Isn't there some song talking about being halfway around the world?
I'm in India.
I've been here since mid-June, actually.
And in about a week and a half, I'll be back Stateside, with two field unit credits fulfilled.
I'd originally come here to start a professional and personal development program for 10th Standard students at the school where my aunt works. Only as soon as I got to the school, and met the students, I realized that I'd have to throw my program idea out the window.
So instead I've taken on the role of tutor/mentor/substitute/minor faculty member. I work with Class 10 a few times a week, doing a lesson in English with them regarding grammar, or preparing them for a portion of the second part of their English board exam. Either way, I've kept my goal simple--get them talking in English.
That's it. That's all I want for them to do--talk in English. Use the language that they've been learning.
But the fact of the matter is that I can't tell if their English language skills have improved at all. My aunt thinks they have to some degree.
I'm not so sure.
I still don't know if teaching is my thing. Keeping the boys in line causes me to yell and scream at them, and I feel upset because of it, because I don't like having to pull out my ugly side.
I'm trying to stay positive, trying to remember that I'm doing something to make a difference.
I just don't know if the difference is being made.
But these kids are definitely cute. And when I'm not teaching them, they're so much easier to interact with. They're more open, more inclined to ask me questions, more inclined to answer my questions, and more eager to take in the corrections I make as they speak.
That tells me I'm a better advisor than a teacher.
My aunt says I shouldn't be too hasty in deciding what I'm good at. And I have to constantly remind myself that I'm new at this, and if I teach, the kids in the US won't be the same as the kids here.
Here, most kids are lazy. They learn how to write a formal letter by remembering a formula that tells them to use the phrases with big words that are in the advertisement that they're supposed to answer.
Few of them ever ask what the big word means. Even fewer pull out the dictionary they're supposed to bring to school to look up the word themselves.
The truth is that English is not a priority here, because it's easy to get by knowing HIndi, Urdu, Telugu. They think they don't need English.
And then when they go abroad to study--if any of these kids will get that chance--or decide to migrate to a new country, usually the language needed is English.
Because there, Hindi, Urdu, Telugu won't work.
And I don't know what will happen to them then, though I do hope that they'll make it, and be successful doing whatever it is they choose to do.
Ahem.
Moving on from the melancholy, though that is sort of my current mood...
My cousin got married. Er...sort of.
Our weddings are kind of weird. Sometimes we have the wedding ceremony first, and then the wedding--you know, the fun stuff?--six months later.
Eh, we're a strange culture.
But dude, my mehndi looked hella tight.
I'll have to figure out a way to put up a picture of my mehndi-fied hands. They looked like they were tattooed with intricate lace gloves or something.
Mostly because the ladies putting the mehndi did it Indian-style instead of Arabian-style, which is more of a scattered pattern.
I love both styles, really, so I didn't care. :D
Also, been writing while I was here!
FInished one multichapter NCIS fic I'd been working on since about March-ish, and am currently in the process of finishing another one, this one a really, really, REALLY long one-shot. (It'll most likely be 5,000 words plus when I'm done, yeesh.)
In school news, after this summer is over, I'll be COMPLETELY DONE with my Education minor. 8D
Which leaves my English major to be completed. But that's doable, of course, and I'll gradumatate on time next May for sure unless something goes drastically downhill.
Let's hope it doesn't, mmkay?
Class schedule for Fall looks as follows:
Monday: English 45B (Literature in English, Late 17th - Mid 19th Centuries) - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
International and Area Studies 115 - 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (DISCUSSION)
Tuesday: English 166 (Engaging the Play - Being the Player) - 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
International and Area Studies 115 (Global Poverty) - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (WAITLISTED)
Music 20A (Basic Musicianship) - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday: English 45B - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thursday: See Tuesday
Friday: English 45B - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (DISCUSSION)
My Tuesday/Thursday is going to kill me. OH, and on top of all that, KKA practice. Have yet to find out if our practice days are the same. =P
There's a lot more to say about my trip, but trying to put it all into one entry might get me shot for length.
