https://vimeo.com/154881905

TY travelled to Jharkhali via Kolkata to deliver a novel English language course. The site was a school John Scottus TY teams built over several years in response to an invitation to Mr Alexander by Loreto nun Sr. Cyril (Irish Times article). Indeed the final phase was completed by Mr R Kortenhorst just before our TY group arrived with their team of Loreto girls from Kolkata. The most able children from local schools were selected to attend intensive spoken English classes delivered by TY and Loreto, these children are to return to their schools and teach their peers what they have learned. In this way the program will have much larger reach.

Here is a report from Persephone on her teaching experience in India.

“Teaching in Jharkhali has been an amazing experience. In the beginning I found it challenging. The kids were very very shy and I didn’t know how to get the English out of them. But as the days went on, with the help of the Loreto girls, teaching became more natural. I was more relaxed and so were the children, putting up their hands and coming up to the board in confidence. Every day after school they would come up to me eager to talk. On a few occasions I went to their homes where I would be lovingly greeted by their families and offered snacks like chai and samosa. At the start I didn’t really look forward to teaching as it was hard to plan and structure lessons but by the end I was just wishing I had more time with my students.”