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Dan's blog
09.09.2007.
I arrived in Santiniketan last night after flying in to Mumbai from Australia. After an introduction to Bollywood
and a night in Mumbai, I made my way to Kolkata where Bishnu met me at the airport and we caught the 3
hour train ride to Shantiniketan.
It was nice to finally arrive and settle in to the much slower paced international university town. Shantiniketan
is beautiful, surrounded by lots of trees but still with a nice buzz and lively feel. The volunteers apartment is
comfortable and quiet and we are fed delicious indian food every day.
After a well looked forward to restful sleep, the next morning I was shown around the town and met the other
two volunteers that had arrived from Kolkata, also from Australia. We were then taken to pick up our bikes
which we would use to ride every day to the village of the Santhal tribal people, 9km's from Santiniketan. This
was an interesting experience! We rent the bikes from a local guy in the town, and basically you make the
most of what you get, all of which adds to the experience! Collin's front tire exploded on the first day and so
we returned it to be fixed and he was then given a replacement bike which was slightly vertically challenging to
his height!
We spent the afternoon testing out our new transportation and visited a local Emporium where we were shown
how they make and paint the beautiful leather bags and sampled sweet Indian tea. Halfway to the Emporium
the rains started and we were all soaked by the time we returned to our apartments but it was a nice way to
refresh ourselves from the heat.
Day 1: 10.09.2007
Today is our first day of teaching. After lunch we set out (via the raincoat shop!) to the Santhal tribal village.
We road 9km's in the monsoon rains, dodging cars and rickshaws and bikes as we headed out of the town
towards the village. Your senses are completely overloaded by the colours, sounds and activity on the streets,
making it hard to know where to look and it's easy to forget about avoiding the pot-holes on the road as I
discovered when i ended up on the wrong side of the road in a ditch. As you ride out of Santiniketan the
scenery along the way is gorgeous and when we reach the dirt track leading to the tribal village all the little
kids run out to wave and yell 'bye bye" as we ride past.
We arrived at the little school and were greeted by all the children who were so excited at our arrival. They all
ran up to greet us and it was a sight I will always remember. 60 or so pairs of eyes all staring wide eyed at you
with so much curiosity and expectation. You fall in love with them instantly. They are all really affectionate and
willing to learn. They show so much enthusiasm it makes teaching really enjoyable and rewarding!
Day 2: 11.09.2007
Today the ride in was gorgeous. There were no rains so we could appreciate the scenery and see the locals
working in the fields. I didn't have any accidents today but the egg that had developed on my front tyre burst. I
was behind Jodi who said she would go on ahead to try and catch Collin who had left us in dust, then her
chain came off ending the rescue mission! The locals living in the huts on the outskirts of the village came out
to help and our bikes were fixed in no time and we headed off again to the school! Every day is an adventure
and there is always someone ready to lend a hand to help you on your way.
The school is built out of mud and is painted with beautiful designs. It is surrounded by green fields full of
dragon-flies. The design of the school is open air too so a really nice atmosphere to work and teach the
children in. I have loved learning more about the Santhal Tribal people and their customs and beliefs. They
are very poor but still very friendly and kind and so appreciative of the volunteers helping their children to
learn English with the hope that they will one day be able to get a good job and have more opportunities in
their lives.
12.09.2007
Things that I've discovered don't get out of the way on our 9km ride to the school (and back)!:
-goats
-piglets (and pigs)
-cows
-dogs
-snakes (just one experience :-)
-ducks
-cow pats
-buffalo
-dragon flies
-flying insects
-speed humps
-um...the list is endless...there is never a dull moment!
Best things to look forward to on the ride home:
-the ride back is my favourite, it's twilight, cool breeze and all the candles are lit in the shops. There is a nice
'night-life' buzz beginning to surface and people are relaxing in the tea huts and food stalls along the roadside
after their day of hard work.
-The best stop, about half way home, is at the 'potato chop' shop! Hmmmmm!!!! A cross between a Samosa
and a potato fritter with something yummy in the middle and served alfresco style by candle-light on a leaf
from the Shal tree with the yummiest chutney I've ever tasted. Enjoy with a cup of sweet Cha tea before
heading off again towards home for a nice shower, change of clothes and whatever gourmet indian feast
Bishnu has organised for the night's dinner.
