Summer School at Parikrma

Summer school has started at Parikrma and they were very short on teachers so they asked me to teach a full classroom of children. They were managing with a few senior 10th grade students and teachers. What a challenging task it was. I can appreciate how difficult it is to be a teacher. I taught 1st grade, 5th grade and remedial 5th grade and each class has its own challenges. Since it's summer school and they are not fully staffed, academics are not taken seriously and everyone is in a light mood.

First Grade:

The children are very physical, the boys are constantly wrestling and hurting each other. The more aggressive girls pull books and toys away from each other. It was difficult to engage the entire class at once so I read to a small group of girls. The girls always aim to please and they would cuddle up next to me and a couple of them would follow  me around the class.  I was quite impressed with the reading level of some of the girls and their keen interest in reading.

Fifth Grade:

It  was my first day and I was not really prepared. I asked the class to write a creative writing piece. The girls jumped on it right away, asked a lot of questions and immediately came to me for feedback and spelling corrections. One particular girl wrote her piece so well, I was very impressed with her vocabulary and the effort she put into it.  The boys on the other hand had to be pushed and prodded to write a few lines. We played a couple of games (boys vs girls) which they enjoyed and took very seriously.   At one point, I lost total control of the class so I hung out with a few girls and we did math problems and played hangman and the others were playing cricket and other games in the classroom. 

5th Grade Remedial:

This was a more manageable sized class. Since it was my 2nd day, I was a bit more prepared but the children also were far more behind in both English and Math. Many of the boys could hardly write a sentence,  it was a very difficult task to write a creative piece so they mostly goofed around and were disruptive. The same boys jumped to the front of the class when I put some math problems on the board.  It was great to see the enthusiasm in the children.  

Although each day was challenging, it was very rewarding, the children were so warm and friendly. There is always at least one or two kids that try to imitate my accent which is quite amusing.  Next week will be my last week as they are off for the summer holidays. By the time school starts, we'll be leaving soon after that. I will however keep in touch and will definitely continue to sponsor a few kids after we move back.