Productivity at last

I am not going to mince words here. Today was awesome. I started at Bal Bharti Public School in Pitampura at 10:30 this morning. It is a school of 5000 students from elementary grades all the way through high school. A student was assigned to escort me from the entrance (I wasn't too difficult to pick out). I then finally met Sarabjit (who I have been emailing and calling regularly lately), who is coordinating my research with me. I was introduced to the principal, head mistress, librarians, and every other faculty we could find. We then went to the English faculty office so I could meet the legion of instructors. They were super welcoming and entertaining banter immediately commenced. Throughout the course of the day I visited four classes. For the first one, I was just invited to talk about anything that I wanted. It sounds nice, but some direction would have helped. The second class I observed was with Sarabjit and the students there spent much of the period reading aloud and discussing a story. I then went with Rashika to a level 9 class where we discussed gender rights and equality. This is a relatively new idea in India, and it was really exciting to see the students get into it. It felt like what I would imagine the U.S. felt like during the 70's. There is so much change and energy here. It is terrific. I then went with another teacher to observe a class that discussed a much more difficult text that will definitely help me with my research. In between all of that, we had lunch. I did not bring anything (because I didn't get there until 10:30), so Sarabjit ordered everyone in the office to contribute some of their lunch to me. I had a heaping plate full by the end.

I expected to come home, relax, and maybe nap. However, word had gotten out that there is an English teacher in the bungalow. Our cook, Rahesh, was very interested in learning English. He had to quit school and begin working at a young age when his parents died. He proudly showed me the small notebook that he has been working with. He had practiced writing the same recipe for Chicken Bhiryani in Hindi, over and over again. He was immensely proud. We set about the task of writing the upper and lower case English alphabet and learning some common household objects. We have scheduled one hour lessons everyday for the rest of my stay. He is also helping me work no my Hindi as he really speaks no English whatsoever.

So tomorrow I will head back to the school on the bicycle rikshaw after arguing with the driver about the price. Hopefully I will start taking the school bus though so I can save the 60 rupees per day. It should be awesome.