprived backgrounds the children came from. The organisation also does a lot of outreach work, supporting parents and increasing awareness about the children's conditions and their needs - there is still a lot of stigma and denial surrounding mental disabilities here, especially among lower-income families. We're going to visit some of their field projects this afternoon which should be very interesting.
I'm going to have to leave it there - there's lots more to say but it'll have to wait. Thanks for all the comments! :)
Ps - I will try and get some photos up soon, depending on how simple it turns out to be...
Comments
your news
Shirley Lawson
Tuesday 12 September 2006
Gives a good picture of your work over there and it saves me asking your Mum
all about you when she is trying to concentrate on her squash then she gives this as her excuse for losing!
take care
Shirley
New experiences
Anne Potts
Saturday 16 September 2006