Test and Hindi alphabets.

Yesterday was a day of tests on phonics which went quite well and it was interesting  working with the children. Some of the kids came up and said “bhiya, I don’t know how to draw a snake’. One boy said,’ bhiya how many legs should I draw in a spider?’
One young boy was crying, I took him in my arms and asked him what the problem was ?
He said that his eye was hurting. I looked in his eyes, his right eye is infected and is   all red with a white spot in his eye. Then I went to see his mom to get more details to see if he had seen a doctor or not. His mom said they had taken him to a doctor and he is using an eye drip which I think is not helping him. It was a good evening I had some old clothes with me in which I gave to the kids who were coming regularly but I felt bad that I didn’t have enough for others.
Today I went with Hindi planning. I was so happy to see that more kids are good in Hindi alphabets.
Playing games is always great with the kids.
So it was a time to play cricket with them which was also fun. I wish we had more space.
Today I went to meet Jeterders father who is still in bed. He made an interesting comment when I told him that Jetender is doing good these days, he has not been eating tobacco etc. His father said take him with you and get him some kind of job. I am praying to improve his habits please pray for him.

A different timing...

This week I’m teaching in the slum on Wednesday and Thursday and have also changed the timings. We’re teaching from 4-5 pm.
We started with a fun activity, played games and then got the kids in the circle, took their attendance and passed out the worksheets on phonics( letter S) to the kids who had not finished their work last week .
The things I observed: there are so many kids who go to school and afterwards they work as rag picker’s. Some kids were absent today, they come back around 5 pm or even later than this.
There was a family I visited but they were having a hard time, the husband was drunk and scolding his wife, using abusive language in front off the kids.
Big trucks were parked in the area which was dangerous for the young kids who play there.
Please pray for the kids and their families..

Being on time

Being on time “Sunder’s punctuality “
I had planned to tell all the kids a moral based story so they would learn to come on time as we always have been there on time.
All the students were sitting in a big group and I started with an activity, ‘copy my actions.’ They all were having fun.Then I got them quiet and asked them about the time and gave them some examples like what would happen if the sun was late to rise in the morning?
 I told them the story of being on time and said that I will be very happy to see all of them here on time when we come. Then I collected some of the ‘S’ sound work sheets which were given to most of the kids for homework on Tuesday.
After this I sent them back to their homes. We went to visit Jetender's father who has fractured his leg while working in a factory last week. Jetender is the only son with him at this slum to look after him and they don’t have any income at the moment . He was so worried because he will be in bed for one and a half months at home. Please pray for him.
I also talked with the deaf and dumb kid’s father. He told me his son is 7 years old. They came to know about his condition when he was 4 years old. Please pray for this kid also.

S-ssssss phonics

S-ssssss phonics
Thanks to Amanda didi for phonic based work sheet which is so helpful for the kids.
We had all the kids in two different age groups. I had all the younger ones below 5 years. It was a good idea for me to not to use the work sheet and I asked them to say the sound sssssssssssssss with actions of a snake . Then I made up a snake game! We all lined up and went around making ssssssssssssss sound they all had fun.
Shanker was busier with around 45 kids above 5 years of age. They had the real fun of phonic worksheets with sound sssssssssss and actions. He took attendance and it seems there are more kids regularly coming. They had enough colours to use on their worksheets this time. They all are doing great work. Vikas the talented boy has gone to one of the boarding schools in Dehradun .
One thing which I observed -I know this young kid who can’t even speak, he’s around 7 years old, but when I am around he asks me for things with his own actions which I don’t understand. I felt very bad that he can’t talk to me. He kept pointing toward my bag and I showed him things. I asked him what he needed? Then Shanker gave me a candy and said give this to him, and he was so happy. Well I am thinking for a different plan for him please pray for this young kid..

Children’s day special

We know we were two days late but I wanted to celebrate and have fun with the kids and we did!
Thank you very much to Amanda didi for all the stationary which she gave us to use with the kids.
First all the kids sat in a circle and we took their attendance. I was pleased to hear, ‘yes sir, yes bhiya’. We had planned few activities like balloon races and candy races for the young ones below 5 years.
There were so many older kids that we had them in three groups junior, sub junior and senior according to their height!
 

The young kids had fun opening candy and then running to get a balloon from Shanker. Some were too young so they were enjoying blowing balloons and eating candy.
The older kids had to run around 100 meter race. The senior boys had to run to a truck and come back .We had 3 rounds which was fun when the other kids were clapping and cheering the participants. We only had one group of girls who participated in the race.
(surprise )They didn’t know that they were going to get a prize!
We distributed the prizes -1 prize was one copy and pen with 4 candies, 2nd prize was one copy and 2 candies, 3rd prize 2 pencils and 5 candies.
After this we distributed a candy to all the children, some of the elder boys helped.
Then we talked with the elder kids and thanked them for their help..

'Attendence'

We want to get to know details about the kids who we are teaching.Every time we go there we see a new face and some who we’ve seen before don’t always show up.We want to find a way to keep track of the kids.
It was amazing asking their parents name their age and if they go to school .
One of the kids said, ‘ I come to your school only’.
I felt sad hearing some of the kids didn’t have one parent (died).
Some of the parents were around and they wanted us to write their kids name first .
We didn’t have much time today so didn’t get all kids name yet .
In the end we talked with one of the parents and he told us some things which he felt were responsible for the kids not talking studies seriously ( family problem, parents can’t afford school fees, most of the time kids are playing in the fields. Kids are in lower classes according to their age, getting addicted to tobacco ). He also mentioned that some kids are very good in studies too like Vikas who is in class 4 in a government school. Before this he was in a boarding school (may be an orphanage) in Dehradun but now they have started charging money for their expenses which his parents couldn’t afford so he is back in the slums. He liked our idea of helping the kids, he wanted us to come more often.

Happy Diwali.’ D’ For Diwali

Happy Diwali.’ D’ For Diwali
Started with circle time, played fruit salad. Snjeet helped in explaining the game in the beginning.
We had separate groups for boys and girls.
I was alone with around 35 boys and Amanda didi, Deepa and Abbey were helping the girls.
We were teaching them the alphabet, letter D for Diwali. I did it my way and shouted out loud! Before this I told them how we should celebrate Diwali carefully because I  knew that last year, 3 kids died in a fire accident during the celebrations .
 The girls did phonics sound, ‘dddddddd’, for drum, it was such fun helping the kids. Deepa helped one young married girl with the same activity.
This time I got help from the young boys who had been watching us from last week. Anil is one of them. His basic education is only basic up to class 5. He works in a factory near by. He was a great help to me.
At the end of the evening, we wished them all a very happy and safe Diwali..