A Short Blurb: Goats, Oranges, and an English Education

A short blurb that I had to write for an upcoming Nepal Fulbright Newsletter, which  I figured I'd post on here as well!

 

Goats, oranges, and an English Education – three commonalities woven into my school and home stay placements in Gorkha, Nepal.

As is the Nepali way, love is shown through the amount of food you are given, or so says my large Gurung Nepali family. From mounds of rice to my family’s occupation of local chicken and goat butcher, love is readily available in all shapes and forms and is greatly welcomed (most days). This same message of love through food is echoed in my teaching placement at Shree Gorakhkali Swara Lower Secondary School where it is not uncommon for students to call me into the classroom during break, just long enough to secretly shove oranges in my pockets, and nudge me back out the doorway.

As for teaching English, there are constantly challenges to face, which are interspersed with numerous humorous and inspiring moments. Because my school serves a neighboring village, challenges range from the less threatening distraction of a goat waltzing into the classroom mid-lesson, to the more challenging topic of student absences due to helping out with fieldwork at home. As one can imagine, these make it very difficult to plan for or progress through any material. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, the rewards outshine any difficulties, and the students’ smiling faces and curiosity to learn always leave me yearning to return the next day.

Students posing with their new spiffy hats and sweaters given to them by donors from Kathmandu. It breaks my heart not to see them with their normally smily faces though!

Goofing around with their new hats!

Prabhat and Prakriti - brother and sister in grade 2. If you can't tell Prakriti has quite the little attitude. I know you're not supposed to choose favorite students, but it's hard not to when you have these two comedians in your class!