Daily Elements Mini-Series Part II: Teaching

Teaching

“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater.”

~Gail Godwin

 Teaching constitutes a relatively large portion of my time at work. There are two afternoon classes Monday through Friday and one morning class every day except Wednesday. The afternoon kids are divided into two groups: the younger kids (ages 4-10) come during the first hour and the older kids (10-15) come during the second hour. The morning class is for all ages. The size of the class varies by day, but I’d say the largest turnout we’ve had so far was maybe 30 to 40 students.

 Maitri reaches out to India’s vulnerable populations through about ten different projects. One of the projects is this “Children’s Tutorial Centre,” where children from local slums come to get educational support.

 Andrew and I often take turns planning the lesson and then our Indian colleagues interpret what we say into Hindi. Andrew has been teaching the kids mostly about science, whereas I have been trying to work on English. It’s a challenging task. Each class has a huge range of ages and skill levels. No matter what I plan there will be one or two kids who are totally bored because the lesson is too easy. No matter what I plan there will be at least two kids who can’t seem to grasp what is going on. At all.

 Regardless of these challenges, teaching just might be my favorite part of the job. It tends to put me in a good mood. I don’t even mind too much when they get rowdy. I’m impressed that these kids come to class every day even though it’s summer vacation. It’s a refreshing change from working with adults, where everyone is so serious. I’m pretty sure I laugh at least once during every class.