Already 5 months have passed since I arrived in India. During that time I have learnt a lot of new things.One of these things is definitely how to teach, but also not to forget how to eat with my right hand without any cutlery.

How to wash my clothes with nothing more than a bucket, soap and a big stone or how to wear Saree. It needed some time until I adjusted, but now I already feel like a native sometimes.

My name is Kim Schneider and I do a voluntary service for 11 months at Government Higher Primary School in Heskathur, a small village near Kundapur. Every morning my working day starts at 9.30am and ends at 4.15pm. It belongs to my tasks to teach English, play games and to do some sports with the children during the Physical Education period like playing badminton or football.

There are around 170 children at my school, but I only teach 4th to 7th standard. The English knowledge of the students differs very much, also within classes. Some already knew basic English to good English before I came, but others are only able to talk some words. Though I started to teach English grammar and vocabulary in all my classes from the beginning and already recognized a little improvement.

Even not all the teachers speak English, but as I get Kannada lessons in my project the communication with them is no more a problem. What I observed is that the students in Indian schools have a closer relationship to teachers than in Germany. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t respect them, they highly respect them, but very often they regard their teachers as friends. At least this is the case at Heskathur School.

But I’ve also gained general experiences in India. For example that the standard of living here is not comparable to that in Germany. Many things that are in Germany self-evident, like a washing machine or a dishwasher, are considered in India as luxury articles. But now I know that it is possible to live without all these things. One of the things I love most in India is definitely the food. When I’m back in Germany I will miss all the dosa, idli, chapatti and even my daily plate rice.

At school I never face any problems. My relationship to the teachers and children is very good and they are all very friendly. Sometimes it is a little bit difficult to keep children who are not that interested in learning English under control, but I always find a way to motivate them.

I am very happy that I’m able to spend 6 more months in incredible India and at the end of my stay I’d like to look back and see that the children as well as the teachers took some profit of my work.

Greetings,

Kim Schneider, Germany