13.09.07
Today we worked more with the children in their current groups trying to determine their different levels of
understanding as some are more advanced than others and the louder kids tend to not leave a lot of room for
the shyer ones to participate. We reshuffled their groups which seems to have helped and have been
experimenting with lesson plans and ways to develop their understanding of grammar. The different age
groups respond differently and have varying attention spans which means you need to be constantly ahead of
them and always prepared for another challenge. We are all enjoying the challenges involved and working
together to develop our teaching methods!
14.09.07
Last night and today we brainstormed some strategies for our lessons. We have begun to understand where
the children are up to in their different levels of understanding and spent some time chatting together and
planning the structure of our lessons for each of our groups which has helped us to feel more a little more
confident! I am teaching the yellow group who are aged roughly 6-8 years. They are all very intelligent and
pick things up pretty quickly. I planned to spend the lesson testing their ability to recognise words without the
pictures that accompany them to try and establish their ability to sound out words. We have been working on
emotions and the children know happy, sad, tired, hungry, scared and angry. We made cards with the
emotions written on some and the picture of the emotion on others (not an easy task...we had fun though
trying to draw them!). I gave some of the children the words and others the picture and tried to get them to
pair up the matching word and emotion. It is really difficult trying to get them to understand instructions some
times as they know very little English. We have realised how challenging teaching is! You need to be an actor,
an artist...so many things rolled into one. It is challenging but also really rewarding! They struggled a bit with
recognising the words on their own and by the end of the lesson it seemed that although they know the
alphabet A, B, C really well, they are not as familiar with the sounds a, b, c, so struggle to recognise the words
without the pictures (and actions...sometimes our pictures on their own weren't quite enough!). Next week we
will spend some time going over the sounds of the alphabet and reinforcing todays lesson.
Tonight Bishnu organised one of the Bauls to come and play some traditional folk music for us. He brought a
collection of instruments with him and sang traditional folk songs for us. The Bauls are similar to Hippies, are
from this area and don't believe in any religion. Their songs are usually about love and nature. They don't
have fixed abodes so spend their time wandering and sleep wherever they find somewhere for the night. They
don't have any possessions (apart from their instruments) and believe in freedom and self expression through
their music and philosophy.
15.09.7
Today is Saturday! It is nice to have a day to rest and we spent the morning relaxing. In the afternoon we went
to the Saturday market where the local artists sell their crafts. We also met the Bauls and listened to their
music and songs and tried some of the local sweets. They were made by an old woman from the old traditional
recipes which are sadly being lost as the younger generation are not interested in learning the recipes as
they prefer the imported more modern chocolates and sweets! They were delicious and we have decided we
will be making a regular Saturday visit!
16.09.07
Today we were invited by the leader of the tribe to visit the village to watch the annual ritual honoring the
goddess of the snakes. They gave offerings to the goddess and asked her to keep the snakes away from the
village. After the offerings they played their drums and had a feast. After this we went to the school where
Kavita was teaching the tribal women local craft. Jodis and I were taught how to make the beautiful patterns
with embroidery thread and were given a project to take with us to work on during the week. Meanwhile, Collin
went with Bishnu on his bike to collect plants from the nursery for the school. Bishnu returned a couple of
hours later saying he had lost Collin. He turned up eventually (he had been following the wrong moped and
didn't realise until he was on the outskirts of the town). While we were waiting we took turns taking Bishnu's
moped for a spin up and down the track. The elders of the tribal village had a meeting yesterday to discuss
the plans for the new buildings for the school. They had a vote to decide whether it would go ahead and we
were told today that they had all agreed which is very exciting for First Light and the tribal children. Bishnu has
friends in the U.K who are doctors and there are plans when the building is complete for them to visit regularly
to provide medical care and education to the tribal people.
