Today was Jen and my first day at our host school: Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pushp Vihar, New Delhi. The school educates around 4,000 students and has two shifts because of the large population: Shift 1 from 7:00-12:30 and Shift 2 from 12:30-6. Students are in school 5.5 hours. Teachers stay after school for an extra 45 minutes to do their grading and lesson planning. They are also required to spend an hour and a half at home working on lessons. When we first arrived at the school we were given a welcoming presentation. Students were lined up on each side of the walkway (boys on one side and girls on the other). The Student Cadets received us and welcomed us and then as we walked to the entrance of the school, the students standing on each side of the walk clapped and welcomed us into the building. I felt so special! When we reached the school there was a sign that welcomed us and we were given the most beautiful bouquet of flowers. Before the students sang a Welcome Song and danced an Indian Folk Dance, I lit a candle underneath the Saraswati goddess. Then we were anointed with Kumkuma powder and rice on our forehead. When we reached the presentation room, students were lined up ready to preform for us. They say a welcoming song in Hindi for us, and then the girls preformed a traditional Indian dance. They were marvelous and it was so fun to watch! We observed a few classes, but I will write more about the classes after I’ve spent more time at the school. After observing at the school, our host teacher, Poonam, took us to see Humayun Tomb. The tomb is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was originally constructed in 1547. The tomb houses the remains of Mughal Emperor Humayun and many other political leaders. It was incredibly hot visiting the tomb, but it was beautiful: there is lush grass and trees surrounding the main building and is quite peaceful. I’ve posted some pictures below of the tomb. |
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A sari is the traditional clothing for Indian women. It consists of a long piece of beautiful silk, cotton, or other material and is wrapped around the body in an intricate way so that no pins are needed to keep it secured on the body throughout the day.
Jen and I, with our cohort, went into the market (picture below) at Bangalore to buy a sari. When we entered the shop there were lots of people and rolls of sari material in every corner. I picked a color and pattern I liked and then the sales woman draped it on me so I could see if I liked it (picture below). After buying the material, we went to a store that sews the shirts that go underneath the sari. These shirts are cut to expose the stomach area (although the sari will cover this once it is wrapped) and then we went to another store to buy the petticoat that goes underneath the sari. Lots of work, but it will be worth it! I hope I can learn how to wrap it correctly!
This morning we visited the Muslim Orphanage School in Bangalore. The school is quite large and houses an orphanage on the property. Most of the students who attend school here are from single parent households and live in the orphanage. This school is for boys and girls, but once the boys reach high school age they attend different schools. The school has desks for students to sit in, but not enough for each child, so two desks are pushed together and three or four children (depending on their age) sit at these two desks to do their class work.
I visited three classrooms today: a math class, a Kannada language class, and a history class. The students in all the classes enjoyed showing off for us U.S. teachers! In the history class the teacher asked me to get up in front of the students and teach an English lesson (not all the students know English since it would be taught as a third language). I wrote on the board "My name is Janna. I'm from Chicago, Illinois." The students read off the sentence out loud while I was writing it! We then talked about what they knew of Chicago: the Meat Packing Industry and then the teacher told me they had just been studying a John Keats poem entitled "The Dove". I discussed the Romanticism in poetry a bit. It was fun! The lessons were mostly lectures and no group work, which was different from the school from yesterday. The teachers seemed to really want the students to do well, though. I've attached some pictures below. (This evening we went to the city center and bought saris...I'll write another post about that later).
Today after breakfast, Jen Koszyk and I walked around our hotel's neighborhood with a group of other women. We saw 5 cows hanging out in the neighborhood streets! Along the streets there are many food vendors selling coconuts, watermelon, and mangos! Yum :)
After walking around and lunch, we had a special lesson on Indian History & Culture by Dr. Chirajavi Singh. Here are some of the things I have learned:
Below are some pictures of the day: breakfast, our cohort, our hotel, the neighborhood around the hotel, and our history/culture lesson. Enjoy! It's 4:45 in the morning and we have now arrived at our hotel (The Lemon Tree Hotel) in Bangalore! I'm going to take a quick 3 hour nap and then our day begins! I have already done some unpacking so my room feels comfortable and I washed my face -- I was nervous about getting water in my eyes, nose, and mouth so I was very careful! I'm excited to take some pictures and post them to show you all what Bangalore looks like and what I learn...I'll update you later today (Thursday). I did take a picture at the airport though. Signs were in English and another language -- perhaps Arabic??? People drive on the other side of the road, just like in England. I have a lecture on Indian History and Culture later today, so I'll let you know some of the things I learn!! Cheers! Jen and I have met up with the other 10 Teachers in the Global Classrooms (TGC) teachers in D.C. and are currently hanging out at the Frankfurt airport for our layover. Here's a picture of us in our glasses and comfy clothes having just taken naps and watched movies on our flight from D.C. to Germany. Our next flight is to Bangalore, which will take us about 8.5 hours. I'll post again when we're in Bangalore!!!! Tomorrow is the big day! My flight leaves at 1:11pm from O'Hare. I've got three flights: Chicago to Washington D.C. where I'll meet up with the other 11 teachers going to India and our program coordinator, Des; D.C. to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Bangalore! To keep me busy on the plane I have new books for my Kindle, music and podcasts on my iPod, and Ambien to help me sleep! I also ripped up my LonelyPlanet India guidebook since it was HUGE and heavy. I took out only the parts that I will need and clipped them together to take with me. Here's a picture of my packing list! I've got a lot in my suitcase! Some highlights include: a Sanitizer Pen (for sanitizing tap water), Dasani Drops (I think I'll be drinking a lot of water and might want my water to taste like Raspberry Lemonade occasionally!), a watch, toilet paper, Deep Woods bug spray, long skirts, and an umbrella (it will be monsoon season!). My itinerary looks like this: Thursday, July 17th - Saturday, July 19th = Bangalore Sunday, July 20th = Flight to New Delhi Monday, July 21st - Sunday, July 27th = In New Delhi at my Host Placement teaching and observing Monday, July 28th - Tuesday, July 29th = Meet up with cohort in New Delhi Wednesday, July 30th = Travel to Agra Thursday, July 31st = Visit the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort Friday, August 1st = Reflect on Trip while in New Delhi Saturday, August 2nd = Fly home I'm excited to experience a new culture and language, but I am nervous that I'll be homesick for my awesome husband and puppy! Hopefully I'll be so busy I won't have time to get homesick. |
AuthorHi! My name is Janna Nobleza and I'm a high school English teacher in the Chicago Public Schools. This blog records my TGC India preparation, journey, and reflections. Archives
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