Teaching

      Undeniably, the highlight of these past few weeks, and what will continue to be my highlight throughout my time here, has been every moment I have spent in the classroom. My school, Shree Mahendra Higher Secondary, is a very nice collection of classroom that outline a large grassy field and a magnificent view of the nearby hills. The school itself has many more facilities than most Nepali schools - bathrooms, a large office space, whiteboards in most classrooms, and a small library. Despite this, there are a million and one differences between Shree Mahendra and the American school I've worked in at home - differences that I find incredible challenging and overwhelming: small fixed benches and skinny bench style tables all hammered together so that they are impossible to move, dirt floors often with water collected in the corner, and stark walls.

My First Grade Classroom

        Never have I realized how the structure of a room can be so important. In my University education classes, we often talked about how we would group our students in our classrooms - imagining there would always be many options to choose from. In Nepal, those options simply aren't always available. I prefer arranging students in teams, something that is nearly impossible in Shree Mahendra's classrooms. The layout prevents me from laying out materials for students to see, from playing large group games, or from bringing all of my first graders in close for a story. No carpets, no stations, no materials or toys. I'm planning to bring in what I can in the coming weeks, starting                                                                                           with buckets of crayons.

            In addition to these challenges, I've never before faced such large class sizes. When we visited the school, I had assumed that the teachers were exaggerating the class sizes - since they sounded almost proud of the fact that they could crowd sixty students in one room. Well my assumptions were wrong. No exaggerations, the class sizes really are that big here, unfortunately, averaging about 40 students per class.

     My first class of the day is with 34 first graders. I love them, and I am sometimes lucky enough to have them all engaged at once with a fancy story or song, but often, I lose two or three to the back of the classroom, four or five will be scribbling on the desk and not paying attention, and one girl in particular will be periodically running up to the chalkboard to wipe chalk on her hands. Another thing to note - chalkboards were a horrible invention. Never use a chalkboard with first graders.

        I'm still extremely fond of my first graders though, of their sweet smiles and excitement at each material I bring out. Some of them are incredibly smart while others have obviously never been taught or read to at home. I help in first grade math as well and quickly learned that some of the students are
adding and subtracting while others cannot even count. The disparity at such a young age is incredibly worrisome.

5th Grade Section A

      After some games of red light/green light and a story with the first graders, I attend a much more calm class with one of the fifth grade sections. They always get excited when we have time to play a game, which isn't often. By this age, the teachers almost strictly use the textbook, which is no good to begin with. For this reason, Christine told us it's better to stick with the younger grades.

           Period three, class three. Oh boy. Where do I begin. My eyes widened a bit when I walked into this class the first day. I counted heads several times and finally came out with 54. Fifty four students. All crammed into one tiny class so that the students seated along the part of the bench  closest to the wall are almost unreachable. 54 names to learn. 54 needs to meet. Apparently this class could not be split up because there are not enough rooms in the school. So there it is, fifty four students and all, in a classroom much smaller than the typical American classroom. Their names, three weeks into teaching, I've still not learned. I'm not sure if I'll ever get that far, but I'm giving myself a little lee-way since I work with over 150 students everyday, more than most of the other ETAs have in their school. Not to mention all of the students look the same to me (facial features from different ethnic groups are harder to distinguish - plus they all have black hair) and they all have strange names. I'm lucky if I can get close to pronouncing their names, let alone remembering them.

Some Students from Class 2

After class three, I will teach class one math, another class one English, and class two. Even though it is at the end of the day when the students should be the most antsy after five hours of school likely without eating, class two is by far my favorite class. The class is slightly smaller (only 25 students) and they act like it is Christmas Day every time I walk into the room. Every time we start a song or game, it's hilarious to watch them slowly creep up out of their seats toward me until they are all crowded around me and I have to tell them to sit down again. Their energy and excitement is contagious, not to mention they are an extremely clever class, years ahead of many of my grade one students.

The forty minute periods I spend with each class always feels too short - but after a long day of teaching, the chiya (tea) always tastes sweeter, and I can enjoy an evening sitting outside our house with my family.

 Besides teaching, I've adopted being an artist as my second job, as I spend at least two hours every day drawing and making teaching matierals. My goal is to leave the teachers I work with ample teaching supplies to use for years to come. I can understand that with families of their own, other chores to do, and a salary of only $180 - $280 a month they don't have the time or motivation to make the materials on their own. I'm happy to take this on as something I can leave behind, and since my father happens to own a lamination machine, my hope is that the materials will be durable enough to last.

Teaching Math on Homemade Whiteboards

ABCs

Teaching here has challenged me in so many ways, but it also inspires me, motivates me, and fills me with joy. Seven months seems like so little when I think of how much I want to give to my students, how much I want to see them grow.  I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

All my love to those back home.