Teaching - INDIA
Volunteer Stories

Teaching in India - Kevin Emery

Ok, now before I start I have to say that I am not a teacher. Not in any sense am I or could I be a teacher. I think people who teach are some of the most patient and hardworking people on the planet but I could never be one of them. Now, with that in mind let me tell you about teaching in India. It is amazing!!!!

Before my girlfriend Kim and I left for India it had been really cool telling people that I was leaving my job of three and a half years to teach children in India. Just typing it is cool. So the feeling of worry and panic I felt when we were 6 hours into our flight that now I actually had to teach was intense. I had been told that we could teach what we wanted. But what do I do with that? What did I want to teach? I had no experience, no lesson plans. all I had was an intense feeling of fear and anxiety.

Travelling to our new home took about a day or so. I say 'or so' because I had no concept of the time of day or in-fact what day it was. It did not seem to matter. I was looking forward to getting to our accommodation, meeting the family and the other volunteers and going to sleep. That was the plan. or so I thought.

We arrived at the girls school where Kim would be teaching at about 16:00 Indian time, popped our heads round the corner of a few classrooms and met the headmistress (who was lovely). The school was a concrete building, no doors just doorways with wooden pews for seats. It was all very basic but it was more than I expected; and the children all looked healthy and happy. The boy's school was a two-minute walk from the girls. It was bigger and had an upper level. Once again we met the headmistress and had a look at a few classrooms. The time now was about 16:55 Indian time and we had been travelling all day after our flight and had a sleepless night, not to go on about it too much but. well.. let's just say I was very tired. The head mistress looked up at me (I'm 6"1 she was about 5") and said, "You teach now"? My reply being "oh no, I am teaching tomorrow". To which she replied, "Yes, yes you teach now". And gestured me into a small classroom occupied by about 50 students.

Now, at this point I would like to go over my mental and physical state:

Including the flight (I am not a good fighter.. I'm kind of a big girl when it comes to flying) we had been travelling for about a day and a half
Due to an uncooperative mosquito net I had had no sleep the night before
I had had a taste of what was meant by Delhi Belly. there was more of that to come
As I said before, I don't know how to teach or what to teach
And finally, it was really hot. so hot it kind of pushed you to the ground

So there I am in front of 50 Indian children, all with beaming smiles, their eyes transfixed on the first westerner most of them had ever seen waiting to be taught. I started by saying hello, and telling them my name, age and where I'm from. That was about 2 minutes. I looked to the headmistress and the Projects Abroad staff member. They just smiled and wobbled their heads. So, I said a little more. I told them about my family, what they look like, what they do, what I do, what I like and then I had them repeat it. I started writing on the board with chalk. I had just the boys repeat, then the girls, then and the whole class together. I looked at my watch. 45 minutes had passed. I had taught for 45 minutes. Just as I was finishing explaining who Michael Jordan was, the Projects Abroad coordinator (Victor, the sweetest man I have ever met and for a man who was only about 5"4 could eat like a horse) said to me that it was time to go. We left the school and headed 15 minutes down the road to where we would be staying for the 6 weeks. I taught in the school for 3 weeks (minus a day or two due to illness) and it was amazing. I realised that it was not the content that mattered it was the fact that it was English. The feeling I got when the kids repeated what I had said. And their English was amazing. I studied French for 4 years at school and all I can muster is Bonjour, ca va? After just an hour I had 65 kids singing Incey Wincey Spider and quoting Star Wars.

If you're reading this thinking about teaching in India and you're not sure or you're having second thoughts all I can say is do it. Just get out there and do it. You will regret it if you don't. Whatever you're into whether its shoes, cars, movies or whatever, all you have to do is tell them about it and have them repeat it. Oh, and a game of hang man helps. They love it. And without sounding cheesy (which this will) it changed my life doing it.

Kevin Emery

If like Jessica you would like to work on one of the projects in India, take a look at our India Destination page

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