Proud to be a Teach India Volunteer
I thought I had it in me to put that effort. I have been volunteering for the past 3 months. I have another 2 weeks of volunteering left and the thought of not seeing those kids again and not being there to teach saddens me.
Prelude:
It all began a little over 3 months back with a 7 day training for all the volunteers. Times of India had partnered with the British council to design the course and train the volunteers as well. They had also done a pilot program in Delhi with a few NGOs and a handful of volunteers. Based on their learning, the training was updated and conducted for us.
The 7 day training was an amazing learning for me. The British Council has some amazing English teachers. My batch was taught by a gentleman called Arun. We were taught how to teach a language without using the mother tongue. The logic was that if as a teacher you create a forced environment where only English is spoken and a lot of gestures and expressions are used, the learners mind has to focus on the new language presented to him and the learning is faster as opposed to a class where we regularly translate English sentences to the mother tongue to explain. Initially, I was skeptical of this. But, Arun showed us that it was possible to learn a few sentences of Telegu in 15 minutes without using English or Hindi, but only gestures. The training was rigorous and quite hands-on. I believe the course content and the training content has been done really well.
The Beginning
After the 7 days training we were ready to take on the challenge. We had all picked an NGO of our choice and were assigned a group of learners along with a buddy volunteer to teach on alternate days. I had a class of about 12 learners in the age group of 17-32. The NGO I had selected, is located about 5 kms from my office. Most of my learners are in the 12th standard and so I had to choose an afternoon time slot. I requested my manager in office to allow me to step out during lunch hour and come back in about 2 hours for this exercise. Thanks to my workplace and the flexi-hours for this opportunity.
The approach to the NGO is difficult. The first few times I got lost in that area. The first 3-4 classes I had to request the learners to try and repeat their response given in Hindi in English. It took me a week to get the hang of things, to earn their attention, to get them to focus on the class, to get them interested in the class.
I've used all kinds of tricks. I've made sure the class is fun and that I crack jokes or talk to them about their daily life to keep them engaged. We were told by Arun, our teacher, that as long as the learners are talking in English, its fine if they talk amongst themselves. I used that as a yardstick.
Today, my learners challenge each other to talk in English throughout the day. When they had come, they had trouble even telling me where they live. Today, they can not only introduce themselves but also describe a picture they see, give directions, talk about their schedule, tell you what they want to do in life, have told me they love me. :)
It has been a great experience and a wonderful and joyful journey.
The classes will end this month. I've had lots of troubles and lots of fun. It has been a great learning for me. My buddy teacher hasn't been around after the first few weeks. I've had to extend the 3 month long exercise by another 15 days to cope up with the loss of his classes. It has been very hectic at work and at home. The winters were severe and reaching the NGO wasn't easy at all. I've put in a lot of effort, money, time and energy into doing this. But, its been totally worth the effort. The two hours I spend there at the class are usually the most productive of my time in the day. I am glad that I had the opportunity to do this exercise.
I hope that I've made a small difference to the lives of the 8 students that I have.
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