Today I had the opportunity to visit DakshinaChitra, a museum near Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu. The “living museum” exhibited information on the four South Indian states: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka. DakhinaChitra is a museum which focuses on promoting and preserving cultures of the diverse people in India with emphasis on mutual understanding across all states and cultures. This was a trip that I was really looking forward to since I heard so much about the museum from my colleagues and other friends from Chennai. It was an enjoyable experience to be able to walk through the different historical houses from each state. Inside each of the houses were exhibits showcasing the different states and their respective cultures. The architecture was distinctive to each state as were the arts and crafts displayed in each home. Continue reading
A Casual Game of Carrom
Yesterday at school, as I was walking to the main office, I noticed some students playing an interesting game in the courtyard. I approached the 10th standard students and their Physical Education Training (PET) teacher and he explained that the students were playing a game called carrom. I learned that this game originated in India and is actually a combination of billiards and shuffleboard. It is one of the most popular indoor games played in India by children and adults alike. It is a strategic game, like chess, and requires deep concentration and a thorough knowledge of physics and geometry. India hosts national championships and many tournaments each year. Carrom is played in other countries around the world and in the 1980s the International Carrom Federation (ICF) was formed in order to establish a unified set of rules for avid players.
English Conversation Club!
Last term, I talked with Principal Ma’am about having an English Conversation Club after school for students in 6th-9th standards during the second term. This week, I made a school-wide announcement to all the students during the morning meeting that we would have English Club on Tuesdays after school. I asked the students who were interested to sign-up in the main office before, Tuesday, October 7th so that I could get an estimate of how many students wanted to attend. After just a few days, I received 221 signatures from students…I couldn’t believe the interest in the club! The students are so eager to join and participate and have already asked me if we can have it more than one day a week!
A Saturday Morning Workshop
Today I had an exciting opportunity to share some information with my colleagues at RMMHSS about the American Education system. Since school is normally in session on Saturdays, the teachers took time out of their teaching schedules to attend an hour presentation about the history of education in America and some of the similarities and differences between the educational systems in India and America.
Over the past few weeks, I interviewed teachers at the secondary (grades 6-10) and higher secondary (grades 11-12) levels in order to learn more about what it is like to teach in different types of schools in India (private versus government). I learned an abundance of information from them and I was eager to synthesize my new knowledge into my presentation!
In Tamil Nadu there are many types of schools that exist; schools can be privately or individually funded, partially funded by the government, or completely funded by the government (i.e. public or corporation schools). Additionally, schools are also coined “Tamil-medium” or “English-medium” to designate the language in which the classes are taught. For instance, my school is an English-medium school which means that all of the students’ classes are taught by teachers in English, except for their language classes (Tamil, Hindi and Sanskrit).
Let’s Play Jeopardy!
Today I had the pleasure of playing Jeopardy with my seventh standard students! In order to review for their upcoming English exam, we went to the computer lab and played one of America’s favorite quiz show games together!
My co-teacher and I usually conduct activities in large groups of three so we placed our forty-three students into their normal groups and had them sit in rows so that everyone could get a good view of the wall/screen. Since my students had never heard of Jeopardy before, I explained the game to them and how they would be able to work with their group members in order to play the computer version of the game. I was really impressed with how well they listened to the directions and how quickly they caught on for their first time playing!
Scattergories!
As an ESL teacher, I love playing different games and activities with my students, especially games that my students have never heard of before! This morning I had the chance to introduce one of my favorite games to my seventh standard students… Scattergories! The students work in cooperative learning groups every day and earn points based on their group work and effort based on our classroom expectations and this week the boys earned a whole-group activity so we played this popular board game together!
In order to play, I asked the students to copy the Scattergories chart into their notebooks and write down all of the categories listed along the side. I have to admit, it was so much fun watching them write this down in their notebooks because they did not ask any questions as to why they were writing the chart in their notebooks, they just did it- and quickly I might add! As soon as they saw me bring out my Scattergories letter die, their eyes suddenly grew very big as if they were amazed to see such a thing and they encouraged their friends to hurry up and finish copying the chart so that they could begin to play. After I explained the directions to the students, we played a practice round and they quickly got the hang of it. I used my iPad and set the timer for 2 minutes and it was amazing to see what they came up with! We only got through one round (out of three), but each group came up with so many answers for each category, so I was quite impressed! The students were really excited to share their answers, especially with their group members, so the game actually turned out to be combination between Scattergories and Outburst!
Sixth Standard Supermarket!
What an incredible Monday! My sixth standard students have been preparing for a very special activity since last week. My co-teacher and I have been trying different strategies to get our students to practice their English speaking skills before taking their first term exams next week. After looking through the curriculum, we created a “Sixth Standard Supermarket” activity to help the students practice their English skills in a practical way. During the beginning of the year, we divided the students into different groups to help manage our classroom activities.
