The Manasu Foundation
The Manasu Foundation works to provide the poorest Indian children with a future. Manasu focuses primarily on the orphanage the "Radha Kishan Home" in Hyderabad and aims to improve the children's chances in life through structural support including the opportunity for a solid education both at school and vocational level.
The Square Mile supports the Manasu Foundation's work through financial contributions. We contribute towards improving opportunity through language training, primarily English. In 2007 we have supported the following projects:
- 15 children from the Radha Kishan Home currently receive education from an English school.
- The teachers from the Daghe school have received a course of spoken English.
- The appointment of an English teacher for the boys' orphanage.
Would you like to know more about the Manasu Foundation? Check www.manasu.nl for more information.
Teaching English in India
A TSM trainer's experiences of 2 months in Hyderabad.
Introduction
My name is Roma Baker. I am a British woman, living and teaching English in the Netherlands. In January 2009, with the help of the Square Mile and the Manasu charity, I went to Hyderabad, India, to help some of the teachers teach English at the Radha Kishan home.
For several years The Square Mile has been supporting a Dutch charity called Stichting Manasu. Stichting Manasu was started in 1999 by a Dutch couple, Sandhya Siccama and Johan van Herk. Sandhya grew up in the Radha Kishan Home and was adopted by Dutch parents when she was eight years old. She returned to India 20 years later and with the help of her husband started Stichting Manasu to support several worthy causes in India. One of these is the Radha Kishan Home.
The Radha Kishan Home was established in 1955 by an Indian couple, Venkat Dhage and his wife Tehminabai, to help save abandoned children. This enlightened couple challenged the prevailing views of that time, "they (illegitimate children) have exactly the same right to development and the same possibilities of ascending to the highest status".
The aim of the Radha Kishan Home is to provide shelter, nourishing food and decent clothing, a good education and a happy and comfortable childhood. Since its inception the home has helped over two thousand children. There are at present 171 children in the Radha Kishan Home, aged between 4-18 years old. Education is of course important to children all over the world and arguably essential to the poorer members of any society. The Radha Kishan Home provides a basic education so that the children may enter the India state system at 11/12 years old. In some of these state schools English is actually the spoken language. As English is the international language worldwide and practically a second language in India it is beneficial for children to learn English as early as possible.
This is an account of my experience in India, adapted from emails that I sent my Square Mile colleagues.
December 2008 / pre teaching
Hyderabad is a crazy place and very hard to explain. Sprawling with apparently not a 'centre' centre. There is building work going on everywhere and the traffic is something to get used to. Forget Italian, Turkish or Greek drivers, this is a whole new experience. Best thing to do is just laugh and trust in the drivers as you have little choice. The most constant pervasive sound of India so far is the honking of the car horn. You can never get away from it. Even though distances are not big between places, traffic makes moving around difficult sometimes. Actually saw a young boy riding a camel through rush hour traffic!
My first impressions of the Radha Kishan Home were wonderful. Everyone was very friendly. It felt like being almost a minor celebrity being shown round as everywhere I went there were choruses of 'Good morning teacher'. The home itself is a combination of school, accommodation and office with an outside area and climbing frames for the children to play on. There are plants everywhere and altogether it�s a very pleasant place. My cousin, Chloe, and I were treated on Christmas Day to a Christmas away from home. This consisted of some dancing displays from the children, balloons and wonderful food. The dancing was very impressive and I was amazed to learn that the older girls choreographed the routines themselves. This was all well and good until Chloe and I were asked to join in! Embarrassing trying to keep up with girls twenty years younger but of course the children found it highly amusing.
Have been ferried around Hyderabad seeing the sights by the school's driver which is very strange as poor Ahmed is then left in car waiting for us to finish our tourist delights. This is very normal for upper middle class Indians but takes some getting used to. It's so strange to be staying in one of the poshest area of Hyderabad and yet amid all the construction and gated, guarded homes are families sleeping rough. Basically all the construction workers just live in a shack. And the whole of Hyderabad is constantly developing both in terms of roads and housing. Environmentally it's heartbreaking as they are spreading into the once green hills and breaking up these stunning rock formations. At same time no consideration is paid to green areas or for that matter pavements. Only the poor walk it seems. And there are no pavements and no road crossings. Crossing the road could best be described as an extreme sport.
1st Week, 5th - 11th January, 2009
I started teaching on 6th February. Two day delay, unfortunately, due to stomach parasite. Spent a couple of days chained to the toilet. All part of the India experience I'm sure! I've been given seven classes in total, from the nursery children to 3rd Class, who are approximately 9 years old. (This changed over time and I ended up teaching the 4th and 5th classes as well, approximately 10-11 years old, and also the older girls who attend college.) I am accompanied by the English teachers, Ramavathi and Sailaja, to lessons. This is very helpful. Not only does it give them an opportunity to look at different ways of teaching but also helps me controlling the classes and explaining instructions.
