The New Year

With the New Year comes a new class. Due to trouble with the bus we didn’t get back from Nepal till late Sunday night and school started the next day. No preparation. Ahh! Oh well, how bad could it be? In the morning I went to class at 8:45am expecting to teach math, however the schedule was changed. Now I teach English from 10:30 to 11:15 everyday, Math from 8:30 to 9:15 Wednesday-Thursday, and Science/Health from 11:15 to 12:00 Thursday-Friday. This means I only have one class Monday and Tuesday. What am I going to do with all this free time?! Don’t worry, I’ll find something. Oh, I could play with the babies!

This new class has 17 kids, 4 more than the last class, and those 4 more make a difference. They are a lot noisier, whinier, naughtier and more stubborn. The first week was a struggle. Friday, teacher Joya came up to me exhausted saying she missed the old class. I agreed. They are testing both of us to see what they can get away with.

During the second week they started to get better but then Thursday hit, the worst day of teaching so far. For math class everyone was chattering, reading other books, and complaining that they didn’t understand because they weren’t listening. I was so relived to escape to breakfast. English class went okay but I finished early and started reading a book to them. As soon as they sat on the mat chaos ensued. There was hitting, pinching, calling names, talking, and getting up to wander around. I started science class and nothing changed. I sent two girls, Annemarie and Suzanna, to two opposite corners. If I was the architect of building that classroom I would have made a corner for each of the kids. With those girls in the corners the class was a little better and more attentive. However, those girls did not stay in the corners for long. Annemarie moseyed over to the door and managed to lock us in the classroom from the outside while being on the inside. A couple of the kids tried to unlock the door with no luck. We had to get the attention of someone outside to open the door.

After class I had Annemarie and Suzanna stay to talk to them about their behavior. After talking I looked them each in the eyes and asked them if they were going to work on being good girls in class. They both responded with a confident NO. Okay, we know are going to talk to Papri (the principle). I took them each by the hand and led them down to Papri’s office. She wasn’t there. So we wandered around some trying to find her. We found mommy instead. Mommy informed me that I have to punish them and that I needed to spank Annemarie. If Papri punishes her she will learn to listen to Papri but not me. I understand that but I really didn’t want to spank anyone, so I sent them to their rooms without lunch. I found Papri in the café and let her know they will not be joining them for lunch. On my way back to my room Annemarie was walking outside laughing and smiling at me as if to say I can do what I want and you can’t stop me. Why did she have to do that? Now I have to spank her or she will never learn. I walked straight over to her, took her back into her room, set her over my knee and spanked her good. She was shocked. I left her with some strong yet encouraging words and headed to my room. As soon as I left her room tears started welling up in my eyes. That was my first time spanking a child and it was awful. I bypassed my room and went straight to the roof where I cried out all the emotions I had been bottling up since I got here. I hadn’t felt that helpless in a long time.

Life in the classroom is still hard and chaotic at times but overall they are doing a lot better. Each child has its moments of defiance but I think that is natural. Annemarie is always nervous I am going to wallop her again. I guess this fear is good. At least she listens to me now. I love teaching, I just don’t like the classroom management. I‘m not good at it. I hate being the bad guy; I just want to be their friend. Bless those who find enjoyment in managing the little ones. You are saints.