Teacher Teacher!

I like teaching kids! I learnt that today...
I went for my first Akanksha* session today. I finally managed to change my centre and get something closer by to the hostel and I tried calling the teacher there a couple of times before I decided to just go there cause I didn't want it to wait out another week. So I made my way to the place, following directions given to me by the Akanksha Office and thankfully I didn't have to rely on my own sense of direction but the Taxi-walla's and I got there pretty fast...
I then waited around for a while and the Teacher herself called me cause I had left something like a dozen missed calls on her phone and she came and then after a little more waiting around so did the kids; marching in noisily after a day of school. They're so animated and hyperactive! After that, the teacher's got them all organised, calmed down and then they come into the classroom, which is a small little building.
There are about 63 kids and they're divided into three groups according to the levels at which they are. I helped out with this guy called Siddharth with a heavy American accent who was teaching the youngest kids. I'm guessing, he's an NRI (Non-resident of India) or maybe he worked in the US and then come back? Rare situation... I'll ask next time. Anyway, so we were reading with the kids... Simple sentences like, "One day Tim went to the park..." (SO much fun doing all this stuff again btw!) And then they did some additions and subtractions and putting numbers in ascending or descending order. Fun Fun.
I'm looking forward to going back. I honestly enjoyed myself and surprisingly the kids didn't ride on my patience. I'm generally not good with kids but I think that's mainly reserved with spoilt brats. These kids are naughty for sure, but they're not spoilt, they can barely be!

*I'm not sure if I've mentioned Akanksha before. Anyhow, Akanksha is an NGO (Non-governmental Organisation) that helps to teach kids from less-privileged families. These kids go to formal school in the mornings but often the student:teacher ratio at these schools are not impressive and so the kids don't get the kind of help that they need nor do they get much of extra curricular activities. So... Akanksha tries to help out there. They have centres all over the city where the children can come in the afternoon and learn and have fun... The kids at the centre I went to today were all mainly from a slum close by. There are usually two teachers at each centre and then a bunch of volunteers (I'm a volunteer). I met another volunteer today who is studying liberal arts at Georgetown Uni in the US and has spent her whole summer holiday volunteering at Akanksha...