We're now back at school after our long holiday and we've been thrown back into teaching. There is lack of teachers at school, so we've found ourselves teaching lots of lessons that we weren't really expecting! Last week I was asked to take 8th standard for Social Studies, so I decided to do some politics with them. After we'd talked about political parties and elections, I told them to get into groups and create their own political party with a name, list of promises and a speech. I said that we would vote for the best party after we had heard all of their speeches. The whole class got really into it and 7th standard, who share the classroom also got involved and created their own party. By the end of the lesson, our 3 parties were: The National Party of India, Deforestation and Save the Animals.
Over the next few days everyone got really excited about the idea of an election and before I knew it 2 girls had started 'The Times of Adams' with news about the election and the parties and everyone was making posters! It was decided that we would hold it in the playground, and all the pupils and teachers would gather to watch the speeches and then cast their vote.
We rehearsed the speeches in the playground and 2 girls took it upon themselves to be the anchor people, and wrote a script for what they would say between the speeches. We made a ballot box and lots of ballot papers, and on Saturday morning we gathered everyone outside. The parties gave their speeches and we handed out the ballot papers, explained what to do and everyone voted. Unfortunately, Vinay, the headmaster, missed it all and turned up just as we'd finished and asked if we could do it again for him, so we did it all twice!
The older children helped us to count the votes; The National Party of India had a clear victory. Their policies included: putting people in prison for a week for littering, giving free education to all children, free healthcare, supporting equal rights for girls and women, fighting against domestic abuse, providing a clean water supply for all and educating farmers so they can improve their productivity. It was incredibly well thought-out and the girls who spoke were so well prepared, I
was so impressed! After we'd announced the results, Vinay told me to speak to the children, so I told them how important it was for them to vote when they are 18 and how much of an impact the government has on our lives.
I'm really enjoying teaching again and hopefully I can put up some more posts about other things we've done in school before we leave.
Over the next few days everyone got really excited about the idea of an election and before I knew it 2 girls had started 'The Times of Adams' with news about the election and the parties and everyone was making posters! It was decided that we would hold it in the playground, and all the pupils and teachers would gather to watch the speeches and then cast their vote.
We rehearsed the speeches in the playground and 2 girls took it upon themselves to be the anchor people, and wrote a script for what they would say between the speeches. We made a ballot box and lots of ballot papers, and on Saturday morning we gathered everyone outside. The parties gave their speeches and we handed out the ballot papers, explained what to do and everyone voted. Unfortunately, Vinay, the headmaster, missed it all and turned up just as we'd finished and asked if we could do it again for him, so we did it all twice!
The older children helped us to count the votes; The National Party of India had a clear victory. Their policies included: putting people in prison for a week for littering, giving free education to all children, free healthcare, supporting equal rights for girls and women, fighting against domestic abuse, providing a clean water supply for all and educating farmers so they can improve their productivity. It was incredibly well thought-out and the girls who spoke were so well prepared, I
was so impressed! After we'd announced the results, Vinay told me to speak to the children, so I told them how important it was for them to vote when they are 18 and how much of an impact the government has on our lives.
I'm really enjoying teaching again and hopefully I can put up some more posts about other things we've done in school before we leave.
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