Life in the Clouds

It's halfway into my placement at Sacred Heart School and as expected, my daily routine is no longer new and unpredictable (mostly) but is pretty much as normal as everybody's.

Every morning I wake up at 7.15 and have breakfast. Breakfast is one of the most delicious things! I've eaten it every single morning yet I still look forward to it. It's chana (part of the chickpea family), chipati and egg. Speaking of foods, I don't even crave pizza, pasta, korean food or even delicious El Jannah and their amazing garlic sauce anymore!

Brekkie

School starts at 9am with a morning assembly. The children are arranged into lines characterised by class, gender and height. They recite the school prayer (the founder is actually Hindu but his wife is/used to be Christian so asked for the prayer to be made) which goes like:

Oh God, our loving Father.

As we come before you,

give us the strength to follow your path with

courage, courtesy and confidence.

And help us to perform our duties towards

God, parents and society.

Thank you God!

Afterwards somebody says the Current Affairs and then we all sing the school song. It's a super motivational song about how one person can change the world called: A Drop in the Ocean by Steps. It's quite long so I won't put the lyrics up here!

Assembly

The school has eight periods a day, usually 40minutes long. But since we have the annual concert to practice for ten minutes is cut off from each period leaving us 30minutes to work with and an hour and 15minutes for concert practice. It's a killer. Jordan and I have free periods in Period One, Three, Five and Seven and we usually mark work, prepare for future classes or just relax.

Jordan and I marking

On Thursdays, I share Class II with Jordan during Period Two. Usually Class II is insane as there are about five rowdy boys out of twenty students. But we worked out a system where one of us would take the boys outside and work with them one on one. Currently with Class II, we're working on the theme Me, My Family, My World. Sometimes Class II feels almost like babysitting which I hate because I'm not here to colour and draw but to teach. But the range of their English and intelligence is absolutely astounding. There is one child, Prakit, who is an absolute genius. He finishes his work without getting distracted, his hand writing is amazing and he gets everything correct. On the other hand, there are children like Ravikant, who can hardly speak English and often talks to me in Nepalese. If we make things too difficult, half the class won't bother and will be so loud the kids who can understand will get distracted. But if we make things easy, it won't be a challenge for those who can manage and wouldn't help them increase their academic ability. Struggle street. But the naughty kids are definitely improving in their behaviour. They love getting Hi-5's and now even hug me and say, “Thank you, Sharon Miss” after each lesson!

Teaching vocabulary related to family.

Class II being very enthusiastic 

The kids were very enthusiastic to say something!

During Period Four, I have my favourite class – Class IV. They like to play a game with me called “New Pinch”. The rules are quite simple: if you have something new and somebody spots that it is new, everyone must pinch you until you say, “Thank you.” One day, Adi asks almost too innocently (he's one of the naughty boys), “Miss, are those new earrings?” I was quite surprised that he noticed and replied quite enthusiastically, “Yes, they are new earrings!”

He immediately turns to Dipesh (also one of the naughty boys) and says with excitement, “Dipesh! Miss has new earrings!” Suddenly there were murmurs around the classroom of “New earrings. NEW earrings!” and before I knew it, I was swarmed by nine year olds pinching me (which hurt quite a lot!) screaming out, “NEW PINCH!” until I said, “Thank you!” It's a strange and painful game but I like it nonetheless. Perhaps the reason why Class IV is my favourite is because they feel like they can muck around with me despite my authority position. It makes me feel accepted and that I'm more than a teacher to them. I mean, they would most definitely not do this with other teachers!

Classroom of Class IV

Class IV

Class IV

During Period Six is Class VI. Honestly, I don't like Class VI too much. They don't listen and their fights over not sharing crayons or somebody hitting somebody else seems very immature for their age. They don't take Jordan and I seriously resulting to a very loud classroom and a lot of shouting of, “Quiet!” on our behalf. With Class VI, we just started on teaching them about the Aborigines and their Dreamtimes stories. Soon enough, they'll write their own story and create their own artwork using the symbols the Aboriginals use in their art.

Class VI

And in Period Eight, I have Class III which I share with Jordan. Currently we're teaching them the structure of a story and eventually, they'll write their own little book. However, it seems to be more draining than rewarding with Class III. They're the laziest class where about ten of them refuse to write when it requires them to use their brain. But Jordan and I try hard. In class, we let the naughty kids do what they want, as long as they're not interrupting the others and we focus on the kids who want and need help. And since the naughty kids do not get individual attention during class, they get it after class in afternoon detention. They finish their work and we understand their weaknesses and work on them. It's a win-win situation! Almost...

After every lesson, we hand out a kangaroo or a koala to the most quiet and hard working student. Behaviour has improved immensely after we introduced this system. They love it! Today for Class III, it was Mharshang.

Mharshang and her koala

Teaching Class III

At 2pm, we have concert practice. Jordan and I take Class IV with a play on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and on the other days, we have Class V with a song: It's a Small World by Disney. We thought it would be an appropriate song as Sacred Heart has many volunteers coming from all over the world. So far, it's going really well but we just need to tidy up some dance moves. It's super cute.

Class V in position

Class V making a tunnel

After school, I'm pretty much drained and exhausted. Not physically but mentally so sometimes I go to my room and read a book or I go out and play with the kids.

Played with Ariyan all afternoon!

Mucking around with the boarding kids on Photo Booth

So that's my usual day! It's pretty exhausting which results to my bedtime of 10pm but pretty fun. However, since my day-to-day routine is pretty much the norm now, I have been a little more homesick than in the past. I'm excited to go home in two months but how can I leave this place? This is my second home now.