The younger classes have about 20 children per class although the classes become smaller as the children become older. This is because the children that reach a certain educational level attend outside state schools. Those that cannot enter the state school continue to receive schooling at the home. All went well for a first day although the nursery kids were quite frankly a little scary. Took a ball in to throw and in a civilized manner ask questions. This worked in other groups but not with these little ones. And when I produced crayons it was like a free for all....
Fortunately older children proved a bit more manageable. Had fun together drawing monsters and lots of 'Hands, knees and toes'! Kids were really sweet and genuinely enjoyed themselves. You know how we all joke about not understanding Indians when they speak English? Well irony of ironies the Indians find my British accent difficult to understand particularly for some unknown reason the way I say �water� (?). Tomorrow plan to attack the subject of weather, more body parts and finally get to grips with that tricky verb �to be�.
Within a few days of teaching in the first week I realised I had to change my ideas of how I could teach. I had taken hundreds of flashcards with me with the idea that I could play games with these. In the literature it's called Total Physical Response and is very good at stimulating children. This was not possible in the classrooms as the desks were firmly fixed to the floor. Also my attempts at pair work had proved fruitless. The children were very competitive and it had proven difficult all week to make them understand that they should be quiet if I wasn�t asking them a direct question. They could not grasp co-operative activities such as pair work between themselves. This in combination with not being able to use photocopiable material made much of the lesson plans I had brought with me redundant. I could have used a photocopier in the neighbourhood but the children had no files with which to keep loose papers. They actually had all been given an exercise book specially for the English classes with me but this was of course designed for them to write information on from the blackboard. My first weekend in Hyderabad was spent preparing lessons and looking at ways I could adapt the photocopiable material that I had brought and change the activities that relied on pairwork to whole class interaction. For the remainder of my time my lessons focused on using the blackboard and myself giving the information and leading the activities.
2nd Week, 12th -18th January, 2009
Actually proving difficult to email at moment. Despite Hyderabad being one of the IT centres of India the hotel's computer has virus. Keep being told it will be fixed tomorrow. Learning to be more patient, or at least trying...So have nowhere to use USB stick, or send photos. For all of you who thought I could blog I laugh in your face. And you should see the state of the equipment where I am now. Trust me after I leave this keyboard I'm washing my hands.
Here I was thinking I was unphased by bugs and hygiene. Well that was then and this is now. So far have seen 3 cockroaches in my ' boutique' hotel, two in my room, one in the restaurant. If that makes you squirm, yesterday, under the serving dishes at breakfast I saw a mouse. Yep. Doesn't bother me as much as the pollution though. Apparently in Mumbai the pollution is so bad that just being there everyday is the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes a day.
Teaching continues to go well. I Was given the older college girls for a few days this week and had some more adult like conversations. The college girls are between 16 and 18 years old and are attending college to train to become beauticians, accountants, call centre workers, computer/office workers and even doctors. They asked me to help them with their grammar and pronunciation and hopefully I clarified a few things for them. They were quite shy to begin with but as time progressed they started to open up more and proved very curious about both me and life outside of Europe. They know very little about Europe so brought atlas and postcards and some stuff about my home town, Hastings, and�London. Their enthusiasm and curiosity is a reward in itself.
All the children find my conversation classes hilarious. Don't think other teachers make them laugh that much. The prevailing teaching method is very standard, open your exercise books and fill in the answers. I have done lots of silly things with the children like sticking pictures of animals on their backs and trying to get them to guess what they are. These are definitely the highlights of my day. My lessons have been focused on themes, based around books and flashcards. We have looked at the body, weather and animals. In combination with this I have taught the children more action words and adverbs. For the very young children this has been done via songs and Total Physical Response. The flashcards have proved a hit, even if I can't utilise all the methods I would like too. The children are fast to learn and eager, their enthusiasm a reward in itself.
3rd Week, 19th - 25th January, 2009
Have attempted to tidy up some pronunciation including the dreaded 'th'. Have been asking kids all week to show me their tongues. They of course think it's hilarious. Good news is 'thick' is not 'sick' anymore and 'thirty' is not as 'dirty'. Have college girls back which is great as they are a genuine pleasure. Have been teaching them personality traits all week and got them to design their own coat of arms which went down well although as you can imagine describing what a coat of arms is - was quite hard work.
