Tuition

I am sorry for my long absence from posting.  Things have gotten quite busy around here, and I am just not very good at finding time (or motivation) to write.  But I thought it would be a good idea to finally update you all on what I have been doing. 

First of all, my parents came for a visit which was wonderful.  My mom could only stay for 5 days, but my dad was here for almost 4 weeks.  It was really great to have them here.  We did some sightseeing, shopping, played games, and watched local football (soccer) games.  My dad also went hiking with Passang and some of our relatives almost every morning.  We can’t wait till they get to visit again!

However, the thing that has really been keeping me busy is teaching students every day.  I have started “tuition” classes here in our village.  “Tuition” is basically tutoring on steroids.  I am tutoring students, but I teach several together at one time.  In the morning I have about 13 students at one time, and in the evening I have up to 7. 

I am renting a room from my mother-in-law’s house where I have set up my little class room.  I have a small white board, plastic chairs for the students, one table, and a few decorations that I have made. 

Here is our tuition room

Passang, me, and our adorable nieces Kasis and Snowly hanging out in our tuition room.

Here’s my awesome whiteboard!

 

Here is the alphabet I made for our classroom.  When I first started tuition I had no printer so I drew all these pictures by hand.  My mom and dad bought us a printer when they were here as an early Christmas present, and I am SO thankful for it.

I teach three high school chemistry students so I have started a period table on one wall that we will slowly start filling in with all the elements.

Teaching so many students at one time is difficult and somewhat chaotic at times.  In the morning, my students range in grade level from Class 1 up to Class 10.  I help them with mostly English, Math, and Science.  Their skill levels are also quite varied.  For instance, my class 1 student, who attends a private school in the village below ours, can speak better English than some of my class 5 and 6 students who have always attended government school. 

Here I am with my mom helping some of my morning students.

Every day we change the date and weather together on this wall here.  All the students get really into it and beg to be the one who gets to make the changes.  Then they all yell out the date, day of the week, and weather after I say them.  

We also have math competitions once in a while.  I divide the class up into three groups based on grade and give them different problem sets.

The rest of our time together is spent with the students working on their work and me coming around to different students to help them as needed.  It is certainly a struggle, especially with the language barrier, but it’s been really fun to see them learning.  I have also had to learn SO much.  I have never really taught a class before, so I’m learning what things work (and don't work) for these students.

 

Here I am trying to help some of my evening students.

Passang and I are hoping to open up a school next to our house for the coming school year (starting in February).  Interacting with these local students has shown me so much about what I want (and do not want) our school to be like.  It is unfortunate that these students can’t excel in many areas simply because of the lack of good, native English-speaking teachers.  I don’t think that any of the teachers in the local schools are native English speakers.  Without a good English education, the students’ options in the future become really limited.  It even hinders their ability to work in other subjects areas such as math and science which are both typically carried out in English.  We hope to start improving the futures of at least some of the students around here by making sure they have a really good knowledge of English.  We have named our school Lillyfield Academy ;) and here is the logo we have designed for it.  We would greatly appreciate your prayers and support as we embark on this challenging adventure!