The school

 

Wow! Their teaching methods are pure example of anti-pedagogy! The children are sitting and repeating what is written on a blackboard… Reciting by heart a list of words that, besides belonging to one category, e.g. fruits or colours, have no meaningful connection, no context to it.

But the kids do repeat it and… seem to be very motivated! They want to learn and show you that they can say/spell this or that word!

Those kids are adorable! They are so little in their too big uniforms and shoesies. They are very eager to communicate, get in touch with me, all being very open, curious, daring and excited. What a bunch of happy kids I have in front of me!!! From every direction I hear “sister, sister, sister!!” and I need to look there or answer their questions, the only one they can ask: “your name? your father name? your mother/brother/sister name? England?”.

The school is meant to be English means, as they call it here. But the teachers are not very strong on English themselves. They translate a lot into Tamil so the children are not really challenged with the English. 

I’ve jumped very quickly into showing the teachers what other way they could teach the same but with much more fun and actually checking that each kid got it right or at least practiced. It is not a rocket science. Needless to say that the kids were delighted J  Of course I was very positive and full of prises. With my non-existing Tamil and their very little English, I needed to use my face, hands and any kind of means of communication. It resulted in the kids running around with two thumbs up and screaming “very good!”.

The boys, girls and children come from difficult situations - not having one or both parents, being brought up by a grandma or aunt or older brother... Even worse if a farther or a mother has a lover, leaves the family - the shame is more a burden than a hardship of making a daily life sustainable. Or like my little Rajkumar, whose parents are...from "this community"- meaning lowest cast of untouchable but we don't use this word anymore...

These children are so happy! So willing! They have such a sparkle! Having only the basics they appreciate anything else. They fill up their time without TV and this western "I'm bored"...

Lunchtime – the only time when the children are quiet :-) 

Some more photos at: https://picasaweb.google.com/105502181518684720389/School