Wednesday, November 10, 2010

New Perspectives..

Week 2 has begun with much more anticipation and grace from my end. I
was excited to get on the buses, see the children, see the work and
just have some good times.

From this week will see me doing 2 training sessions per week for all
the teachers. My aim is to keep it light, vision filled and refreshing
because I know that the last things the teachers want to do after a
big day on their bus, is to come back and sit down and have to
concentrate again. So on Wednesday I will take the first session, and
we will talk about memorable teachers, how to interact so you will be
memorable, speaking value into these precious children and just
generally being Jesus to them. My intent is to keep them positive
about what they're doing and knowing that the sacrifices they make are
changing lives. So I would appreciate that you would pray that they
would have ears to hear and that I can speak into their lives.

From there, my intent over the next few sessions is to give them more
practical ideas for games, songs and interactive activities that will
help build relationships between the teacher, but also between the
children. The major thing that I have noticed is that the children
don't know how to play together or work together so I think that is a
major challenge for them.

Next I will spend some time on planning, giving them more strategies
to be able to teach these kids. Since the teachers have no formal
training, they don't have prior knowledge to lean on. I hope to give
them skills to be able to think outside the box and also to rely on
each others strengths and to help each other plan.

Rajesh, who is the Vision Rescue director, really wants me to be able
to address getting a balance between having fun, being interactive and
also the learning that needs to take place so I think that all the
things I will be touching on will bring a good balance for them.

With some of the money that has been donated, I am making phonics
packs for the buses as they are teaching them English through phonics.
I will be purchasing items that will mean their lessons are more
interactive and child centred rather than teacher directed. I am also
going to be buying tape measures and rulers for every bus, and enough
to share between 2, as their maths programme is also very teacher
directed, and hopefully measurement will be within their comfort
levels to teach, stretch them a little, but also really bless the kids
to have something hands on. They have no Hindi picture books so I will
be buying around 25 to share between the buses that can be rotated, as
we all know, story is such a brilliant way to capture childrens hearts
and minds. There are a few other things that I intend to buy as well,
but I will give the remainder of the money that is left over to Pastor
Biju at the end of my trip which will bless them.

So with all that in mind, I ask you to continue to pray, read and ask
God to be with me as I do this stuff.

On a daily basis, it is still intense because for 8 hours a day we
drive into the most perverse and sickening way of living and no human
on the face of this planet should have to live, breath, eat and
function in this way. It saddens me that literally millions, in this
city alone, live in such a way.

So there you have it!

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