My feet in the Ganges

Today we had the opportunity for a trip to Rishakesh, a town beside the Ganges where lots of people go to visit this sacred river. There is also a lot of yoga tourism.

It was a 2 hour car trip through some beautiful villages and countryside to get there, including a last stretch through a forest where there are warning signs not to stop because of elephant herds coming through. The township itself was crowded, colourful, and noisy; full of life from the very wealthy to the very poor, with cows wandering through the cobbled streets, and monkeys watching for fallen food from mossy stone walls.

We did a loop walk from one foot bridge to the other, and saw much along the way. It absolutely poured down on the first bridge and was sunny by the time we finished. It is the monsoon season here. I had a chance to sit for a few moments' silence beside the river, watching it flow strongly. A few of us put our feet in and it was very cold, not surprisingly when you consider its origins in the Himalayas.

We were very tired when we got home, and enjoyed another beautiful meal of curry and spicy potatoes. Today is my last day in Dehradhun. Sashi and I begin our journey home later this morning. Our time here has been intense and full of connection and shared learning. When I sat last night with one of the teachers in the programme who lives on site here and she recounted all the work she now does using picturebooks in her language classes, and how she encourages children to write first in Hindi and then translate into English- something we worked on in our programme two years ago- I feel some satisfaction. And when I hear how she shares all she learns with her colleagues in another state of India where she is from, I understand how we can never know the full impact of what we do here. I know when I return to teaching preservice teachers, my experiences here also informs my work. This is very much a two way street with much mutual respect.

Thank you for reading my blog:)
I'd like to acknowledge my Rata colleague Sally Kent who suppled many of the photos in my blog, as the connection between my iPad photos and my blog did not work!

Lots of talent

Our talent show was a real success, and such fun to be a part of. Several young women teachers danced, one group Bollywood style, and one more traditionally.

Another school did a big skit about the difficulties of getting the children of some families to schools. This was one of the more serious notes of the evening.

The Rata team sang Bingo, except with the words, 'There was a team from New Zealand and Rata was it's name-o. R-A-T-A-yeah!', followed by 'My favourite Things' which began 'Mangos and curries and marsala dhosa'. Sorry, I have no photo of this as we were all busy singing:)

Rata is 10 years old

Rata is an amazing organisation which  organises teacher support in India, Tanzania and Ghana, and this year it has turned 10 years old. Glenys Bichan is the founder, and likes to keep everything low key, focusing on getting the work done to make a difference in children's lives. She is an amazing and inspiring leader whose work has changed many people's lives, including the volunteers she leads in teams working in these countries.  To read more see rata.org.nz

One of the teachers in our team this year had the fabulous idea of organising a cake to celebrate Rata's ten years, and the Indian bakery even managed to replicate our logo which features the Rata tree. We all sang happy birthday to Rata.

You'll see in these pictures that we all wear t-shirts with the logo while we do our work- it is a logo and a metaphor we are proud of- giving support to teachers until they put down their own roots, and no longer need us.

Core purposes, mangos and chai

Our Friday programme has been full of fun, and some serious work has been achieved.
Each day the teachers have been filling out a card with 'takeaway' messages from the day's work and today we reviewed our learning for the week and the teachers were asked to complete an overarching core purpose for their work as teachers. My colleague, Sashi, and I have worked with a group of leaders from among the teachers to think about ongoing professional development in their schools after the Rata team leaves. We also asked them to put together a 2 hour workshop to facilitate the writing of core purposes, and it went really well.

We have been given a good supply of mangos while we're here, and I have just finished eating three in a row. In one of our session about planning lessons, we asked the teachers to draw up a lesson plan to teach us how to eat mangos, and luckily I was the guinea pig! So I have learned to eat mangos by sucking out the flesh through a hole in the top of the skin. This makes them much less messy to eat, which makes it easy to eat many more!

Every day we have chai on the terrace with either spicy shortbread or bujha mix. The views are expansive and peaceful, and it is a very enjoyable part of the routine of the day. The Indian chai is very sweet so the cooks make us a jug of unsweetened chai to enjoy :)

The serious and the hilarious

Today we began with a talk about difficulties faced by children including dyslexia, ADHD, and childhood depression, and how teachers might support children facing such challenges. You may be surprised by the inclusion of depression, but the communities that the schools serve  include families facing many challenges, stresses and traumas which of course has an impact on the lives and learning of the children.

We have a break after lunch and today we had the chance to take a walk in the nearby forest, following a stream and going up into the hills a little. It was stunningly beautiful, and quite refreshing to get away from the centre where we are working so intensely.

This evening we have had another very successful games evening. My favourite game involved   competitors wearing stockings on their head with a ball in one leg which was used to knock down water bottles. It was hilarious to watch.

Tomorrow is our last teaching day for the week, and we have a big talent show on which we have been practising for tonight. The content is secret, but it involves many instruments and lots of hilarity (and maybe a dog called Bingo). Photos to follow.

Outside the classroom

Every day we are provided with beautiful meals by the cooks at the complex we stay at. All of the approximately forty teachers are staying here too for the duration of the programme, and we all eat together. Our eating times are delicious and a time to get to know the students outside of the classroom.

In the evenings after dinner, we have games evenings. On Tuesday night three of us led a BP technology challenge night. First the students ( in groups of four) had to use a4 paper and tape to make a ball fall slowly to the ground. Then they had to create a ball grabber with newspaper and string and tape. Their creations were amazing, and we had such fun. Last night my Rata colleagues organised a fashion show with newspaper, and again the creations were quite outstanding.

So there's lots of learning going on for all of us outside the classroom:)

Monkeys and bags

It is now Wednesday morning and we are all feeling (we being the eight other NZ teachers I am here with) like we are settling into our daily routine and the programme we have planned.

The Indian teachers are so positive and appreciative of all that we do together. Yesterday's focus was on deliberate acts of teaching and Sashi and I continue to work in the afternoon with a group of leaders to develop a workshop they will lead on Friday.

We all wake early in the morning, and this morning there was a troupe of monkeys outside our bedroom windows. Lots of family groups and babies which look very cute, but we have been warned they can be very dangerous.

Our bags have arrived from Delhi late last night and it has been lovely getting into clean clothes, and having our own bits and pieces such as insect repellent and shampoo :)

namaste
Nicola

The programme has begun

We are half way through our first day with the Indian teachers, and it has been a fun morning.
We have begun our programme by discussing what motivates us to be teachers. We have had some interesting discussions and some fun skits and story sharing with the teachers.

It is interesting getting used to being translated into Hindi as we speak. It makes you chunk what you say in very deliberate ways.

Our bags have not arrived yet, and so we are going off to buy a few essentials to see us through.

Yours rather smellily
Nicola

Namaste
We have arrived in Dehradun after lots of travelling and a night in Delhi.

The monsoon season is here so while it is warm it is also wet. It is wonderful to see some familiar faces and some new faces among the teachers who we will work with over the next week. We start our programme tomorrow. Tonight we will have a formal welcome to the programme and hear a report from each school about how the year that has been has gone. The new year for schools starts Monday week.

As I sit here, I can hear a call to prayer from the local mosque echoing through the beautiful green hills.


Yours peacefully
Nicola