Jan 31
Saturday
Today was a good day. I slept in until 7:30. I needed it because I didn't manage to fall asleep until about 2:30. Still, much better than I average in NYC. I got up and bit the bullet for a cold shower (our heated water is solar powered). I had a hard boiled egg for breakfast and brought some tea and water down to the volunteer quarters for some quiet time. I'm tired today. I think the combination of a cold and many hours of work is catching me today. Or maybe it's because I went to bed late. In any case, I mostly rested and caught up my blog until around 9:45, when I went in search of details for the assembly. We got speakers set up and everything ready. The kids looked so cute in their matching clothes.
The assembly was a good one: Mary Mitchell gave a talk, Anetha got her going away talk and a card and it was so sweet, Mrs. Law announced some potential donors were coming in the afternoon and asked the children to be in the school building. Then it was our turn. All the kids moved so there was room to dance and we started. Joe announced what was coming. First the second graders danced to I Got You (I Feel Good) by James Brown, they were awesome. Next was the older kids. They didn't try... and it wasn't great. They did their dance to Stronger by Kanye West. Then was fourth and fifth graders doing We Go Together. They were so cute. Then the third grade danced to ABC by the Jackson 5. They did a lot of rolling on the ground. Next was kindergarten and first to Under the Sea from Disney's The Little Mermaid. Finally the sixth and eighth graders danced to You Can't Stop the Beat. They were AWESOME. Well, the sixth grade was awesome. They looked great. We got some videos of it and I'll get them digitized and on the internet as soon as possible.
After that we went to Hosur. It was a good trip. Jayashree, Nimila, Molly, Joe, Arjun and I first went to lunch. Then Molly, Jayashree and I bought some Saris. The actual sari shopping was a lot of fun. You look at tons of fabric and pick what you like. But buying the tops was not so much fun. Indian women are not built the same as American women. You buy the top by bra band size. In theory. But in practice for Molly and I we had to buy them by arm size. They didn't believe I should have a 32 when I said it, so they measured me. I'm still a 28/33. I had to buy a 36 to be able to get my arms in the sleeves. I felt like the jolly green giant. I mean. It was a strange feeling. Maybe having muscles is a bad thing here. In any case, I'll definitely have to take in the sides of my shirt. :-)
Then we used the internet. I tried and tried to upload pictures, but had no such luck. We went to the grocery store (I bought high fiber cookies to eat with my egg at breakfast). Then we stopped at the atm, there was a line about 20 people long! I got some phone cards, so I will be calling again probably even before I post this. We finally got home in time for dinner and now I'm just relaxing before I grade some papers. I think tomorrow is going to be a lazy day. I plan to spend most of my day lazing around and doing nothing. I want to feel strong and refreshed on Monday.
We're watching the Rainmaker and I'm grading the creative writing papers from Friday. The assignment was to write a story personifying animals. I just read Boovitha's and I wanted to share it because it's so sweet. Mauricio, this is for you:
Once upon a time there was a polar bear. His name was Morrisio. Morrisio live's on the North Pole. After some days spring came up. He was very happy that spring came up.
One day he was walking in his garden and he talked to himself and said "I can make a shcool for the children. Yes I got it! Yes I got it! he yelled he ran back to his house. He called "mom dad yes I'm coming" said mummy. "Yes what is it my son? can I build a shcool "oh! of course "said mummy. Nice gusse. So after a week he called his freind the fish, grizzly bear, snake, tiger, monkey and the birds They all work together and build the shool.
The next day came he went in a jeep to the villages and asked to everybody "do you want your child to come to my school. yes, yes, yes" said their mom and dad. Morrisio was very happy and had lot of fun with the CHILDREN!!!
Sunday
I slept in until ten! It was great. Then I graded my math tests and finished the creative writing. I watched History of the World Part 1. I had lunch with Jayashree, who kindly supplied me with beef and some kind of vegetable roti. Then I made a lesson plan for aerobics so the kids would make measurable improvements and I wouldn't have to make decisions at 6:30 in the morning. I really focused on building their core strength and coordination. I went to watch MMC have choir with the kids. It was really good to see how she works with them. It gave me lots of ideas. She really has fun with them as a first priority, and it makes sense. Then I wrote the curriculum for musical theatre class for K-8 for two months. Everyone will be doing theatre games. K-4 will be doing them with the goal of team building. 5-6 will be working towards puppeteering skills and 7-8 will be working towards self confidence and presentation skills. I'm pretty excited about it. Dinner was funny because the power went out and I was sitting with the first graders. Before the aunties came around with candles they started asking what I was afraid of. "Miss, miss, are you afraid of a cobra?" We talked about if I'd seen or eaten various animals. It was funny to see how weirded out they were. "Miss, did you eat a big lobster?!!" I was fascinated by the ingenuity of the aunties. They slightly melted the bottom of the tapers to stick them upright on the tables. Smart ladies. After dinner we got a lot of candy (I love it when new volunteers come!) and we watched Slumdog Millionaire. It was great. I really enjoyed it! I also made a starburst wrapper chain and plan to give it to someone later.