For this activity, we placed the students in groups of 6 groups of 6 (and one group of 7) and each group was assigned their own “shop” for the supermarket. We had four different shops (Flower Shop, Stationary Shop, Snack Shop and Medical Shop) and two produce stands (Fruit Stand and Vegetable Stand). As soon as we shared this project with the students started collecting various items for the supermarket! They were eager to make labels and signs for their stores and were very creative in making price stickers for their products. For the past few weeks, the students collected recyclables and empty containers for household items in order to use them in their shop. Some students even made scales to weigh the produce for the customers and provided carry bags! They thought about all of the details to run a successful shop and really took on their roles well! It was amazing to see them so enthusiastic about working on this project together!
We made a sign to attract the customers to the supermarket and some students even made rupees to make change for the customers. I could tell that the students were really enjoying themselves and so were the adults! The students had a chance to rotate roles, but it was a little tricky to gather them together again once they became the “customers”. After the activity, the students asked when we would be able to do the activity again! Overall, I think that the market was a huge success for the the shop/stand owners and the customers! Now that we know how to set up the market, it should be easy to coordinate the second time around!
We set up the 6B Supermarket in the badminton court in front of the school.
Happy Teacher’s Day, Sarah Ma’am!
Today was Teacher’s Day, an annual celebration honoring teachers all around India! In the U.S., National Teacher Day is usually celebrated during Teacher Appreciation week in the beginning of May so this was a similar celebration for teachers in India. On September 5th, 1962, the first Teacher’s Day was observed in honor of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan’s birthday to recognize the contributions of teachers all over India. It is considered an auspicious festival because it is celebrated throughout the entire nation. Dr. Radhakrishnan was a notable figure in Indian history and was actually India’s first vice president and India’s second president. He was also a significant academic philosopher and received many prestigious honors and awards during his lifetime, including the Bharat Ratna in 1954. (This award is the highest civilian honor in India granted to individuals who provide exceptional service to the country through artistic, literary or scientific achievements.) Throughout his lifetime, Dr. Radhakrishnan was a strong advocate for education. In 1962 he requested to observe the day as Teacher’s Day (instead of celebrating his birthday separately) to honor all teachers and recognize his love for the teaching profession!
It was amazing to be a part of this special day and it was neat to see how the teachers were honored for their contributions in the school! The students made a point to arrive early to school in order to create signs and posters for their teachers; they also decorated the chalkboards with beautiful pictures in an array of colors! Before we arrived to our first period class, the eighth standard (grade) students were busy working on decorating the classroom for us and writing encouraging messages on the chalkboards! They gave us flowers, cards, and gifts such as pens and candies to show their appreciation for us. It was such a blessing to see how we were honored and respected by our students; they were so thoughtful! The super seniors (i.e. seniors in the U.S.) also celebrated the day in a special way since it was the last Teacher’s Day. The super seniors bought a cake for all of their teachers and decorated it with candles. Then they sang to them and threw confetti in the air along with streamers and silly string! Before I knew what was about to happen, they asked me to come along and by the end of the celebration I was also covered with various items along with their teachers!
Simon Says!
Today I had the exciting opportunity to share a fun game with my students…Simon Says! We played the game in the smart classroom and the students enjoyed it so much! It was really neat to be able to teach them this game and walk them through the steps. Their energy was contagious as the students waited in anticipation for each instruction. The boys loved the pacing of the game and tried to keep up, but ultimately, no one ended up winning because they all fell for the same trap! I have not heard so many laughs or seen so many grins at once in a long time! The students had priceless expressions on their faces after seeing their classmates fall for the “trap”! I look forward to sharing more popular American games and activities with my students in the future months ahead!
I also had a chance to meet some students in another 6th standard section this afternoon. I shared a presentation with the students introducing myself and then almost every student in the class had an opportunity to do the same! There were about 43 boys in the class so we tried our best to go through each one. They were so eager to stand up and introduce themselves to me and had many questions about the U.S. towards the end of class! They asked questions like, “Mam, what is the snow like?”, “What do you like best about India?” and “What is your favorite Indian food?” I was really impressed by their courage to stand up and speak in front of the rest of the class- oftentimes students do not have an opportunity to speak in a class size so big so it was amazing to listen to the students share about their favorite things and personal ambitions. I hope to visit the class frequently in the future!
Animals, Animals Everywhere!
Over the past two months it has been interesting to see so many different animals everywhere. It is hard to ignore the many dogs and cats walking on the streets and the goats, pigs, and cattle which graze on grass or various objects on the side of the road. (Sometimes it is unclear as to what they are actually grazing on…) Each day on the way to school cattle frequently roam about on the side of the road. It is quite an experience to see the cows walking obliviously in the middle of a busy road with autos, buses, cars, trucks and taxis whizzing around.
The Chronicles of Chennai 