A few weeks ago, the school held a two day cultural fest to celebrate and showcase the many cultures of India, and Holy Cross School. On Monday, the events included folk dance, traditional dance, group dance, poem recitation in English and Malayalam, and lots of uncoordinated dance from each class and their teachers (yes unfortunately including myself). I discovered that I really enjoy the Indian pop music they listen to despite the fact that I cannot understand the words being sung, and that both students and teachers have incredible talent for both dancing and singing. On the second day, there were story telling competitions, speeches, songs, and mime skits! All spoken word competitions were in both English and Malayalam. We are slowly learning a few words here and there, mostly phrases and words having to do with food of course, but this language is a hard one to learn. I always tell my older students that they are already smarter than me because they know at the very least two languages (English and Malayalam) and sometimes more. They also learn Hindi in school and I am sure some have mastered it to some degree already.
The students, teachers, and staff are all a part of such rich cultures, and this was an absolutely fabulous and fascinating event to be present for. The dances and costumes alone were my favorite part. The dress we see day to day is simply beautiful. Churidars come in infinite displays of rich colors and elaborate patterns. Shawls are effortlessly draped over women's shoulders, and always match the color and pattern scheme of both pants and top. And this is the everyday dress. One of the competitions at cultural fest was fancy dress, and the intricately ornate costumes were jaw dropping. Gold adornments, lace stitched in the utmost taste, thick black makeup to accentuate shining brown eyes, and the jewelry! The traditional dress that was worn by the folk dance competitors brought the rich history of India to life before my eyes. The dances tell stories more clearly than words could. And oh the way these kids can dance! Some of the most impressive dances came from students in third and sixth grade. The details! I am no student to dance (and this will be very evident when I participate in the Thiruvathira dance with the teachers next week) so I cannot be sure that details such as hand gestures and facial expressions are a part of western dance. But I can be sure that I have never seen dances that are as involved as the traditional folk dances we saw during cultural fest.
It was a beautiful few days to take the time to get to know the culture we are living in a bit more. The students had such fun (of course because we had no class) and it was an opportunity to bond more with them. I certainly did not know how well some of my students could sing, dance, recite poems, and give speeches! Marissa and I showcased our excellent western dance skills by teaching them some classic dance moves including the sprinkler, the lawn mower, and of course the shopping cart at the end. Saved the best for last right?! Next week we will really be putting ourselves to the test by taking part in a traditional Onam dance called Thiruvathira (thee-roo-vah-thee-rah) with some of the teachers. Onam is the harvest festival that falls around the beginning of the Malayalam calendar year. The celebrations in school will include flowerbed competitions, payasam making, and some outdoor games for the younger classes. Payasam is a mysterious soup like sweet treat that I have yet to acquire a taste for, but I hear there are many different types of payasam so perhaps I simply haven't tried the right kind yet. And of course one of the very special events to take place will be the teachers' Thiruvathira dance. They told us it would be simple; we practiced for the first time yesterday and I can assure it is not. Also we will be wearing a traditional Kerala sari which I hear is both beautiful and somewhat hard to move around in, so yes not to worry there will be plenty of videos and pictures to document the occasion.
A note on teaching:
This life we get to live here is wonderful, beautiful, and so educational. Learning how to be a teacher by simply doing it without any training at all is both very, very hard, but also very fun. I constantly feel like I am doing it wrong, and that I will not actually be able to teach any of the students anything. But then sometimes I'll walk into class and say "Ok guys do we remember what we talked about last time?" and they will actually yell out, with much fervor I might add, an accurate summary of what we learned last time. I cannot even describe how proud this makes me. Not only because I did it, I taught them something, but because they cared enough to feign excitement about it! My little loves! I am learning (and finally committing to memory) most of the students' names, and they sometimes like me I think! My current goal is to simply make them think. The way they learn in their normal classes, and prepare for exams, is almost solely memorization based. When they read a chapter in their textbooks, the teacher will give them the questions AND THE ANSWERS on the blackboard and their task for the exam is to memorize the answers. This is just the way they do it, and memorization is certainly a skill that can be useful, but it's clear that when it comes to being inside the classroom, there is little room for any abstract or hypothetical thought. So, this is exactly what I do! Each class I will come in with a few hypothetical scenarios (e.g. If someone gave you 100 million rupees what would you do with the money), make them write a few sentecnces and then I have them each share the answers they wrote in front of the class. The first few times I did this I think everyone single student said "Ma'am I don't know the answer, what do I write?" And when I tell them they can write anything they want (appropriate for class of course) their eyes bulge out of their heads. This has become a good way to get to know the students in both English ability and personality. It's fun for both of us, and yes sometimes it gets out of hand and I have to yell, but if I can simply get them to think outside of the box in my class, then I will consider myself successful.
