At School

Today Ila had her second day of going to first grade here in India. She seems to like it. Meantime, Kavi went to pre-K, though he didn't have as much staying power.

At Vikasa Vidya Vanam school, the kids in the primary grades have half day instruction in Telugu, their native tongue, and half day instruction in English. This is highly unusual for a private school. Typically the only schools that have any instruction in Telugu at all are the government run public schools, whose job is to impart some basic literacy to poorer students.

So Ila has been attending the morning session, in English. Meantime, Gopal and I had some meetings with the teachers about education. We tried to leave Kavi in the preschool, but he kept getting lonely and having to come out with us.

From two days ago, here is Kavi and Strahlia in the pre-K class. Jini and Strahlia left India today. Kavi keeps asking where Strahli is (and what she will eat.)

VVV is a very special school in many ways and also unique here in India. There is a very warm atmosphere. The kids say it's a great school because they have more freedoms, they can be friendly with their teachers, they have small group instruction and project based learning, and best of all, the teachers don't hit kids.

In addition to that, their school day lasts from 8 or 9 until just 4:30. At most schools around here these days, they are keeping kids in school from 8 am until 8 pm! Actually, I just asked Virinchi (Kavi's favorite person in India) and he says one residential school he attended had study hour until 10:30 pm and they had to wake up at four am.

We have also visited another alternative school called Vidhyarthi. We had some interaction with the students, then they performed songs and dances. They also gave us some of their handicrafts.

Today when I thanked Ila's teacher for having her in class, she said, "Don't say thanks, she is our child." How sweet is that? People don't like it if you say thank you too much. They feel it is their duty to take care of guests, so why would we thank them?

I learned recently that the Telugu word for guest, "athidhee" means literally "one who comes anytime, unannounced." This is part of the whole philosophy of life here.

Kavi's favorite thing about India: rough play with big kids.