Day 12 (breakthrough)
Sept 4,
I’ve tried a few experiments teaching class 6 English and most of them have just taught me how not to teach kids or how to teach just like anyone else. But today I finally had a breakthrough. This is how I taught (with coloured chalk, if you cant see the hindi font) –
I am happy.
मैं खुश हूँ
They were sad.
वे दुखी थे
The class lasted 90 minutes and I was sweating at the end of it — but it was worth it. They got the idea and towards the end, they could build their own sentences. (Although, I was a little worried when I saw sentences that went “I hungry am.” But then, Rome wasn’t built in a day.)
Looking forward to a well deserved weekend break!
They are doing a one-to-one mapping between hindi and english translations, while they have learned the mapping using the colors.. they haven’t yet realized that the order between adjectives and verbs is reversed in the two sentences..
Yeah. But the bigger problem is that I am using a base language to teach another. What if they didn’t know a base language in the first place?
You’ll have to learn some basic Marathi too.. It’ll be easier for them to learn with that as the base language.. Are you taking help from their class teacher?
I am learning some basic Marathi. I have a deal with class 7 kids (I teach class 6) — they teach me Marathi and I do ‘masti’ with them and also maybe teach them a few new English words.
Yeah, I am coordinating my classes with their class teacher (also my host in the village).