Our work in Bangladesh: -
After two weeks of orientation in Bangladesh we started work at AG Uttara School. Uttara is an area inside Dhaka about half an hour from where we are living in Mohakhali. The School in Uttara is one of 7 schools run by the AG church here in Bangladesh. In the morning, the school is a fee paying school with classes from play - class 4 and because this is fee paying, this helps finance and support the compassion (slum) schools which are held in the afternoon. In the mornings, we get up at 6 to leave for the bus at 6.45 which gets us to school on time. When we arrive at school after our bumpy ride, we share devotions with the staff at the school and then from 8.30 the first lesson starts and then lessons for the fee paying school run up until 12.30, so in total they have 7 lessons and these range from English, Maths, Drawing and Social Science.
From 12.00 - 1.30 the first of the compassion schools starts. There are four classes; Play, reception, class 1 and class 2. There are so many children in these classes it's sometimes hard to move. In each tiny classroom there can be anything from 30-50 children all of different ages and abilities, so as you can imagine it's very chaotic and can get rather noisy. When these children leave at 1.30 we get a quick break before the second session starts at 2. From 2-4.30 classses 3,4 and 5 then get taught English, Bangla, Maths and Social Science and then it's time for us to go home.
From 12.00 - 1.30 the first of the compassion schools starts. There are four classes; Play, reception, class 1 and class 2. There are so many children in these classes it's sometimes hard to move. In each tiny classroom there can be anything from 30-50 children all of different ages and abilities, so as you can imagine it's very chaotic and can get rather noisy. When these children leave at 1.30 we get a quick break before the second session starts at 2. From 2-4.30 classses 3,4 and 5 then get taught English, Bangla, Maths and Social Science and then it's time for us to go home.
In the first few weeks of being here, we mainly observed lessons and introduced ourselves to the children. Occassionaly getting 5-10 minutes to teach a class at the end of class. When we arrived, the school was having exams, so the teachers had to teach the subjects in order for the children to pass, and so because of this, we didn't really do any teaching...but we still had fun and enjoyed singing songs on request, even if they were songs like S-Club 7's 'Reach' and 'Doe a Deer.'
At the end of Novemeber we went down to Chandraghona and were therefore away from school for 3 weeks. At the same time however, the school closed for christmas break so we didn't actually miss any classes which was good. Over the christmas holidays, we prepared materials and posters for the school to use whilst teaching and to brighten up the classrooms and then, in early January we returned to the school the week before the kids did and we spoke to the head teacher about what we wanted to do in the new term. In that week, we decorated the classrooms with our posters, and even did 3 murals. (we're very experienced mural painters now as we also did one in Chandraghona for the childrens' ward - so we've all discovered a new talent.)
Since the 8th January, we've been back at the school with all the kids and it's been really great to see them all again and welcome the new kids into a nice bright school. Since being back we've had a greater involvement in teaching by leading full classes by ourselves (especially more so in the compassion schools) and we usually help in most English classes and some maths and drawing classes. We all teach individually and take classes ranging from play through to class 5, and although we're not qualified teachers at all, we feel we are really bringing something good to the school.
At the end of Novemeber we went down to Chandraghona and were therefore away from school for 3 weeks. At the same time however, the school closed for christmas break so we didn't actually miss any classes which was good. Over the christmas holidays, we prepared materials and posters for the school to use whilst teaching and to brighten up the classrooms and then, in early January we returned to the school the week before the kids did and we spoke to the head teacher about what we wanted to do in the new term. In that week, we decorated the classrooms with our posters, and even did 3 murals. (we're very experienced mural painters now as we also did one in Chandraghona for the childrens' ward - so we've all discovered a new talent.)
Since the 8th January, we've been back at the school with all the kids and it's been really great to see them all again and welcome the new kids into a nice bright school. Since being back we've had a greater involvement in teaching by leading full classes by ourselves (especially more so in the compassion schools) and we usually help in most English classes and some maths and drawing classes. We all teach individually and take classes ranging from play through to class 5, and although we're not qualified teachers at all, we feel we are really bringing something good to the school.
From the 20th January we will be starting our second main teaching project, which seems very weird to be starting now since we've already been here for three months, but we're really looking forward to it. We will be helping to teach English and computer classes at the Student Friendship Centre which is also run by the AG church like the school. Anna and Vicki will be teaching beginners and intermediate English to Uni students on a Tuesday and Thursday and me and Kirsty will be taking a computer class on a monday afternoon. For the time we're not at SFC we will still be going in pairs to Uttara School and continuing to teach our classes there. We're looking forward to it so much. It will be such a contrast teaching Uni students instead of small children but we're welcoming the differences and it's just another one of the many challenges that we will face whilst being here in Bangladesh. Working at SFC also brings a great advantage by being in the afternoons, this is because we finally get a lie in....YAY! People both at Uttara School and SFC have been so friendly and welcoming we're really enjoying all the work we're doing here even though it's very tiring. We've made so many friends and can't wait to tell you all about them when we're back in the UK.
