Tuesday 9th November 2010 15.33
I spent the morning in the Kindergarten and visited all the classrooms – 4 Lower Kindergarten classes and 3 Upper Kindergarten. There are about 37 children in each class. Some of the Lower Kindergarten children are weeny. It was very hot and I was damp with perspiration, while some of the children were wearing pullovers and looking distinctly chilly. The teachers took part of each lesson to show me what the 
children could do, and then I did bits and pieces based on songs and games related to the songs. The Kindergarten is very well run by Indian standards. It’s amazing to think that some of the children there are about the same age as Nell (my three-year-old grand daughter). One of them recited the English alphabet backwards! Lessons are all very loud, but the behaviour is excellent and there is evidence of good teaching and learning. What pleased me very much was the fact that the children in Upper K, having first learnt the names of the letters (A,B,C etc), are now learning the phonetic sounds. One tot said all the letter sounds quietly and accurately only needing prompting on the letter j. Sureya (head of the Kindergarten) told me that the children will use the letter sounds in Standard 1 to build up words. I
suggested to her that her teachers start to relate the letter sounds to the first letters in words so that the children can see the relevance of them. Sureya sings beautifully and the children know a lot of English songs. Unfortunately, not all the Indian teachers are as skilled at picking up the melodies as Sureya, and when some classes sing, neither the words or the tunes are recognisable! Just one child had to be taken out because I frightened him so much with my white skin and fair hair. He was still sobbing when I left. Hope this doesn’t elicit a complaint to the school inspectors as it did last time.
Now it’s home time and very noisy as the children stream out of school and clamber into the school buses and bicycles. (Have I told you that the new school bus is decorated with flowers?) There seems to be no pressure to get off the premises at the end of the school day; some children hang about for ages. I’m waiting for Maria to be free. She’s outside the office with a group of people and they have been in serious conversation for ages. She’s always being nobbled by staff, villagers, strangers, people selling things etc, and the discussions go on for ages. They involve very loud voices, much gesticulation and lots of coffee drunk out of stainless steel beakers (attractive but murder to hold). I learnt later that the people were discussing with Maria an insurance claim linked to a serious scooter accident one of the teachers had over a year ago. Maria sorted it out with a phone call to the judge. What a woman!
This afternoon, Catrine, Maria, Arokia Raj (school manager) and I met with three men who came to describe two new ventures – tailoring and goat farming! I won’t go into detail here because I want to let the discussion sink in and digest before I pass it on to you. We plan to discuss it this evening.
Back to the distribution of the food parcels. Yesterday evening, Maria, Catrine and I talked for a long time about whether or not they are worth all the hassle they cause. Lourdusamy (who in addition to the work he does at the children’s home is also responsible for FACS) hates going round the villages giving out the tickets as those who don’t get them complain bitterly and give him a hard time. Then there was the trouble at the gates I described yesterday. Also, it takes two days to parcel up all the food. In the end we all thought they should be discontinued. Maria thinks that in future she should do the following things in relation to FACS. She would like us to discuss these at the next trustee meeting.
- Invite local people to do coolie work for her in the school grounds and pay them at the going rate.
- Help people living in poor quality huts to repair their houses (see blog Monday 8th).
- Provide clean water where it is needed.
- Continue with medical aid.
- At Christmas, prepare a feast and invite anyone living in the surrounding villages to come and share it.
- Discretely continue to give money, food and blankets to the poorest widows and widowers.
At that’s about it for now. Ah, I forget to mention that it seems unlikely I shall be able to do any more teaching as all the students have exams next week, and what with Divali and missing a school day because of the rain the teachers want to spend every possible moment revising. I sorry about this, but am not unduly concerned because Catrine is doing such a good job with the English teaching and will continue to do so for some more months.
So, that’s it for today. Not sure what’s happening tomorrow. I think (and hope) we’re off to Shanthi Lumine (children’s home). When I return to the UK, we shall probably be traveling to Chennai via Pondicherry so that I can buy Indian artefacts. Catrine has given me some lovely hanging elephants and little boxes. She has also commissioned some colourful woven plastic bags which we must sell for a good price. They have been made by Maria’s sister-in-law (whose husband, Maria’s brother, died last year) and her two grown-up daughters. Catrine has suggested the colours and patterns. Now I’ll sign off and dodge the mosquitoes as I flee back to the guest house.
Good night. V