The Orphanage and Beyond...

July 23 2007

Last week we started working with the orphans as you know. So today I thought I would just tell you a ittle bit about them and what working with them is like. Firstly there are 12 of them ranging from 4 - 12 years old. Their orphanage is really nice and they seem happy and well looked after. The orphanage pays for them to go to a private school where all of their lessons are in English and they get whacked with a stick if they are caught speaking Nepali. So they speak great english and there is not too much of a language barrier. I have posted some photos below and you can see for yourself how cute they are. We have only known them a few days but I can already feel how hard it is going to be to leave them. We are in the dog house at the moment because we usually go before and after school to see them but last night our evening session had to be cancelled - despite our best efforts no one told them and they were mad with us when we arrived this morning.

So the kids go to school from 9 - 4 and having observed the schools in action it is clear that the ONLY technique they use to teach is memorisation. The kids are expected to memorise entire books at a time and then they are tested on them. They can read a table of body parts perfectly but when I point to my arm they do not know what it is. Our job therefore in the morning and afternoon is to turn up and give them further lessons from the blackboard to teach them english. We were a bit mad about this as that is not how children learn they need to have fun. So we generally spend all of our time there playing games and causing complete mayhem.. but at least the kids are learning to speak fluently and to use their brains properly rather than just repeating everything in their books.

I think the guys that run the orphanage are a bit mad with us but I am just hoping that they will see the light after we sit them down and explain the method to our (quite literal) madness!!

Apart from the orphanage we have also been to visit a government school to aid the teaching there (we are very busy). The school consists of basically a large barn with four partitions down the middle to make classrooms. The partitions do not run from ceiling to floor, the roof is made from tin and all of that results in the most incredible racket you have ever heard. We took one look at the 50 pupil class and decided that teaching in those circumstances should be left to the teachers. So here is what we are going to do instead.

We have rented another room from the adjacent community and are going to take 5-6 pupils each for 3hrs a day for 2 days at a time and teach them English, Maths, and an unspecified "Extra Curricular" Activity... I am pretty sure that anyone who is not a teacher can understand just how daunting his is. We have no idea what to do but hey we get two days off to figure it out. These kids are gong to be pulled out of their regular classes to study with us so the pressure is on. We have no qualifications whatsoever but over here they assume that if you are western you automatically have something great to offer. Well wish us luck we are scared!! If anyone (Rose??) has any ideas please let us know!!

That is enough for today we have lessons to plan..

Caroline