Am desperately trying to learn all of the teacher's names but am struggling. I call them the 'saris' and for some reason I seem to have a mental block with some Indian names which aren't easy to pronounce and are on the long side. Fortunately they think it's funny. Have tried to explain to the 'saris' a few things this week with varying success. Firstly that Dutch is the language of Netherlands and that they don't speak English in Holland. Next step will be showing them an atlas. Also that no my mother doesn't live with me. Lastly that American English is not the same as Indian English just because it's easier to understand apparently than my British accent.
Am feeling that my stay here has already been a success. The teachers would love me to stay or at least come back. The two English teachers that accompany me to lessons, Ramavathi and Sailaja, have certainly enjoyed watching me and have learnt some things I hope. On Monday I'm going to sit down with them and go through some teaching material and ideas. The problem is really that their English is limited and they don't have the time to prepare much themselves. They work six days a week and have families. I'm hoping that I can get them to supplement their existing textbooks with the material that I've brought to bring in more conversational practice for the children. I'm also hoping that I've demonstrated that patience and letting kids make mistakes brings rewards in the end. And if I can get them to do pair work then I'll think that my stay here has been really successful.
4th and final week of teaching, 26th - 31st January, 2009
This week I found I had a lovely unexpected present from the children, head lice. Nice to know I've obviously had close contact with them. This week was the last week of teaching. Part of me would love to carry on teaching as their enthusiasm is boundless but of course my return is imminent. This week we've done lots more pronunciation, "Charlie likes chicken, chips, cheese and chocolate" and "Tony tiger likes telling the time and talking". Hopefully also bears are no longer beers (would have loved to have been on the receiving end of that one, imagine 'beer was caught in national park..') and pears are no longer�peers of the realm.
Have sat down with teachers this week and gone through lots of things. They are overjoyed at the books and flashcards I have brought with me and I was also able to give them some tips and tricks and show them some stuff that is available for free on the internet. I know for sure the kids have enjoyed having this crazy English woman running around, asking to see their tongues (pronunciation of 'th' by the way) and sticking pictures of animals to their backs and asking them to guess which animals they are (using �can� and �have got� for language practice of course). Managed to also get some pocket grammar, English usage books for the college girls and English teachers which I know will be greatly appreciated and valued. The college girls have been a genuine pleasure to get to know even for such a brief time.
Last week in India
Went to Vizag with Sandhya to visit another children's home that Manasu supports, actually at present totally funds. Very different from Radha Kishan home as it's very small and much more personal as there are currently 21 girls. Some of them come from very sad backgrounds, including poverty and physical and sexual abuse. The good news is that the staff are fantastic and they all seem to be doing verywell. Yesterday we went on a day out with them to the Araku valley. They have only just started to go to school and have recently done their half year exams. This was their first big excursion and they were very excited!
The Araku valley is mountainous and consists of your typical windy roads. On arrival at the Borra caves seven of the children were feeling, and had been, sick. Bless them. But their spirits were up and they all enjoyed the caves. From there we went to a garden for picnic. Lovely food. The girls could then run around and play for few hours which all enjoyed. Genuine pleasure to see them having so much fun. From there it was another 3 hour journey back where the adults were all treated (!) to blaring loud music and bollywood dancing in the gangway of the bus. And no they didn't fall asleep until return. Great day.
I just wanted to send you a little note to tell you my experience in Vizag yesterday. The day started off very movingly as Praveen, the man who runs the Manasu Girls Home in Vizag took Sandhya and I to another project that he is working on with another NGO. They have set up a slum school as a pilot project with the hope that this can be implemented throughout Vizag. The number of slums in Vizag has increased dramatically in recent years due to people moving from the countryside to Vizag to try to get work and this would be a fantastic chance for children to get back into education. The 12 or so children here have either never been to school or have dropped out. Hopefully they will get the opportunity to return.
Of course looking at slums from rickshaw or taxi is not the same as walking through one and although the walk was all of a hundred metres as the school is near the entrance it is very different seeing the conditions up close. Everyone was very friendly and Sandhya and I received a warm welcome. I gave the children an impromptu English lesson which they thoroughly enjoyed. Sandhya has once again recorded this for posterity so hopefully those of you at the Square Mile can maybe see it. "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" is a sure-fire hit everywhere. The children went from looking at me with bewilderment (imagine crazy English woman jumping around pointing to things) to learning very rapidly and with obvious enjoyment. One of the highlights of my visit here.
The afternoon then got better as we went on to Manasu Girls Home laden with books, educational posters and games. I enjoyed myself immensely spending some of the money kindly given to me by my Square Mile colleagues and believe me it was greatly appreciated. The girls and workers loved them. This is the beginning of their library and their classroom is now adorned with great educational posters. Seeing their excitement and knowing how much it meant made coming here worthwhile in so many ways.
