Van and I sit in a sunny corner, blessed by the morning light. We’ve stretched in a salutation to the sun; my sternum has clunked in a way which neither of us think is positive.
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“Did you sleep well? Were there any creatures?” asked a student as we meet on our way home from market on our first morning back in the village.
Early on Wednesday I felt the usual rush of butterflies as the lush greenery basked in a grey light from the heavy monsoon sky that I haven’t been a part of for the past two months comes into sight. During those months, Van and I had been communicating with our trainee virtually as he teaches independently. Now, we return for more on-site observations and assess how we should move forward with our teacher training.
It was test planning day. Although the temperature had risen and the students and teachers alike were sticky, sweaty and lethargic, our trainee was ploughing ahead and testing Grade 9 on the first unit of the government English textbook that we have been teaching for the past couple of weeks.
Have you ever guided a teacher in class over text message? Given instructions of how to tweak an activity over SMS? Advised on suitable homework via the wonders of mobile apps? Me either until now.
One of the volunteer teachers is scared that the students will fail; and therefore, has scheduled 3 classes a day for the students to sit through. My trainee feels pressured to keep up with his fellow teachers even though I gently remind him that they are not really teaching in the same way that he is and that he shouldn’t expect to be able to keep up with them in teaching as many in-class hours, nor should he need to as the way he now teaches reaches a deeper part of the learner’s brains.
The grade 9 English textbook is a slender volume of 90 pages or so. With a white cover and green writing, it mimics the uniforms that both students and teachers wear each day to school.
I believe that we need some downtime. It is unrealistic to expect to keep going forever. Since January, we haven't had a day off. We’ve had a few snatched hours here and there, but nothing substantial to recharge and come back refreshed and with new resolve to tackle the challenges of this new way of teaching.
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