Teaching - NEPAL Daily Life

A day in the life of a volunteer on a Nepal Teaching Project

An average day in Nepal began with the sound of tapping on my door, my alarm clock! The door would open and a cheeky grinning face would appear, wishing us a good morning. After being dragged out of bed by several children, I would head for the shower, a startlingly cold experience during the Kathmandu winter.

My accommodation was on the school premises. We lived with about 70 kids who either lived away from their parents or who were orphans, and it didn't take long before I felt like part of a large family with these friendly, inquisitive kids. Before assembly the morning was spent mainly chatting to them, making sure they were dressed properly and had cleaned their shoes and brushed their teeth.

School assembly began at around 9.30 am and was always outside with the kids lined up in their classes in height order. Assembly included a small warm up routine, the singing of the national anthem and the shouting of the school motto before the children's hands were checked fro cleanliness. After this the pupils would all frantically rush to their classes greeting us with an over-emphasized "good morning teachers" as they passed.

There was no average day of teaching at Anal Jyoti Secondary School; I taught classes with pupils from the age of 6 up to 17 and my timetable changed regularly. At first it was hard to prepare for such a different range of ages with such different levels of English and different interests, but I soon began to enjoy the challenge. The younger kids would prefer to play games and learn songs with movements to go with them. The grand old king of Nepal went down particarly well! The older pupils were more fascinated by Western Culture and especially our ideas of love. It surprised me at first but through discussions during classes I was able to get an insight to Nepali culture. A number of pupils knew by the age of 14 or 15 who they would marry due to the culture of arranged marriages found within Nepal. For them the concept of what they called a "love marriage" was novel and exciting and they were keen to know more, so by talking about it in English some of the lessons just made themselves.

At around mid-day we would have a break for lunch where we would be given the Nepali national dish of Dhal Bhat, a lentil curry with rice. The average Nepali will eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We only had it twice a day, and although some volunteers complained of the repetition, I really enjoyed it. The cook was most honoured when I had learnt enough basic Nepali to say "meeto cha!" which translated as tasty!

The afternoon would either be filled with teaching more classes or painting a government school up the road. This was a run down school with really poor lighting and it was hoped that a coat of white paint would at least make the learning environment better for the kids. It enabled us to meet the local painter who was always keen to get us to drink rice wine, play chess and sample Newari (the local caste's) food.

At 3.30pm our work day was over and we had some spare time to either plan lessons, read a book or more often than not, get involved with some other activities with the hostel kids. This ranged from Nepali dancing to volleyball or just helping the kids with their homework. Often we would go into the village and up to the local Buddhist temple where a local Buddhist monk was always very happy to chat about his beliefs and offer us the opportunity to visit temples and learn more about his religion. Although not a convert myself, it was fascinating to talk to this man who had some amazing stories and was always more than happy to answer any questions I had.

In the evening we would head back to the school for another portion of Dhal Bhat which by this time was very well received. We were usually in bed by 9, reading or listening to music.

The weekends were a great opportunity to share experiences with the other volunteers over a beer in Kathmandu.