We arrived in Chennai late at night and we were taken to our lovely home stay; the home of Tilaka. After catching up on some much needed sleep we met with Maria; the principal of the school we were volunteering at. She explained that the government had decided to not open schools in Tamil Nadu until the 15th June. However this meant that we got two weeks of working in two different children's hostels.
Our first day of volunteering was spent in a hostel close to our home stay. We were greeted by smiling faces and introduced to all the children and staff members. We were to teach maths and english to jog their memories before they started school. It was strange to break the English down and teach it, as it is natural to us. We are now experts in Phonics! The kids were really willing to learn and after the lessons we would sit down with them and enjoy some delicious home cooking; chappatis being our favourite! We were told that we would be working here Mondays and Tuesday and at another home from Wednesday to Friday.
On Wednesday morning we were picked up by Peter, the social worker for our placement school. He gave us the option of bus or bike, obviously we chose the latter! After the exciting journey to the hostel, Peter showed us around the children's living space. We were then thrown into birthday celebrations which was fantastic. No teaching today, just fun and games along with some delicious cake! All the children were really sweet ranging from the age of 4 to 16.
As the two weeks of working in the homes went by, we grew closer to the children and began to notice an improvement in their ability and confidence. They all kept saying how much they were excited to start school, which made us realise how important their education is to them. It was really interesting to hear their answers when we asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up, they all said that they wanted to help others especially the less fortunate ones.
School eventually began! Everyday we would walk to the nearest hostel where we would pile in an auto with 7 children. A bit of a squeeze! Winding through all the back streets and little communities of Chennai, we were taken to the bus stop. We got the bus to the school which was on the outskirts of the city.
Our first role in the school was more focused on reading and taking small reading groups from varied classes. We also got involved with helping the teachers prepare worksheets and other things alike on the computer. The kids were all very lively and enthusiastic about reading with us.
Sadly one of the teachers became ill and therefore the school needed a replacement teacher - this is where we jumped in! We became the new 4th standard teachers for the last two and a half weeks of our placement. At first it was a bit overwhelming as we were teaching all subjects from Maths to Science to Art. It was very tiring and sometimes the children weren't best behaved. However, after a couple of days they came around and we all started to enjoy being in the classroom; so much so that in break times they didn't want to leave so we ended up playing games and drawing throughout the day.
Most of all, we enjoyed watching the kids develop their ability. We were able to see them improve mainly in their English which was brilliant. They are all such lovely children and each one of them has definitely touched our hearts.
The school gave us a lovely send off on our final day. We were very sad to leave and hope to return to the school and Chennai in the near future.
Izsy & Robyn