Monday
This morning was good. Aerobics went MUCH better today. It was the older girls and I didn't hear one "Miss it's paining" or "aii" or "awww." They did what we asked of them to the best of their abilities. It was nice. Really nice. So I was pumped up at breakfast and had fun teaching Reading (prefixes and comparisons). Science was good because we talked about what percentage would have been what grade and what they should be aiming for. I could tell the message got through when I handed back the math tests. The kids who didn't do well slunk down in their desks. The one child who got an "A" I gave a piece of candy. He was thrilled. I think they have a better idea of how hard they need to work in comparison with how hard they have worked. The kids finished their drawings of the digestive system and we played a math review game. I had a brain fart and asked for the perimeter when I wanted the area and kept sending kids back to their seats because no one was labeling the units as squared. Doh. I have a points system by row so I gave all the rows a point because I made the mistake. It was pretty funny. At assembly Dr. George made a speech thanking MMC for her continued help and support and made it clear that Shanti Bhavan couldn't have made it without her. Sheryl and I are discussing when we're wearing our new Indian clothes and she said that apparently the kids assumed we were sisters because we wore matching salwar kamiz. It's even more amusing if you know how little we look like each other and the difference in our ages. :) Of course this is coming from kids who mix up Christian Bale and the guy who becomes Two Face in Dark Knight. You know, the one from Thank You for Smoking? I can't remember his name.
The afternoon has been pretty decent. After lunch the kids did independent math review while I gave one girl her make up math test. Then we had grammar review, which I've been doing from their essays, so they can see the mistakes are theirs. Then I follow up with supporting material from a book. They really get a kick out of fixing the sentences. They laugh and laugh while I write them up on the board and then they raise their hands trying to fix the sentence. I think it's good. I'm still learning as a teacher, like I need to be more consistently neutral in my questions. I'll get there. We have a little break and it'll be snack and choir time. I am keeping all the kids who didn't do well on their math tests for individual review tonight. They're doing 30 minutes of work each. I'm just going to start them and let them go. I have to be at a meeting at 6:15 for the seventh grade with Dr. George tonight.
The review was successful. Dr. George's meeting was to reprimand the older kids for not giving their full effort and to explain the reasons for the economic crisis. The first part made me really uncomfortable and the second part made me depressed. Dinner was fun though. I ate with the 10th grade girls and I learned a lot about how they think. It was fun. We watched Waiting for Guffman. Which I love. Well actually I randomly fell asleep really early. So everyone else watched the movie.
Tuesday
Aerobics this morning was basically just a free for all. We just played and had fun. We made up nick names for the kids and they made them up for us. I got named after the tap dancing guy from Happy Feet. "Mumbler." The kid thought it was funny because "you don't mumble much miss." I had a good time teaching the kids today. Sheryl was out and I got a taste of what it would be like to teach them alone. :) I think science went better today, I'm hoping they're going to remember everything. I certainly tried a different way of making them remember. After the news Dr. George told the students to be on their guard because though the odds are extremely low that someone would attack a school, there's a legal issue with a neighboring village and the sentence is due next week. Dr. George is a little worried the landlord of the village will try to make some retribution. In any case we had a whole talk about it with the older grades after snack. That was fun. :-/
We had review this evening. I think some of the kids really learned things they needed to know today. That's a good feeling. We had choir afterword... then dinner and sixth grade musical theater class. We watched Hairspray. That was fun. We watched Tommy Boy tonight. I forgot how many of the things I say are from this movie! Did anyone from Jersey City ever notice Josh talks like Richard in Tommy Boy? Haha.
Wednesday and Thursday
I'm not really sure what happened these days. I'm trying to write on Sunday. I had a cold and a sore throat this week. That might be it.
Friday
Aerobics was fun. We had a stretch class and the kids really liked it. I took a nap during assembly and the next period because I didn't feel well. We watched Hairspray during musical theatre time. We got CHANA MASALA for lunch. I loved it. Yay. I had the class secretly write letters to Sheryl (though I'm sure she knew what they were up to). They were so excited they had her cover her eyes. We had dance rehearsal for a volunteer dance one of the teachers wanted to do. It was frustrating because two of us are used to a different kind of dance rehearsal and she didn't do it the same twice. Nonetheless it was fun. We had burnt rice at dinner. Boo. I called Eric to catch up and he told me that my sublet-er never moved in and hasn't paid February's rent. I had a minor heart attack, but I'm sure with a little help from my friends I can make it through. We watched Airplane to cheer me up. It did, but I still was awake for an hour in bed worrying.
Saturday
Saturday was all about dance. After breakfast the girls rehearsed for the show that night. Then I taught tap to Beena, an 11th grader with aspirations of being a professional dancer. Then I played a review game with the fourth grade. That was fun. They didn't do as well as I hoped they would, but it definitely told me what they need to review. After that I took a shower, read my book and lounged around for a few hours before group dance rehearsal and preparations. It was a big surprise and no one in the school knew what was going to happen. :) It was really exciting. We did our hair and make up and got all done up in traditional Indian wear then did Bollywood style dances for the kids. The boys sang a song and Grandpa Jacques told the kids odd news stories from around the world. The kids LOVED it. It was like a mob of teenagers that saw Elvis, The Beetles or Zach Effron. (I have no idea how he spells his name). SO MUCH FUN. Then all the kids came on stage and danced with us. It was really great.
Sunday
WE HAD PANCAKES AND BANANAS FOR BREAKFAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Off to Hosur to do the stuff I gotta do.
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