To Teach and Learn

Today, one of my students asked me why did poets write poems in languages that were difficult for the students to understand. He said, "Why didn't the poet use simple/straight forward language?" It was a straight forward question and I tried my best to satisfy him with an answer. I told him to compare two sentences:   "I miss you"    "I miss you like the dry earth misses the fresh showers of spring. " I asked him which one did he like. He said that he liked the second sentence. I asked why and he said the second sentence was more beautiful and I asked him why again and he said because the second sentence was talking about spring.  Then I told him to close his eyes and listen to the second sentence when I read it. I asked him what pictures did he imagine when he heard the words. He told me that he saw the rain in the spring. I asked him what else did he see and he said, "flowers". I told him to imagine the rain on his face ...

I have always loved poetry. My all-time favorite is Ulysses by Tennyson. At the moment I am teaching 'We are Seven' by William Wordsworth and it is a joy to read it aloud with my students. Every word conjures pictures so vivid that I can't help but live the moments and sing the song. Before reading the poem, my students wrote their own poem on the title 'We are seven' and that was an overwhelming experience to draw the pictures with their words. Pictures of seven stars that wrote, pictures of seven friends they spoke, and pictures of the seven beautiful colors of the rainbow arched over snow-capped mountains and the wide-open sky did they draw. It is a beautify poem, 'We are Seven', the simplicity with which Wordsworth touches on the subtle pleasure of being innocent and living in ignorance of death and the bliss that follows. We Are Seven BY  WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ———A simple Child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every l...

In one of my classes, we were discussing commitment and bonding in the story, Bluffing, by the Canadian writer Gail Helgason. In the story, the two main characters come across a grizzly bear. They face it together but one runs aways and we were later discussing which character was more committed to their relationship. With this, there was brainstorming and sharing of understandings of bonding and commitment. One of my students wanted to share a story he heard. He didn't go into the details but said that a father and a son can kill a bear but not two friends. He said since there was a stronger bond and commitment between the father and the son, they would not abandon each other but the friends may only think about themselves and render themselves vulnerable to an attack. So, a father and son can kill a bear but not two friends. I never heard the story/saying before but I felt its message was very augmenting to the values that enrich our lives. I am very happy that I have stud...

Winter vacations are good times. They give me moments where my time is not controlled by the bell. A time to be with my family, a time to set aside time and forget it doing things I love doing. But in the middle of forgetting the time I can’t forget that I don't get to do the one thing that I love doing: being back in school, teaching. So, here are some good reasons why I want to be back in school. Reasons: 1. For the Attention I can never ignore the tremendous attention I get from my students when I am in the classroom. I never lose my audience. It is one of the best reasons why I want to go back. 2. For Feeling Useful When I am in the classroom I feel useful. I feel useful to my young friends and myself. Almost every day I go home with a feel of “time well spent”, every day I teach and I learn. 3. For More Laughter I also realized after much contemplation that I get to laugh more when I am with my students. They have never failed to appreciate m...

I met many challenges, many I never anticipated as a teacher. But at the top of the list, without any doubt will be teaching how to write an argumentative essay. I had no idea but I had to teach it, it was totally frustrating and scary at that time. The English curriculum was new and so was I. But that was not the problem, the problem was no getting any help because most teachers were new to the curriculum and the orientation program missed the teachers at PHSS. The scariest situation for a new teacher is letting your guard down, in this case, mine was having no idea about the essay and hoping my students would not ask me about it every day. The teacher's guide (BHSEC English) didn't help because it doesn't have even the slightest diminutive tip/hint on the essay. The essays given for study in the textbook were confusing. And I cursed the damn essay/s and the people who wanted teachers to teach this essay. I later found out the curriculum specialist themselves (national)...

The Bhutanese have a superstition that certain women have negative spirits (cultural gender discrimination).  These bad spirits are called soendae. The soendae live within a person and thrive when they are able to make other people sick. The person who is the host has little knowledge of the negative spirit living within her. When a soendae has visited a person, that person becomes sick or sometimes even die if the remedies are not carried out in time. When one washes his or her body with a herb called tsoe (rubus), scratches appear on the part of the body that has been exposed to the soendae . In certain parts of Bhutan, it is also believed that the soendaes maneuver in the form of small flames, hopping and wiggling from place to place. And if one is brave enough to whack it with a stick, the host becomes sick the next day. Bruises appear from the beating received. It is also believed that soendaes have groups and they sit for meetings before they proceed wi...

Now that winter has come, I like the cold weather while teaching. The cold weather is my ally in the classroom. The cold keeps my students awake and active and it, in turn, keeps me energized. I tell my students that we draw our enthusiasm for the lesson from each other. Though teachers and students volley the lesson's mood and progress, the teacher has the maximum strike. If they look dead it sucks the energy out of me but if I am dead then there is no other ignition to light up the fire in the classroom. If I see my students cold and shivering but very alive, it gets me going. That is why the cold is good in the classroom because it eases my effort. It an oxymoronic idea to have the students feel cold and fire at the same time. So, the Cold creeps into my classroom and I welcome it. It sits on a chair and is with us. Some of the boys wrap their kabneys around their bare knees as the Cold comes and caresses them. The caressing is kind in a strange way. It doesn't have the w...