17.09.07
Today the lessons went well. I feel as though I am making some progress with the children and it is
encouraging when your lesson plans come to some fruition! We went over the emotions and I taught them
some new vocab for actions. We have been going over the phonetic alphabet too. I'm finding it is important to
repeat the same lessons so the children absorb and remember what they have been taught. Sometimes I
have to resist the urge to progress onto new things too quickly. Each lesson I try to find different ways to go
over these things so that the children don't lose interest too quickly. They love songs the most so I am trying
to do some research to find some new ones they don't already know. They never seem to get tired of the old
ones though!
18.09.07
Today was a government holiday, we rode through the town and did some shopping. Jodis and Collin needed
some shoes and the shop owner treated us to chopped fruit and other yummy things as part of the
celebrations. There were people playing loud music and making offerings for the holiday for the creative
workers. This includes mechanics, builders, labourers and internet or computer related workers. We spent the
rest of the afternoon relaxing and then Bishnu treated us to a dinner at the hotel. When we arrived we found
that all the hotel staff had disappeared, also taking the day off for the celebrations (the owner of the hotel was
away in Kolkata). We stayed for a drink, the barman was still there...and then went to another resort where we
had a delicious chinese meal.
19.09.07
Today I worked on word recognition and spelling with the children some more. They are getting better at
sounding out the words but I find they are still struggling with being able to sound out new words. They haven't
quite made the link yet on their own and will only sound out the word if I say it first and get them to repeat it. I
think they will understand though if we keep going over it. It takes patience. Also i have noticed that there are
a few kids up the back that rely on copying off some of the other children. I am trying to focus on them a bit
more to try and see how much they actually know on their own. They are the shyer children too and they can
sometimes be drowned out by the louder more confident ones.
20.09.07
Today the workers started on the new building for the school! This is very exciting for the community. There
are many plans for the school. The new building will provide a sanitary environment to introduce some medical
facilities for the community. Gradually overtime and with funding there will be new classrooms built also. There
is going to be a well put in soon too to assist with providing water for work on the new building and also fresh
drinking water for the children. At the moment they are using empty plastic water bottles that we collect for
them to bring water from the village. Soon they will have water available for them at the school.
I arrived in Santiniketan last night after flying in to Mumbai from Australia. After an introduction to Bollywood
and a night in Mumbai, I made my way to Kolkata where Bishnu met me at the airport and we caught the 3
hour train ride to Shantiniketan.
It was nice to finally arrive and settle in to the much slower paced international university town. Shantiniketan
is beautiful, surrounded by lots of trees but still with a nice buzz and lively feel. The volunteers apartment is
comfortable and quiet and we are fed delicious indian food every day.
After a well looked forward to restful sleep, the next morning I was shown around the town and met the other
two volunteers that had arrived from Kolkata, also from Australia. We were then taken to pick up our bikes
which we would use to ride every day to the village of the Santhal tribal people, 9km's from Santiniketan. This
was an interesting experience! We rent the bikes from a local guy in the town, and basically you make the
most of what you get, all of which adds to the experience! Collin's front tire exploded on the first day and so
we returned it to be fixed and he was then given a replacement bike which was slightly vertically challenging to
his height!
We spent the afternoon testing out our new transportation and visited a local Emporium where we were shown
how they make and paint the beautiful leather bags and sampled sweet Indian tea. Halfway to the Emporium
the rains started and we were all soaked by the time we returned to our apartments but it was a nice way to
refresh ourselves from the heat.
Day 1: 10.09.2007
Today is our first day of teaching. After lunch we set out (via the raincoat shop!) to the Santhal tribal village.
We road 9km's in the monsoon rains, dodging cars and rickshaws and bikes as we headed out of the town
towards the village. Your senses are completely overloaded by the colours, sounds and activity on the streets,
making it hard to know where to look and it's easy to forget about avoiding the pot-holes on the road as I
discovered when i ended up on the wrong side of the road in a ditch. As you ride out of Santiniketan the
scenery along the way is gorgeous and when we reach the dirt track leading to the tribal village all the little
kids run out to wave and yell 'bye bye" as we ride past.
