The Hope School

The Hope School in Hyderabad has about 200 children in pre-kindergarten through 4th grade. The school is located in a building and grounds about 100 by 100 feet. As may be obvious from the above photos, the kids are packed in pretty tight. There are 24 students in this room which is about 15 by 15 feet. In order to go to this school the family has to prove it is poor, which I am sure is  not difficult. In addition to English the students learn Telugu and Hindi.

I worked with the 4th grade class for a few months teaching English. I had to take an hour cab ride through crazy traffic so I have limited my visits to one afternoon a week. The teachers at this school are trying to move away from teacher directed instruction and towards a more student centered approach. I tried to do things in my lessons to model this but it was hard. The room was so small that it was hard to move the students  around and I stayed away from certain strategies because of it. There were computers at the school but not enough for all students to use. They did have some exposure to the technology.

I found the children to be a lot like kids in the U.S. The teachers at this school made the students write down homework assignments to make sure they completed them. The principal implemented a program to teach the parents in Telugu, Hindi and English so they would know what their children should doing in school. It was obvious to me that the principal and all of the teachers work very hard. I think most stayed at school until about 6:00 everyday and they work 6 days a week.

Going in just once a week I did not learn the students's names, but I certainly learned their personalities and learning styles. This age group was new for me and I enjoyed the fact that they were all eager to learn. I am not sure that I taught them very much, but I enjoyed the time I spent with them.