Arriving at school this am we were swarmed by laughing smiling kids in bright clean uniforms. Phil and I had spent considerable effort last night( with an assist from Shari) planning our classes. Our kindergarten class started with conversation: what did you have for breakfast? To which the first several kids replied:"I am 5 years old", parroting yesterday's conversation! Lesson learned: repetition is the key to success, the 5 classes flew by rapidly with many renditions of Old McDonald had a Farm and the Hokey Pokey, phil taught grammar and geography as well as a bit about snow sports. Cat in the Hat was a huge hit with the 4th grade set. These kids are eager and excited but their learning has primarily been by memorization. We hope to help with pronunciation and conversation
as well as writing.
Meantime Jane has been enjoying her classes at her school while Kathy and Marty have been sweating it out preparing outside walls at SEAM home for painting. Despite the heat and hard work as well as chaos with the kids, everyone's maintaining a great attitude.
After school the team headed out into Chennai to go to the government run arts cooperative. Suffice to say that a couple of hours later Phil and I retur to the guest house with 4 full shopping bags. Phil had to nap to recover while I went out to explore the local neighborhood a bit more. For a huge and bustling city I found nothing but warm greetings and helpful hands.
With love to all of you from Chennai
Barbara
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