We arrived at the little school and were greeted by all the children who were so excited at our arrival. They all
ran up to greet us and it was a sight I will always remember. 60 or so pairs of eyes all staring wide eyed at you
with so much curiosity and expectation. You fall in love with them instantly. They are all really affectionate and
willing to learn. They show so much enthusiasm it makes teaching really enjoyable and rewarding!
Day 2: 11.09.2007
Today the ride in was gorgeous. There were no rains so we could appreciate the scenery and see the locals
working in the fields. I didn't have any accidents today but the egg that had developed on my front tyre burst. I
was behind Jodi who said she would go on ahead to try and catch Collin who had left us in dust, then her
chain came off ending the rescue mission! The locals living in the huts on the outskirts of the village came out
to help and our bikes were fixed in no time and we headed off again to the school! Every day is an adventure
and there is always someone ready to lend a hand to help you on your way.
The school is built out of mud and is painted with beautiful designs. It is surrounded by green fields full of
dragon-flies. The design of the school is open air too so a really nice atmosphere to work and teach the
children in. I have loved learning more about the Santhal Tribal people and their customs and beliefs. They
are very poor but still very friendly and kind and so appreciative of the volunteers helping their children to
learn English with the hope that they will one day be able to get a good job and have more opportunities in
their lives.
12.09.2007
Things that I've discovered don't get out of the way on our 9km ride to the school (and back)!:
-goats
-piglets (and pigs)
-cows
-dogs
-snakes (just one experience :-)
-ducks
-cow pats
-buffalo
-dragon flies
-flying insects
-speed humps
-um...the list is endless...there is never a dull moment!
Best things to look forward to on the ride home:
-the ride back is my favourite, it's twilight, cool breeze and all the candles are lit in the shops. There is a nice
'night-life' buzz beginning to surface and people are relaxing in the tea huts and food stalls along the roadside
after their day of hard work.
-The best stop, about half way home, is at the 'potato chop' shop! Hmmmmm!!!! A cross between a Samosa
and a potato fritter with something yummy in the middle and served alfresco style by candle-light on a leaf
from the Shal tree with the yummiest chutney I've ever tasted. Enjoy with a cup of sweet Cha tea before
heading off again towards home for a nice shower, change of clothes and whatever gourmet indian feast
Bishnu has organised for the night's dinner.
13.09.07
Today we worked more with the children in their current groups trying to determine their different levels of
understanding as some are more advanced than others and the louder kids tend to not leave a lot of room for
the shyer ones to participate. We reshuffled their groups which seems to have helped and have been
experimenting with lesson plans and ways to develop their understanding of grammar. The different age
groups respond differently and have varying attention spans which means you need to be constantly ahead of
them and always prepared for another challenge. We are all enjoying the challenges involved and working
together to develop our teaching methods!
14.09.07
Last night and today we brainstormed some strategies for our lessons. We have begun to understand where
the children are up to in their different levels of understanding and spent some time chatting together and
planning the structure of our lessons for each of our groups which has helped us to feel more a little more
confident! I am teaching the yellow group who are aged roughly 6-8 years. They are all very intelligent and
pick things up pretty quickly. I planned to spend the lesson testing their ability to recognise words without the
pictures that accompany them to try and establish their ability to sound out words. We have been working on
emotions and the children know happy, sad, tired, hungry, scared and angry. We made cards with the
emotions written on some and the picture of the emotion on others (not an easy task...we had fun though
trying to draw them!). I gave some of the children the words and others the picture and tried to get them to
pair up the matching word and emotion. It is really difficult trying to get them to understand instructions some
times as they know very little English. We have realised how challenging teaching is! You need to be an actor,
an artist...so many things rolled into one. It is challenging but also really rewarding! They struggled a bit with
recognising the words on their own and by the end of the lesson it seemed that although they know the
alphabet A, B, C really well, they are not as familiar with the sounds a, b, c, so struggle to recognise the words
without the pictures (and actions...sometimes our pictures on their own weren't quite enough!). Next week we
will spend some time going over the sounds of the alphabet and reinforcing todays lesson.
