Changing the World? Take 1

अगर मैं दुनिया में एक चीज़ सुधर पाता तो…The kids offer up some suggestions (in Hindi) of what they would change if they could change ONE thing in the world.

Introductions Part II!

Well, we’ve had massive technical difficulties in the past few days; the computers hadn’t arrived (still haven’t), and we’re making do with the older computers, only one of which turns out to be hooked up to the internet (and it has been down!). So I saved some of the boys’ write ups on a flash drive, and here’s a glimpse. The boys are introducing themselves with some of their favorite things (and some things they dislike!). These are the raw first drafts of how they will introduce themselves on their own posts, once we get things settled:

My name is Biplab.
I am 12 years old.
I live in Noida.
I study in a Public school.
My favorite color is red.
My favorite god   is all gods.
My favorite game is football.
My favorite food is Maggie.
My favorite fruit is mango.
My favorite subject is English.
My favorite story is Birbal’s khichri.
My favorite hobby is dancing.
My favorite film star is   Hrithik.
My favorite  drink  is  milk
My favorite  flower is lily
I  don’t like  cursing
I  don’t  like washing  clothes
I  don’t like  picking up  garbage
I  don’t  like  brinjal
I  don’t  like tomato chatni
I  don’t  like  singing
I  don’t  like   pig
I  don’t  like  noida
I   don’t  like  roohafza
My favorite [hobby] is  reading
My favorite friend  is  jayanto
My  favorite animal is  tiger
My favorite vegetable

My  name is  Rohit.hassan.
I am 11 years old.
I live in Noida.
I study in 7 class.
My favorite colour is red .
My favorite  god is VIVEKANANDA.
My favorite game is football.
My favorite food is dosa.
My favorite fruit is apple.
My favorite subject is ENGLISH.
My favorite story is BIRBAL’s KHICHRI.
My favorite  HOBBY is SWIMMING.
My favorite filmstar is GANESH.
My  favorite film is DON.no.1.
My favorite  DRINK is MILK.
My favorite  flower is ROSE
I don’t like cursing
I don’t like crying
I don’t like  ROOAFZA
I don’t like  Picking up the garbage
I don’t  like dal

My  name  is  vishal
I  am  11  years  old
I  live  in  Noida
I  study  in  six  class
I  study  R.K.P.H   public  school
My  favorite  colour  in  red
My  favorite  god  is  hanuman
My  favorite  game  is  football
My  favorite  food  is  Maggie
My  favorite  fruit  apple
My  favorite  subject  is  english
My  favorite  story  is  birbal’s   khichuri
My  favorite  hobby  is  dancing
My  favorite  film  star  is  hrithik
My  favorite  movies  is  sing  is  king
My  favorite  drink  is  sprite
My  favorite  flower  is  jasmine
I  don’t  like  picking  up  garbage
I  don’t  like  sweeming
I  don’t  like  cursing
I   don’t  like  brinjal
I   don’t  like  tomato
I   don’t  like   washing  clothes
I   don’t   like  rice
I    don’t  like  sweets
I     don’t  like  sweeper road.

The Chair-Table Experience!

Yes, as the earlier post announced with great happiness, the chairs and tables ARRIVED! Here’s a few pictures from yesterday’s study session:

Picture!!!!

The younger kids huddle around for Story Time!

Helloooo!

They ARRIVED!

They arrived! If you haven’t been following this blog closely…well, I mean the tables and the chairs arrived. More soon…but check out the reaction of the kids to the arrival: priceless!

Yay!!!!

I think this even calls for headstands!!!!!!!!

Hands up in the air in celebration!!!!!

“See you tomorrow!”

….why it is SO hard to leave the kids every night…:)

The Waiting Game

Well, no project goes as smoothly as we intend it to! The chairs and tables haven’t yet arrived, so the kids and I are still making do with studying on the floor…the furniture guy has been promising for DAYS that it’s going to arrive, but no luck. We ordered the computers, and they’re allegedly going to arrive Thursday. The problem is, we need the tables to place the computers on! We’re really hoping to have everything set up by the end of this week…

Apart from the logistical issues, things have been going rather slowly: the orphanage has fewer kids these days-some of the kids have gone to their villages for a short break. The remaining kids and I have been working on English lessons around school vocabulary. They’ve been doing worksheets, dictation, and making sentences out of the given vocabulary. I have also taken to speaking in the TL (target language, English) more and more. The boys were a little confused initially, but they’re beginning to enjoy it. Their comprehension is really good; but when it comes to having to produce any English, they’re not very confident.

Today we also had a lovely lady who visited the orphanage for the first time. She doesn’t live too far away and came with some delicious food and drinks for the kids. She was very tender with the kids, and they immediately took to her, quickly getting over their initial shyness. Pics below! Come show us some comment love!

I found a froggie!

The kids huddle to do an ESL worksheet

Check out this book!

The kind lady came bearing goodies!

डैनी भय्या, Our Special American Visitor!

Today the orphanage received a VERY special guest, Daniel Solomon, an anthropology doctoral student from the United States. He came and spent some time with the kids, speaking to them in Hindi and English. Danny explained (using a globe) where he came from, and engaged the students in discussions about the kinds of sports and games people play in the United States, making good use of a whiteboard. The children had questions for Danny about his family, his work in India, and what he was studying. When Danny left, the kids kept asking him to return tomorrow: “डैनी भय्या कल आयेंगे, ना?”! We are VERY hopeful he’ll be back soon!

Here’s a short video clip of Danny showing where he lives and his family lives, and then a small gallery of photos for the visit.

Danny looking at the kids’ textbooks

The kids see on the globe where America is.

Using an atlas!

More globe fun stuff!

How is cricket like baseball?

Baseball, cricket, golf, hockey!

Danny’s monkey story!

Painted Walls!

BEFORE:

The altar looks forlorn…

Painting materials

The side wall’s a mess!

Pre-painting

AFTER: The painting’s done! Much better, huh? We’re waiting to go ahead and get the tables and chairs so the kids can get started studying with a little more comfort!

The walls in the basement are painted...

Lookin’ GOOD!

Some damp patches, they'll be gone soon....

Introducing the boys…

So, after the day’s study session, during which we did some exercises with school vocabulary, and story time, most of the boys ran upstairs to watch an Indian cartoon, a version of the Hindu epic, the Ramayana (रामायण). A few of the boys lingered, when I asked them to introduce themselves on camera. Here’s the short clip, enjoy! The clip contains Hindi and English.