Liz guru

This blog, on which I also spent much time, was also lost in cyberspace. I wanted to let y’all know about my classes. I will have to combine a week of experience into one blog.

I was excited to finally get started volunteering. I am working in a village, which is about a 40 minute walk from my Kathmandu suburb home. I initially had 3 classes in this village. Two English classes and an income generation program for women. It has turned now turned into 4 classes. I started with 8 students in my morning class and 14 in my afternoon class. Now I have 17 in at 10am and 25 at 1pm. I split the pm class, and about 8 selected students will come and have conversations with me during the second half of my women’s group. I am excited that they’re excited, but it is really challenging, because they are at all levels and I am in an outdoor class room. On Friday, the neighbors spent the entire day 10am – 2:30pm pounding hay (to break it up, I guess). Also, the entire village gathers round and watches me teach. They have little conversations in Nepali, so I have to ask them to leave. They usually just go to the rooftop of the houses and watch me from above. I’m getting used to it. These kids have no daily schedule, so often the younger class will show up for the other classes, just to watch me and visa versa.

On Friday, a large group of students were absent… which was odd… I was told that the 4 boys were bathing. Bathing is an important part of the Hindu religion, so I am assuming there was some event… Another couple of girls were working in the fields.

My younger class, have learned a little English, but a typical day sounds like this:

Liz – “My name is Liz”

Class – “My name is Liz”

Liz – “No, listen to me only” with my hand by me ears

Class – places their hands by their ears “No listen to me!”

They are getting better. They really like to sing “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and I taught them “I’m a little teapot” Both my classes love to play Simon Says, but they younger group doesn’t understand the Simon part of they game. It is good for them just to learn commands and to understand my words.

One day, I we talked about colors in my younger class. We also learned about the concept of “I like” and “my favorite”. I brought crayons and paper for everyone to draw a picture using their favorite color. The kids were spread out all over, and each one of them drew exactly the same picture: a house with a road, a bird, a tree, and mountains. After talking to the VSN staff and other volunteers, I found that the only opportunity these kids had to draw was probably once in school where the teacher drew the same picture on the board and had them copy it. These kids spend all day playing in the dirt and fields without any adult supervision… they have to be uber-creative… but they have no opportunity to use that creativity on paper.

My older class is really fun. They have a better grasp of the language, so I can do a lot more. They are begging me for books in English, so they can read and practice. I only brought a couple with me, so I might go to downtown Kathmandu and see if I can find some more.

Everyone is amazing… I took pictures of each child, so I could learn their names. When I told them to smile and point to my teeth, they would point to their teeth too.

I have so much more to tell, but this will have to do for now.

Namaste!