Tonight Bishnu organised one of the Bauls to come and play some traditional folk music for us. He brought a
collection of instruments with him and sang traditional folk songs for us. The Bauls are similar to Hippies, are
from this area and don't believe in any religion. Their songs are usually about love and nature. They don't
have fixed abodes so spend their time wandering and sleep wherever they find somewhere for the night. They
don't have any possessions (apart from their instruments) and believe in freedom and self expression through
their music and philosophy.
15.09.7
Today is Saturday! It is nice to have a day to rest and we spent the morning relaxing. In the afternoon we went
to the Saturday market where the local artists sell their crafts. We also met the Bauls and listened to their
music and songs and tried some of the local sweets. They were made by an old woman from the old traditional
recipes which are sadly being lost as the younger generation are not interested in learning the recipes as
they prefer the imported more modern chocolates and sweets! They were delicious and we have decided we
will be making a regular Saturday visit!
16.09.07
Today we were invited by the leader of the tribe to visit the village to watch the annual ritual honoring the
goddess of the snakes. They gave offerings to the goddess and asked her to keep the snakes away from the
village. After the offerings they played their drums and had a feast. After this we went to the school where
Kavita was teaching the tribal women local craft. Jodis and I were taught how to make the beautiful patterns
with embroidery thread and were given a project to take with us to work on during the week. Meanwhile, Collin
went with Bishnu on his bike to collect plants from the nursery for the school. Bishnu returned a couple of
hours later saying he had lost Collin. He turned up eventually (he had been following the wrong moped and
didn't realise until he was on the outskirts of the town). While we were waiting we took turns taking Bishnu's
moped for a spin up and down the track. The elders of the tribal village had a meeting yesterday to discuss
the plans for the new buildings for the school. They had a vote to decide whether it would go ahead and we
were told today that they had all agreed which is very exciting for First Light and the tribal children. Bishnu has
friends in the U.K who are doctors and there are plans when the building is complete for them to visit regularly
to provide medical care and education to the tribal people.
17.09.07
Today the lessons went well. I feel as though I am making some progress with the children and it is
encouraging when your lesson plans come to some fruition! We went over the emotions and I taught them
some new vocab for actions. We have been going over the phonetic alphabet too. I'm finding it is important to
repeat the same lessons so the children absorb and remember what they have been taught. Sometimes I
have to resist the urge to progress onto new things too quickly. Each lesson I try to find different ways to go
over these things so that the children don't lose interest too quickly. They love songs the most so I am trying
to do some research to find some new ones they don't already know. They never seem to get tired of the old
ones though!
18.09.07
Today was a government holiday, we rode through the town and did some shopping. Jodis and Collin needed
some shoes and the shop owner treated us to chopped fruit and other yummy things as part of the
celebrations. There were people playing loud music and making offerings for the holiday for the creative
workers. This includes mechanics, builders, labourers and internet or computer related workers. We spent the
rest of the afternoon relaxing and then Bishnu treated us to a dinner at the hotel. When we arrived we found
that all the hotel staff had disappeared, also taking the day off for the celebrations (the owner of the hotel was
away in Kolkata). We stayed for a drink, the barman was still there...and then went to another resort where we
had a delicious chinese meal.
19.09.07
Today I worked on word recognition and spelling with the children some more. They are getting better at
sounding out the words but I find they are still struggling with being able to sound out new words. They haven't
quite made the link yet on their own and will only sound out the word if I say it first and get them to repeat it. I
think they will understand though if we keep going over it. It takes patience. Also i have noticed that there are
a few kids up the back that rely on copying off some of the other children. I am trying to focus on them a bit
more to try and see how much they actually know on their own. They are the shyer children too and they can
sometimes be drowned out by the louder more confident ones.
20.09.07
Today the workers started on the new building for the school! This is very exciting for the community. There
are many plans for the school. The new building will provide a sanitary environment to introduce some medical
facilities for the community. Gradually overtime and with funding there will be new classrooms built also. There
is going to be a well put in soon too to assist with providing water for work on the new building and also fresh
drinking water for the children. At the moment they are using empty plastic water bottles that we collect for
them to bring water from the village. Soon they will have water available for them at the school.
