Right from the start, I was put to task! I arrived late (~10 pm) on July 1st and on July 2nd had a 9:30 am meeting with Dr. Panth, Vice Chancellor of Nava Nalanda Mahavihara Deemed University (NNMD) and Dr. Shrikant Singh, English Teacher at NNMD. After reviewing my materials with them, I was asked to throw together a little presentation for the monk students I was to meet at noon. This request was made at 11:30 am, so I promptly opened “Impress” and put together a power point presentation. I've only made a few other power point presentations so this caused me a little suffering. I mananged to pull it off, though, and was warmly welcomed by the monk students.
I've also been working on various other skills, mostly grammar – teaching them to identify nouns; pronunciation – long vowel sounds and bilabial /p, b/; and listening for key words from passages. Today, July 5th, I also did a sentence strip task where the students had to put the sentences from the story, Deep in the Forest, in order. I explained to them that for this task, they worked on reading skills, thinking (comprehension) skills, and speaking skills!
The group of monks at the temple, about twenty, are just working on conversational skills. They have been teaching themselves English. I was asked to make an introduction and then each of the monks introduced himself. They all requested that I teach their class while I'm here since they have no English teacher. I agreed to return on July 5th and have told two of the monks that I can teach them Monday through Friday.
On July 3, I began my classes. Two sessions, one in the morning from 9:30 to 10:30 and one in the afternoon from 2:00 to 3:00. The class sizes vary due to some of the monks finishing their final exams, but I've had a few classes of 35-40 students! After my second class, one of the monks invited me to his conversational English class held at a temple in the village. I said I would be glad to come. Little did I realize that I was to become their teacher, too!!
The university classes have been held in a conference room in the office. It has a long oval table with a projector and a white board. The screen was projecting away from me and I couldn't point at it. So on the 4th of July, with help, I moved it so that the screen was behind me which allowed me to control the projector and point to the screen. There are students in chairs around this table and then a second row behind the first. There is absolutely no extra space. Dr. Shrikant has graciously attended two of my morning classes and has given me very helpful feedback.
My goal for myself has been to learn to pronounce their names. I have been practicing this through working on “greetings” with them. I've been tossing a bean bag to them and we practice “Hi, how are you? I'm fine, thanks. And you?” They appear to be enjoying this task and today, July 5th, I didn't give them any written prompts and they were able to make the greeting appropriately.
I've also been working on various other skills, mostly grammar – teaching them to identify nouns; pronunciation – long vowel sounds and bilabial /p, b/; and listening for key words from passages. Today, July 5th, I also did a sentence strip task where the students had to put the sentences from the story, Deep in the Forest, in order. I explained to them that for this task, they worked on reading skills, thinking (comprehension) skills, and speaking skills!
The group of monks at the temple, about twenty, are just working on conversational skills. They have been teaching themselves English. I was asked to make an introduction and then each of the monks introduced himself. They all requested that I teach their class while I'm here since they have no English teacher. I agreed to return on July 5th and have told two of the monks that I can teach them Monday through Friday.
All of the monks are extremely motivated and appreciative of my teaching them English. They all attend class promptly, pay attention, and try their best. What a pleasure it is to teach this group!
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