Indian Ground Team Conducts ‘Effective Teaching of English’ Workshop at Kadod High School

Several weeks ago, Sarah, John and I had the honor of planning and executing a full-day professional development workshop for English teachers from all over the Surat district. In the final count, over sixty teachers from sixty different schools traveled to Kadod and spent the day discussing some of the most difficult educational challenges facing English teachers in Gujarat today.

In preparation for the workshop, Sarah and I planned and filmed several detailed “mini-lessons” demonstrating specific pedagogical techniques in the classroom. John, meanwhile, painstakingly edited the footage into final form, overcoming many electrical outages and other technological roadblocks along the way. Despite our very good intentions to provide a content-rich workshop, and after hours of working on these films, we came to discover that there was no sound-system in the hall in which we would be conducting the workshop. Further, there was no usable sound system anywhere in the school, or the town, save for the large trucks that drive around and play loud club music in the streets for weddings (I would like to note that we inquired, but those were not available on the day of the workshop, as they were pre-booked for a wedding). So, as often happens in India, we came to accept that we would have to improvise a solution to our problem.

Not knowing much about electrical wiring, audio-sound system setup, or the intricacies of navigating an Indian circuit breaker, we enlisted the help of our coworker, Mr. Dineshbhai Patel. Mr. Patel is a young and devoted computer teacher whose fluency in English is only surpassed by his absolute dedication to his work and the school. I have to admit that, being the one tasked with soliciting his help, I put off the job for a few days. It wasn’t that I didn’t think Mr. Patel could do the job, I knew he could. Rather, I didn’t want to inconvenience him since he already has a very demanding schedule at the school that includes maintaining all the school’s technological resources, teaching classes, and coaching volleyball.

So, after procrastinating for several days, I approached Mr. Patel and sheepishly mumbled something about needing help with a computer problem. Upon hearing this, Mr. Patel ran into the guesthouse where we keep our computers, logged on, checked out what kind of hook-ups my PC had to offer, and then disappeared to the computer lab to assemble some solution. When he returned, his hands full of dusty cables, speakers, amplifiers and other things for which I do not know the name, he motioned that we should wait ten minutes and then proceed to the hall where the workshop was to be held. I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical. Half the computer parts he held looked like they had seen the early 90’s and lived to tell the tale. The other half looked like they could have possibly been found on the side of the road. Maybe I was being negative, but I really doubted where this exercise in tinkering would take us.

The ten minutes passed quickly as I fretted about all other technical problems that could happen during the workshop: maybe the electricity will be out all day and the backup generator will not work, and the back-up, back-up generator will be out of fuel? After this fruitless worrying, I proceeded to the hall to see what Mr. Patel did with that jumble of old parts. Believe it or not, he had rigged up a simple sound system for us to use during the workshop. I think it would have been ill-advised to touch it, or to expose it to anything more than a gentle breeze, but still, it worked then and on the day of the workshop.

As the day of the workshop approached, Sarah and I became increasingly consumed by smaller and smaller concerns like, ‘Would we remember how to advance a PowerPoint presentation?’, or ‘What if we fall off the stage?’, and ‘I can’t believe I have to walk around, on a stage, in a saree, for five hours!’. As to the first two points, there wasn’t much to be done – advancing a PowerPoint is a simple as pressing the space bar, so if we couldn’t remember that then we were in a bad place. And falling off the stage, well, it has happened to the best of us, and I personally live to attest that life goes on afterwards. As for the last point – walking around in a saree for five hours, on a stage, in front of a large audience – well, there are many things that can go wrong. The most serious of these problems is related to the fact that a saree is generally held together with one to three safety pins. You can imagine how one misstep could lead to an absolute disaster.

Knowing there wasn’t much we could do, we arrived to the school guesthouse early in the morning on the day of the workshop, and nervously started to unpack our outfits: saree, blouse, petticoat, bindis, earrings, rings, hairclips, bangles, necklaces, and every other sparkly accoutrement of a proper Indian schoolteacher. Just as we were about to start wrapping our sarees, there was a knock at the door, and without even waiting to be let in, our co-teacher Mayuri burst in and announced that she was here to assist us in any way possible. Keep in mind that this is three hours before she is required to report to the school. How she knew what time we would arrive to start dressing is beyond my knowledge, but there she was, ready to help us. Like the situation with Mr. Patel, I knew we were in competent hands and she immediately relieved our stress. We were properly dressed with plenty of time to spare, and several extra pins strategically placed to avoid any unfortunate accidents, all thanks to Mayuri.

The workshop was undoubtedly a success. Our participants were engaged in our topics, asked excellent questions, and provided invaluable feedback. We met many dedicated teachers who are genuinely interested in changing the way they teach. Connecting them with resources to facilitate that process was incredibly rewarding. I have to say though, when I sat down at the end of the day, what I felt the most satisfied with was not the workshop per-se, but the Nanubhai team we have built over the past school year. Each of our six co-workers contributed to the workshop in a significant way, and the staff at The Kadod High School, Kadod planned for and managed every last detail. In a country rife with teacher absenteeism and school corruption, what better testament to the value of our work than the dedication it has inspired in such a large team of educators and administrators. Thank you to everyone who helped make the Effective Teaching of English at the High School Level an effective workshop. Below is a picture of the Nanubhai Ground Team, and of course, Mr. Patel.

Mr. Patel, Sarah and Myself

The entire Indian ground-team showing off their certificates of completion after the workshop!