Also I taugh the Kindergarteners my name and now every time I see them they yell "Hi Molly Ma'am!" and it's the cutest thing in the entire world and it makes my day every single time. It's a wonderful life:)
The students, teachers, and staff are all a part of such rich cultures, and this was an absolutely fabulous and fascinating event to be present for. The dances and costumes alone were my favorite part. The dress we see day to day is simply beautiful. Churidars come in infinite displays of rich colors and elaborate patterns. Shawls are effortlessly draped over women's shoulders, and always match the color and pattern scheme of both pants and top. And this is the everyday dress. One of the competitions at cultural fest was fancy dress, and the intricately ornate costumes were jaw dropping. Gold adornments, lace stitched in the utmost taste, thick black makeup to accentuate shining brown eyes, and the jewelry! The traditional dress that was worn by the folk dance competitors brought the rich history of India to life before my eyes. The dances tell stories more clearly than words could. And oh the way these kids can dance! Some of the most impressive dances came from students in third and sixth grade. The details! I am no student to dance (and this will be very evident when I participate in the Thiruvathira dance with the teachers next week) so I cannot be sure that details such as hand gestures and facial expressions are a part of western dance. But I can be sure that I have never seen dances that are as involved as the traditional folk dances we saw during cultural fest.
It was a beautiful few days to take the time to get to know the culture we are living in a bit more. The students had such fun (of course because we had no class) and it was an opportunity to bond more with them. I certainly did not know how well some of my students could sing, dance, recite poems, and give speeches! Marissa and I showcased our excellent western dance skills by teaching them some classic dance moves including the sprinkler, the lawn mower, and of course the shopping cart at the end. Saved the best for last right?! Next week we will really be putting ourselves to the test by taking part in a traditional Onam dance called Thiruvathira (thee-roo-vah-thee-rah) with some of the teachers. Onam is the harvest festival that falls around the beginning of the Malayalam calendar year. The celebrations in school will include flowerbed competitions, payasam making, and some outdoor games for the younger classes. Payasam is a mysterious soup like sweet treat that I have yet to acquire a taste for, but I hear there are many different types of payasam so perhaps I simply haven't tried the right kind yet. And of course one of the very special events to take place will be the teachers' Thiruvathira dance. They told us it would be simple; we practiced for the first time yesterday and I can assure it is not. Also we will be wearing a traditional Kerala sari which I hear is both beautiful and somewhat hard to move around in, so yes not to worry there will be plenty of videos and pictures to document the occasion.
A note on teaching:
This life we get to live here is wonderful, beautiful, and so educational. Learning how to be a teacher by simply doing it without any training at all is both very, very hard, but also very fun. I constantly feel like I am doing it wrong, and that I will not actually be able to teach any of the students anything. But then sometimes I'll walk into class and say "Ok guys do we remember what we talked about last time?" and they will actually yell out, with much fervor I might add, an accurate summary of what we learned last time. I cannot even describe how proud this makes me. Not only because I did it, I taught them something, but because they cared enough to feign excitement about it! My little loves! I am learning (and finally committing to memory) most of the students' names, and they sometimes like me I think! My current goal is to simply make them think. The way they learn in their normal classes, and prepare for exams, is almost solely memorization based. When they read a chapter in their textbooks, the teacher will give them the questions AND THE ANSWERS on the blackboard and their task for the exam is to memorize the answers. This is just the way they do it, and memorization is certainly a skill that can be useful, but it's clear that when it comes to being inside the classroom, there is little room for any abstract or hypothetical thought. So, this is exactly what I do! Each class I will come in with a few hypothetical scenarios (e.g. If someone gave you 100 million rupees what would you do with the money), make them write a few sentecnces and then I have them each share the answers they wrote in front of the class. The first few times I did this I think everyone single student said "Ma'am I don't know the answer, what do I write?" And when I tell them they can write anything they want (appropriate for class of course) their eyes bulge out of their heads. This has become a good way to get to know the students in both English ability and personality. It's fun for both of us, and yes sometimes it gets out of hand and I have to yell, but if I can simply get them to think outside of the box in my class, then I will consider myself successful.
Also I taugh the Kindergarteners my name and now every time I see them they yell "Hi Molly Ma'am!" and it's the cutest thing in the entire world and it makes my day every single time. It's a wonderful life:)
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