Yeah we are no less than Private school kids :-)

We believeOur school kids are no less than any Private school kids. Infact, they are much smarter than most of the kids at Private school.
Then why should they not dress to schools as these kids at private schools.
So we members of RIF along with Education co-ordinator decided to provide uniforms to Brindavan tent school kids.
On 29th August 2009, we distributed uniform kits to all the children.
Picture says it all..Kids were providedwith uniforms, belt, tie and colorfulbags :-)







Kids were waiting anxiously to collect their schoolunifrom kit.









We were more than happy to bring such smiles on these kids face.

See how happy the kids are..They are happily displaying their uniform kits :-)








That's the group photo of kids a week after unifrom distribution. Aren't they looking so cute?? Now I bet that its hard to believe that these are the kids from tent school.
They are so well dressed and definitely no less than any private school kids?? I hope you all agree with me!!!

Sense of Joy

"Miss please dont go"
"No Children, I need to leave.Now go have your food"
"No Miss. Please dont leave. You can have rice and sambar with us. Then you tell us another story"


These were the dialogues between kids and me on last saturday when I was about to leave the school. I was feeling very happy. Only such moments can give one a sense of satisfaction. I was truly happy for two reasons.First that I had built good bonding with kids within a short period of time and second I had finally discovered teaching method that kids as well as I enjoyed.


From the day I Joined RIF ,I have tried all methods and techniques to make my teaching effective. Few of my friends have tried too. But nothing seemed to work fine. We were clueless with two hours that we get in a week how would we teach kids effecively. From past two weeks I'm glad that kids are learning whatever taught as well as enjoying. Thanks to teachers of Chikkalsandra Govt school. headmistress of the school guided me. At first I was doubtful about the possiblity but I thought let me give a try and result was splendid.


I have started communicating with kids in english. At first they wont follow. I translate it for once. Then I tried to communicate the same words over and over with action. More than writing or making them to read,teaching through actions works fine.


I'm not sure why am I writing this blog. May be its the sense of joy or satisfaction that I experienced. I'm eager to meet the kids coming saturday and I'm sure even kids will be eager to meet me..

My first class

I never wanted to be a teacher. An archeologist, astronaut, train driver, even engineer (yes, I know I am boring because eventually I fulfilled that 'goal') but not a teacher in my wildest dreams. When I was in school, I always looked down upon most of my teachers since they used to be the butt of all our nasty jokes. So you can very well imagine what crossed my mind when I stepped into class to teach a room full of little energized tykes.

I was their Art teacher. I mentally pictured Aamir Khan gliding into the room dressed as a clown in 'Taare Zameen Par' and capturing every kids` attention instantly. In sharp contrast, I ventured nervously and wondered how in the name of heaven was I to attract their attention. I requested them to stay quiet - Oh don't laugh, I was trying to be a paragon of virtue ! :-) Obviously they didn't even give me a glance and continued shouting, playing, beating and pinching each other. I raised my voice slightly and managed to silence 2 kids. Hopeful now, I walked around the class for 20 minutes ordering them - 'Finger on your lips' , 'Sit straight' , 'Go and sit in your place' and I was able to get the class to certain sane levels of civilization. Mission 1 accomplished. Teacher was far from fresh.

My students were aged between 8 and 14. This was a Government Tent School and the kids were fluent in Kannada and spoke sparing English. I, on the other hand spoke sparing Kannada and good English. Not a really good start, yes! With a lot of difficulty the books, pencils and colours were produced. I started drawing a cricket bat and there was sudden silence. As I was finishing, all the kids shrieked - " Bat bat bat missss !!!! " Giving them a broad smile, I told them to start drawing in their books. Instantly , all heads bent down and the bat was copied with utter concentration. Have you ever seen tiny tots copying anything? They will do it with perfection - the bat could be drawn with few strokes but even if a single stroke exceeded the calculated length, they will erase it and resume :-) It is endearing. Try and observe next time. They coloured it and clamoured for my attention thrusting their book into my face for approval. Some kids wouldn't take their book back unless I signed off with 'Very good'. Which I love doing - I even add stars and smileys !! Why not ?? ;-)

I drew a few more simple things which they obediently replicated in their notebooks and coloured it brilliantly - A dog, India Flag, Car, Pine-apple. Everytime I started , all the kids would stare at the board wide-eyed and attempt to outbeat one another by guessing what I was drawing. Competitive spirit sets in early truly. Art class is one where the kids never get bored. I don't take any credit here, I think generally all kids enjoy toying with colours. I speak from experience because I sure did !! Finally I drew a cat. All the kids chorused - " BEKKU BEKKU " !!! I heard it as " Ducku Ducku ". Staring hard at my cat , I tried to figure out why the kids were calling it a Duck. I erased the cat and re-drew. Again the same chant - "BEKKU BEKKU ". I was stumped for a minute and my friend came to my rescue by explaining that Cat in Kannada is Bekku. It was enlightening to me , not to mention embarassing ! :-)

I am only a part-time teacher but I am truly happiest when I am surrounded by these little angels who really deserve a better life. I shall write my other experiences with these kids and fellow volunteers as every single one of them deserves a mention!

Posted by Rohitha Bhushan

http://sothisishowyoublog.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-first-class.html

Back to school

Hello Guys....Schools are open. Hmm....Missed the kids as well as fun for the last two months.
How strange...Few years back we used to cry when summer holidays are over, but now feel so happy. After 2 long months I was visiting school. The only pain part is riding all the way to the school. Anyways no pain no gain always. We (Viju, Guru, Rohitha, Sowmya and myself) reached the school around 9.30. We got a warm welcome from the kids with their loud "Good Morning" wish. Our good old Renuka (pessi) teacher welcomed us with her big broad smile ;-)

It was most satisfying to know few smart goods who are good at studies had moved to government school. It was overwhelming to see that the parents of the these tent school kids who were reluctant to send their kids to school had finally realized the importance of education.
Kudos to parents, teachers and all my friends who have been with RIF. Not to forget the kids...
I personally felt very satisfied. Our efforts have started giving fruits. Since all talented kids had moved to their new destination room was filled with lot of new faces. A new set of task for us to broom these new set of saplings.

After a break...Definitely neither we were in a mood to teach nor the kids were in a mood to learn. we all know it was time for fun. We decided to play games. As always kids wanted to play kabbadi boys v/s girls. Viju mentoring girls team (as always ;-) and guru mentoring namma hudguru. Since most of the strong girls were missing ,girls team was weak. our good friend viju started his motivational sessions , infact he got so indulged he was mentoring the kids as if we were playing at national level. He had become Mr.kabir Khan(Chak de) on that day. Ofcourse, he wasnt playing a fair game and our poor boys had few good players but lacked motivation from the mentor. The mentor (Guru) was very disturbed with the unfair game played by viju and his chakde team. Finally viju declared his team as winners after the arrival of Mr.KanthRaju.

It was fun, viju was lost in game. We taught kids to cheer, boo..and hi five. I was tired.
Few others too. We had to leave to see the new school at Malleshpalya.

I shall talk about the new school in my next blog.

Keep reading and kindly pass on your valuable comments. It would be very motivating for us to continue with our work.