Day 2

Greetings to all our fans! 

Last night was certainly one to remember, between the car horns, the fireworks, the dog barks and not to forget our noisy air conditioning, we were restless. We got up at 6:30am for breakfast to begin at 7am.  We were somewhat apprehensive for the day to begin however we were all excited for our first day.

Group A (Lily, Sarah L, Grainne, Molly and Niamh) and Group B (Leah, Becca, Rosa, Sarah O'D and Katie) spent the day in St. George's school which is the local public school.  We taught 4 different classes, with the children ranging from 6-13 yrs old. We began at 9 o'clock and had two breaks throughout the day.  The minute we saw the children, we knew it would be a great day.  They gave us a warm welcome and couldn't stop smiling.

We didn't use our prepared lesson plans for the day as we were helping the children to prepare for their upcoming exams.  To our surprise, we were all challenged by their English grammar book. Our mass theme, 'In Teaching We Learn and In Learning We Teach' rang particularly true when we discovered the meaning of 'continuous past tense' and 'conjunctions'.  We were gifted with paper oragami birds and hand-drawn pictures.  'Cinderalla', (known as Sarah O' Duffy to some) stole the limelight with her long blonde hair.  She was demanded to make the rounds at almost every group. It was a great start to the teaching in St. George's and we're looking forward to tomorrow. 

Group C spent the day in the Mary Rice Centre, Dum Dum, where they worked one on one with children with intellectual disabilities. They also met the older students from St. George's, studying in Dum Dum, who are completing a state final exam. As the students were the same age as ourselves it gave us an insight into the differences between people so similar but in such different circumstances. 

We also took a trip to the local supermarket to stock up on supplies.  On the walk down we felt like celebrities, with every man, woman and child trying to shake our hand.  It was also shocking to see some of the street sleeping arrangements which is considered the norm in Kolkata.  The sheer number of people is most definitely eye-opening.  The hustle and bustle on the streets is nothing we have ever experienced before in Dublin.  To say it is a challenge to cross the streets without getting hit by two busses, a couple of cars, a motorbike and a rickshaw is an understatement.  Thankfully there have been no accidents... so far!!

Xxxxx