/rambling post that totally rambles.
I've been here since mid-June, actually.
And in about a week and a half, I'll be back Stateside, with two field unit credits fulfilled.
I'd originally come here to start a professional and personal development program for 10th Standard students at the school where my aunt works. Only as soon as I got to the school, and met the students, I realized that I'd have to throw my program idea out the window.
So instead I've taken on the role of tutor/mentor/substitute/minor faculty member. I work with Class 10 a few times a week, doing a lesson in English with them regarding grammar, or preparing them for a portion of the second part of their English board exam. Either way, I've kept my goal simple--get them talking in English.
That's it. That's all I want for them to do--talk in English. Use the language that they've been learning.
But the fact of the matter is that I can't tell if their English language skills have improved at all. My aunt thinks they have to some degree.
I'm not so sure.
I still don't know if teaching is my thing. Keeping the boys in line causes me to yell and scream at them, and I feel upset because of it, because I don't like having to pull out my ugly side.
I'm trying to stay positive, trying to remember that I'm doing something to make a difference.
I just don't know if the difference is being made.
But these kids are definitely cute. And when I'm not teaching them, they're so much easier to interact with. They're more open, more inclined to ask me questions, more inclined to answer my questions, and more eager to take in the corrections I make as they speak.
That tells me I'm a better advisor than a teacher.
My aunt says I shouldn't be too hasty in deciding what I'm good at. And I have to constantly remind myself that I'm new at this, and if I teach, the kids in the US won't be the same as the kids here.
Here, most kids are lazy. They learn how to write a formal letter by remembering a formula that tells them to use the phrases with big words that are in the advertisement that they're supposed to answer.
Few of them ever ask what the big word means. Even fewer pull out the dictionary they're supposed to bring to school to look up the word themselves.
The truth is that English is not a priority here, because it's easy to get by knowing HIndi, Urdu, Telugu. They think they don't need English.
And then when they go abroad to study--if any of these kids will get that chance--or decide to migrate to a new country, usually the language needed is English.
Because there, Hindi, Urdu, Telugu won't work.
And I don't know what will happen to them then, though I do hope that they'll make it, and be successful doing whatever it is they choose to do.
Ahem.
Moving on from the melancholy, though that is sort of my current mood...
My cousin got married. Er...sort of.
Our weddings are kind of weird. Sometimes we have the wedding ceremony first, and then the wedding--you know, the fun stuff?--six months later.
Eh, we're a strange culture.
But dude, my mehndi looked hella tight.
I'll have to figure out a way to put up a picture of my mehndi-fied hands. They looked like they were tattooed with intricate lace gloves or something.
Mostly because the ladies putting the mehndi did it Indian-style instead of Arabian-style, which is more of a scattered pattern.
I love both styles, really, so I didn't care. :D
Also, been writing while I was here!
FInished one multichapter NCIS fic I'd been working on since about March-ish, and am currently in the process of finishing another one, this one a really, really, REALLY long one-shot. (It'll most likely be 5,000 words plus when I'm done, yeesh.)
In school news, after this summer is over, I'll be COMPLETELY DONE with my Education minor. 8D
Which leaves my English major to be completed. But that's doable, of course, and I'll gradumatate on time next May for sure unless something goes drastically downhill.
Let's hope it doesn't, mmkay?
Class schedule for Fall looks as follows:
Monday: English 45B (Literature in English, Late 17th - Mid 19th Centuries) - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
International and Area Studies 115 - 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (DISCUSSION)
Tuesday: English 166 (Engaging the Play - Being the Player) - 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
International and Area Studies 115 (Global Poverty) - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM (WAITLISTED)
Music 20A (Basic Musicianship) - 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday: English 45B - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Thursday: See Tuesday
Friday: English 45B - 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM (DISCUSSION)
My Tuesday/Thursday is going to kill me. OH, and on top of all that, KKA practice. Have yet to find out if our practice days are the same. =P
There's a lot more to say about my trip, but trying to put it all into one entry might get me shot for length.
/rambling post that totally rambles.