Well yesterday we started doing our regular schedule that we will keep for the next two weeks that we are here. The volunteers are divided into three groups: one does tutoring, one works with the medical van, and one goes and does construction in the colonies. My group got to do tutoring for our first group and I couldn't have been happier. I have been waiting to teach and work with the kids since I got here and I finally got the chance! Yay! We started the day by going to the school and watching the children at assembly. Assembly is at 9am everyday and is a way of getting the children ready for the school day. They all stand outside around a flagpole and do chants and repeat what the older girls say. At the end of the repeating the principal says a few words before the students head back to their classes. It is really cool to see the entire RSO school together in one place all combining to say these chants and to start the day right. It is also ridiculously cute to here the little kids try and follow along and stay with everyone. After assembly we went into second standard and were asked to do math work with the kids--I took the girls and Teresa took the boys. I took the girls to sit outside and we did addition fact flash cards so they could work on counting on their fingers and remembering addition facts off the top of their head without counting. They did well with this and were really fun to teach.
The kids at morning assembly
After we finished with second standard we went and taught some of the seventh standard girls one-on-one how to make a powerpoint presentation. The language barrier really makes all teaching difficult and a lot of the kids, even older kids, don't know basic words. The powerpoint we were supposed to help them make was supposed to be about life goals. When I said this to Pasita (who I was working with) she just stared at me blankly. She had no idea what the word goal meant. After much explaining, a lot of prompting, and some help translating by Ambiga, we were able to finish the powerpoint in plenty of time ( incase you were wondering, Pacita's life goals are to own animals, be a doctor, and be a teacher). After seventh standard we helped Kristin by helping children write letters to their sponsors. I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE EVERYONE TO BECOME A SPONSOR TO A CHILD AT RISING STAR OUTREACH. The kids here are seriously the most amazing kids I have ever met and they are so kind and loving it's unbelievable. It is also amazing how Kristin (the sponsorship coordinator) has made it so all kids write their sponsors and their sponsors have to write them back. It's an amazing program and It helps the children TREMENDOUSLY. I helped Subesti, Gracy, and Nadiya all write letters in response to letters they received from their sponsors. All the kids did a great job on their letters and are doing great remembering their sponsors and who they are. After sponsorship letters, we took a lunch break before heading to the mango grove to do one-on-one english/phonics tutoring with the first standard kids. The mango grove is the most serene place ever for a child to be tutoring, We all just spread out and laid our mats under the trees and helped the kids memorize their alphabet and the sounds associated with each word. The kids I tutored were Vetriveil, Gracy, and Arvind.
Amudam and her brother Arvind in the grove after tutoring
The gorgeous mango grove
After tutoring in the grove I headed back to the house for a little rest before heading to playtime with the kids. Playtime with the kids is the best part of the day. I love being able to run with the kids and jumprope and let them climb all over me. As I said before, they are the sweetest most amazing kids ever and I love being able to spend time with them. One girl that is really special to me is Subesti. Subesti is in first standard and is one of those kids that always has this look in her eyes that makes me wonder, "What are you up to?" She is so sweet and we played a simple game of catch the volleyball (throwing it back and forth) for at least 15 minutes. I would try to fake her out by moving from side to side but she caught on to me and started copying my side to side fake-out--she thought it was the funniest thing! I also played jump-rope with a bunch of the girls and a game where I held their hands and they walked up my legs and hung upside down. It was so much fun!!
After playtime we headed to dinner with banana leaves on the roof. Have a mentioned the banana leaves before? I case I haven't we use banana leaves every night as our plates at dinner because Indians believe it brings good health and good luck. After dinner we went down into our families and played and helped get them ready for bed. I read one of my favorite books, Chrysanthemum, to the girls and they loved it. It's so cute to hear them say Chrysanthemum with their accents. After reading the book and playing going on a treasure hunt for awhile I got the girls all situated on their mats ready for bed. They are really cute when they all curl up next to each other on the floor. One thing I am really proud of is that I have learned all the girls' names in my family except one! Here are the names so you can get an idea of typical indian names.
Poongavanam
Vinodhini
Ambiga
Ravathi
Tamilselvi
Theerti
Angel
Amsavalli
Malavika
Suganya
Mahalakshmi
Setiapriya
Nithya
Sonya
Abirami
PM
Megala
Nagu
Mymonisha
Thrisha
Yeah, they are definitely not like American names but I've gotten them down so I'm really happy :)
At playtime with Mahalakshmi and Mymonisha
Well, that's it from yesterday! New post to come soon from today's crazy adventure! :)
Namaste!
This is how all the volunteers spend their nights after a long day...blogging!!
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