Hello again from India! 

My first host family here in India, the Kalsi family, runs a school above their home.  The Kalsis took very good care of me during my first week, when I must admit I experienced a bit of culture shock. I owe them a lot of gratitude and I think I have made friends for life!  We have moved on to our second city now, Jamshedpur, but I want to share a little about what I saw when I visited the school above the Kalsi home.

The school is Springdale Nursery School.  They have 6 classrooms – 2 each of 2+, 3+, and 4+ aged students.  I am VERY impressed with the quality of work these students do!  They learn english upper and lower case handwriting, as well as cursive!  They also learn to write Hindi, and speak conversational English.  I was shown some of the students’ books, and took pictures to share with all of my colleagues.  It is amazing the level of learning that is accomplished at such an early age here.

The classrooms are very small compared to our classrooms at Ponderosa.  Not all of the rooms have desks, but the students I saw seemed to be very obedient and respectful.  The principal meets with each level of teachers every morning to discuss what is going to be taught and make suggestions.  Then she takes rounds several times a day to supervise what is being taught.  When I went on rounds with the principal, every class stood and said, “Good morning, ma’am!”. It was very impressive.  Seeing the quality of learning and the job these teachers do makes me feel guilty for every time I’ve lamented the lack of space or materials in my own classroom, because I have far more space and materials than these teachers do.

This is a private school, and all of the students wear uniforms.  I shared a lot of ideas with my host family, and I think they may start using the alphabet aerobics (a game I play with my students) to learn the sounds of the english alphabet!  It was really fun sharing ideas and discussing the state of education in India and the US.  I can’t wait to see more schools and to share what I’ve learned with my colleagues back home.

One of the most profound things I’ve learned in the last week is that we take a lot for granted in the US.  I have been very impressed with the work ethic and national pride of India, and I think that India is going to become a major world player in the economic market in the very near future.  I believe it is very important for Americans to take notice.  I hope that what I’m learning here will help my students become educated about a country that will likely be very important to America in the very near future.

I’ve also learned that rotarians have an incredible vision for making the world a better place, and they work hard to implement those visions. These are the people who truly change the world, and I am glad I have the opportunity to meet so many of them!

 I will talk to you all soon!

 Love,

Rebecca