Play-dough, grocery bags, colored pencils, and lots of high fives- The things you need to run a successful nursery in New Delhi
I spent the day today in a small town in West Delhi. I was there to help a teacher with her four through six year olds. The children are so smart it is unbelievable. They could go through the alphabet and repeat any word you would say. They were all so smiley and nervous to see such a strange looking man. No matter how shy the children were they still wanted to be around and learn from anyone they could. One child couldn’t speak english, but as soon as he learned that when he broke his colored pencil I would sharpen it, he just kept coming back with a broken pencil. It was any excuse to come over and just look at someone so foreign.
All the children were just as curious and just as adorable. They all came to class with their stuff in a old grocery bag. Many of the children when they sat down on the floor slipped their feet into the bag to keep warm. The classroom was probably 12 by 8 feet and their were probably 20 kids in the class. They all sat on the floor including the teacher.
One child showed up late and as soon as he saw a stranger he got overwhelmed and run to the corner of the classroom. Then he put his grocery bag over his head. After he kept the bag on his head for quite a while the teacher decided to intervene. As she took the bag away from his face I noticed the tears rolling down his cheek. Seeing that this discomfort was my fault, I decided to look less like a threatening foreigner by interacting with the children around him. The teacher soon got him playing with play-dough, but he still was not comfortable. As he played with his play-dough he would often glance over to see what I was doing, but wasn’t until he caught one of Jake’s disturbing silly faces that he loosened up. Before I knew it, he was smiling laughing and finally shaking my hand. I showed him how to make a snake out of play-dough and he taught me how to make a pancake. It was truly a treat to see this kid’s fears chip away just from simple non-verbal communication.
Tomorrow, I will be back at this location and then heading over to an older school to be introduced to the class of a teacher who I met that is here from Canada. His name is daniel and he has been here for three years. This should be an exciting experiences and he has asked to come help teach here as well. More schools more learning!!!
