First Teaching!

Sorry for the lack of updates...I'm much busier now that we've started teaching, plus the only wifi is in the lobby where there is no air conditioning. BUT I will try to continue updating this blog at least once a week!

So we did start actually teaching last week! Yay!!!

Our first teaching was at a completely Tamil standard school (meaning translation was required for the whole teaching!). There was no air conditioning, and, at least in the room my group was teaching in, no fan either. By the time we were finished teaching we were drenched in sweat!

 But it was so much fun! I'm so excited that we get to do this over and over again! We taught a 9th standard class (basically kids between the ages of 12-14). To encourage active participation (especially when saying the taboo sexual terms) my team has strategized to make the whole teaching a competition between boys and girls. They get really into it! My favorite part of every teaching is when we have them scream the fluids (blood, semen, pre-ejaculate, and vaginal fluid) and doors (penis, anus, vagina, and open wounds) involved in the transmission of HIV at the top of their lungs. I mean, what other time in your life have you been able to shout the word "penis", in a school...so much fun! 

the first school we taught at

The contrast between schools is also really amazing. Later in the week we taught at a fancy private school where all the kids spoke fluent English and most of their parents were doctors, lawyers, or ambassadors. These students were super smart and actually already knew most of the information we were telling them. At the end of every teaching, if we have extra time, we always try to let them ask us questions about America and in return I ask them what we should see in Chennai. I love getting to know the students a bit more. We teach pretty casually and try to make the teaching as fun as possible, even though it is very serious information that we are teaching. It comes as a nice break for the students from their rather strict teachers.

One of our other teachings. This class only had one boy, so instead of doing "boys vs. girls" we had them choose team names.  One team was "chocolate bubblegum" the other team chose "YOLO" completely without our help.