September 5th. Teachers day. In Deepenam, we celebrate teacher’s day by giving the teachers somewhat a break. Basically, the oldest class teaches the rest of the school for around a day.
I took the youngest group, Light group, along with one of my closest friend.
The plan wasn’t foolproof or anything as we’d put it together just the day before.
We walked into class to be greeted by eager and excited kids. We did the morning circle, chanted, and started class.
We had chosen to read during the first period since their reading buddies were busy. I had brought some books which I’d read during my childhood in Australia.
We read for about an hour, taking turns before the second period started.
I’d brought in questions for them to answer about animals.
“What’s your favorite animal and why? What does it eat?” And so on. Some drew the animal and others just wrote. There was a kid that didn’t really understand English but with the help of a couple of people I knew, I could somewhat get her to write a couple of things.
We gave them some time just before snack time to take a breather outside and play.
During snack, I quickly decided what to do for the next class which was with the second group. Peace group.
The bell rang and I quickly went to the next class.
I was tamil. and since I couldn’t speak Tamil much, I had to get help from someone else. My friend had to take the class that could speak Tamil and I had to take the class that couldn’t.
Either they were really tired or they just didn’t want to participate because even though I’d suggest playing a game, they didn’t listen. They ran around and refused to listen.
Then I tried a different approach and took them back into the class since they couldn’t focus outside (Or so it seemed)
I tried to find out what the knew and didn’t so I could teach at their level but they still didn’t focus as they flipped their chairs over and started playing bumper cars with their chairs. I eventually gave up and sat on the window sill and waited for them to calm down. They never did so I just stayed at the window sill for 15 minutes until the bell rang and it was lunch.
Everyone else seemed so content so I decided not to be a killjoy. After lunch, it went back to normal and I went to craft. As a student.
It was fun but at the same time pretty exhausting. I honestly wouldn’t mind my future career being a teacher but not something I’d jump at joy for.
Light group( age 7,8) was really fun to work with until the end where it was a bit hard to control them. They were all so enthusiastic and ready to learn in the morning. Since I’d worked with them last year, I knew more or less what to expect but it was still really fun, as the oldest, to bond with the youngest ones at our school.
Since some of them were new, I didn’t know all of their names and I still don’t but I hope I do in the near future
The peace( age 9,10) group was a bit more laid back but they were all fun to be with. I was a bit nervous at the start since they were older and a bit less responsive. I’d have to be a bit more serious with this class. Childish tricks and threats weren’t going to work on them. Or that’s what I thought. They all seemed really happy and willing to participate in class. And even though I was a bit worried, it was really fun to do painting with them.
-Gayatri
FaithClass @ Deepanam 