Beyond Words

So remember when I told you that my mom would eventually get tired of seeing my face around the house? Yeah well, that happened barely 4 days after my break ( post exams) commenced.  So much for a staycation, amirite? And so that’s how I started my internship at Sharada Trust as an elocution teacher.

For the uninitiated, Sharda Trust a Arvind Group Initiative, based out of Ahmedabad and works for upliftment of urban poor in the areas of Basic Infrastructure, Health care and Education, inter alia.  

I always thought that teaching was a demanding profession but, holy cow! on the very first day, I was tasked  with  shortlisting  students to teach elocution which triggered memories of my own school days when we used to get all excited and pumped up whenever teacher informed us about some inter house / inter school competition and became super competitive during its selection. It tested already fragile friendships and well, some survived most didn’t (I might have been a tad dramatic 😅)So I selected students by making them  recite a poem which I memorised due to repeated trials.

Vividly remembering my first day ....I was so nervous! When I met the class, the first sentence out of my mouth was  not call me teacher but Didi because, come onnn! I am barely 5 years elder to them. Teacher makes me feel like a grandma (from our later interactions, they did make me feel like a grandma, just, in different ways). But well, most of them were really hyped up at the prospect of elocution that even I was surprised (at their age, I couldn’t even spell the word. Gosh, I write like a grandma now🤦‍♀️). Honestly, throughout the internship, I think i was the one who learned more than the kids I taught! I would like to highlight 4 major aspects of the project-

1. The Bhasha Barrier-  The first obvious concern was that most of the kids were more comfortable conversing in vernacular (Gujarati). See, the thing with me and Gujarati is that I can understand and write (illegibly) but my speaking skills need some brushing up. Mind you, I did try to speak Gujarati in my school days but all my friends told me that my speaking made them forget their own Gujarati (their mother tongue btw). So, from then on I decided to spare myself that embarrassment told everyone i didn't speak Gujarati. But what i, like a mastermind didn't tell them (more like, forgot because of my bundle of nerves) is that i do understand it. Oh the shock on their faces (the kids) when i was able to foil any  bunking  plans and give a tit for tat response in perfectly broken gujarati! But putting aside  petty matters, we did manage  with  a mix of Hindi and Gujarati and, by the end, i surprised myself with a pretty good pronunciation of a few sentences (namely 'maam aane jo ne!' 'maam aa mane heran kare che!')

2. The brilliant breakthrough - I finally realised why people consider teaching to be so rewarding. Quite a few kids were nervous and had stage fright in beginning but once they started reading their speech with a bit more confidence than the previous class, their stuttering reduced to just a few words and they smiled brightly after finishing, what a win it was! Honestly, it was amazing!

3. Annoyingly amusing antics- At my school, our teachers used to tell us ki 'tumse jyada disciplined toh sixth grade ke baache hai' to scold us into silence. But the kids i was teaching were in 6th/7th standard. The famous 'pin drop silence' line didn't work on them either. Now i was  perplexed  but then  pulled out the mom card- 'Chup chap karlo warna do keench ke padeinge'. And that was a game changer. Gotta admit that their witty banter, jokes and sudden hand wrestling was amusing (but not the physical fights, this ain't wwe kiddos).

4. Who’s teaching who- Man, at times I was left wondering who the teacher was. Between all the gujarati lessons i was receiving and slang sessions (i was apparently out of date with latest trend) and their opinions on their speeches, there were definitely times when i considered putting down the marker and picking up a notebook. But, all jokes and sarcasm aside, i felt really happy that they felt comfortable to be themselves around me. Of course that meant they tried to order me around too but honey, I graduated from the very department they have just entered. Pouts, puppy dog eyes and screams don’t work on me (tears do though, thank god they didn’t find out!)

There was a lot of mischief, impromptu wrestling and karate (if you can call it that) sessions, (very) awkward pauses and loads of tea spilled about each other. But I guess, that was part of what made it so fun. We mainly used topics relating to nature as our topics of conversation so I learnt more about water conservation and the importance of trees than I had in school (I feel really sorry for my social studies teacher).

Then came my last days which was when I organised a competition. It functioned on a lot of competitiveness (unsurprisingly), promise of chocolates and the threat of loosing marks over discipline which surprisingly worked.. for a while. They did give it their all (even if they did try to throw each other under the bus for more marks) and it was quite smooth sailing, all things considered.

I learnt that elocution isn't always about giving speeches, preaching what you do (or don't) believe in. It's so much more. It’s about finding the courage to speak, to be heard, and to share your unique voice, even if it's a little bit like a dying duck learning to sing opera. Despite the occasional phonetic chaos, and my frequent internal debates about whether I was teaching elocution or a wrestling, it was a great learning experience. My students, initially hesitant, began to find their voices and me, an initially impatient and anxious teacher, began to practice patience and reigning in my temper while becoming comfortable around them. 

Fun fact-It was also my first time using the metro for travel and entering and exiting a crowded coach.. A real taste of India.....  I then had to walk for 10-15 minutes to reach my destination. So, it also helped me complete my goal of reaching 10000 steps a day  (this was the first  time i  managed to keep my new years resolution atleast for a month!). 

Overall, it was a unique blend of chaos and creativity which will  remain imprinted in my mind for years to come.  Do share your experiences with ngos and elocution. On an unrelated note, my birthday is coming up soon, so look forward to rants about bills and gst :> See ya!