Education as Eyes for Society

School runs from Sunday through Friday, with Friday being only half-a-day.  Depending on how many classes you will be teaching and in which periods, you will surely be up by 8 am.  All family members wake up at or about 5 am, but you can sleep in if you want to. 

You usually have tea first thing in the morning, before bathing and getting ready.  You then eat your first meal of rice at around 8.30 am (later on Saturdays) and join the students after that for games.  The students start arriving as early as 8.30 am, although school doesn't start until 10

The first bell rings at 9.45 for assembly.  This is the time when all the students must be on school grounds to line up in front of their teachers and recite the morning prayer.  The students must wear a uniform, consisting of a blue checker shirt, a red tie, brown trousers for the boys, and a brown skirt for the girls.  During assembly, they all must check their dress to make sure all their clothes are in order before school starts.  Some of the older students also do presentations in front of their fellow classmates, which they have studied and prepared in their English class.

School then starts, with seven periods of 40 minutes each, interrupted by one morning break, lunch, and an afternoon break.  There are classes from 1st to 8th grade, but also kindergarten and nursery.  Given that the level of English of the younger students is low, you will be teaching to the older ones, most likely to the 6th-8th graders.  They are quite fluent in English and easily understand our volunteers.

Although Nabin is a private school, it must still follow the Government Curriculum, which includes classes in Nepali, Science, Math, Health, Social Studies, Environmental Studies, and of course, English.  You will be teaching English Grammar and English Literature from the school books.  It's up to you how you want to teach and how much homework you want to give to the students.  It's also up to you whether you want to prepare, give the monthly tests, and the three yearly exams.

You can also teach other subjects, depending on your field of education.  Some of our previous volunteers have taught Science, Art and Music.  The kids really enjoy doing extra-curricular activities.  Drawing is their favourite, but you can also teach them how to sing, how to play the flute, how to dance, how to paint, or how to sculpt.  The Principal and the Vice Principal will be more than happy to arrange a schedule of extra-curricular activities during school time, or you can always teach such classes after school ends.  We had a volunteer from Italy who had a steady group of students attending a music class every day after school, and even when school was closed for holidays.

Once all the students have left, you can relax and enjoy your free time.  The village is quite small, but there are endless walks you can take to explore its surroundings.  Your host family has a TV with some English channels, or you can help your host mother cook while practicing your Nepali.  On Fridays, school ends before lunchtime, and you have more time to yourself to venture off to other places in the valley if you want. 

Saturdays are your days off.  This is when you can go to Kathmandu or Bhaktapur to catch up on your email, or visit the many temples and palaces of the valley.  It's a short weekend, but you will surely be happy that a new week of teaching will start.  You are going to love the kids!