Yes Mam! Yes Teacher! Yes Dee Dee(means older sister in Hindi)! My days are filled with teaching and despite the fact that I feel as though I may have gotten over involved, I am really enjoying it. I officially have a purpose in India and it is a very rewarding feeling. Jodi the teacher! Who would have ever guessed that I would be an English teacher...in India?
Two days a week I volunteer at The Happy School for underprivileged children where every day is an adventure and a real stretch on my patience. There is no curriculum, no structure, the kids speak no English, and supplies are limited. Thanks to my raised voice (not yelling), the kids now know "SIT DOWN, PLEASE!" They really enjoy mocking me and yelling at their classmates. I'm making a difference!
Five days a week I'm teaching English to Koreans age 5 to 50. I'm currently finding this teaching job the most satisfying and rewarding of all. All of the students are very eager to learn and take their studies quite seriously. I'm getting good reviews at the school so at least I will have one good reference for the future. The first day of teaching one fourteen year old said, "Don't Americans hate Koreans?" right to my face. It's a good thing I can handle anything that life throws at me.
Once a month I have volunteered to teach Sunday School. What was I thinking? Last Sunday I went to check out the 3-5 year old class and see what I had to work with this week. I'm teaching about the lost sheep this week and at the moment I'm starting to feel like one. How do I keep 10-15 kids entertained for 30-40 minutes and drill into their head that God is their comforter. They are going to think God is literally a blanket. It should be an interesting morning.
Despite all these unpredicted teaching opportunities I do feel that I'm learning more about children, my patience is growing, and I finally have a sense of purpose in India. The sad fact is that I now spend my Friday nights gluing cotton balls on toilet paper rings to make fake sheep for teaching. Next I want to google homemade playdough recipes and find the music back-up to Hokey Pokey. It was a big hit with my young Korean students today to watch their teacher dance around like a monkey. Itsy-Bitsy Spider and Duck Duck Goose have also saved me this week. Any suggestions for new songs next week?
Nice post. I been following your blog for a little while. I have a question are you teaching Koreans English in India? I suppose they are paid classes you're teaching them? How do they find you? It's really interesting as recently I saw some YouTube videos from Pune, I think, where Japanese students had come to India to learn English! Thanks.
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