Play time

Saturday's are my favourite time with the kids. That is the time when I can hang out and have fun with the children without having to think about what they're learning or what new skills they're learning. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching both in a group and one-to-one but the fun activities we run on Saturdays are when you really get to know the kids. 

The first Saturday doing something other than my normal schedule we spent the morning at Jubilee home painting nails. The girls LOVED it! They showed me their nails every time I saw them for the next 3 days! The best part of the morning was painting the ayah's (India caregivers) nails. They do such a difficult job, some of them 24/7 and rarely get enough recognition. It felt great to do something for them to show them how much they are appreciated by everyone here. We also took the children in wheelchairs for a walk. I have been working wih Bells on moving herself in her chair so the walk was a great opportunity for her to practice. She did so well but was exhausted but he time we got home.

Another Saturday highlight was spending time with the girls at Joy home. They have so much energy and are great fun to hang out with. We painted their nails, then they painted mine! Such a mess but they were so proud of themselves. We also had fun playing in the park opposite their house then relaxing with a film.

Saturday's always make me think about the amount of time spent doing school/therapy with kids. In other places they would not get any of this and I am so pleased that SCH recognises how important education of some sort is for all these children. But sometimes I forget that they need time to play and have fun. I appreciate that they are not all working all the time but many of the children do not know how to play. Many have been institutionalised prior to coming into our care and need to be shown what you do with a toy. They have lost so much already that as volunteers we have to make an effort to give them their childhood back. So this week I will spend more time listening to the children, more time holding and feeding baby dolls and playing with toy cars because play is important too.

Here are some of my favourite photos from the last couple of weeks:

Sunrise on the roof

Finished castle

Going to church- a bigger culture shock than coming to India

Hungry caterpillar lessons

Spelling/building a tower, depending of your point of view

Finally, on Monday I took Bella into the classroom to see what she could do. She is very strong but doesn't do much physically. I decided to try standing her up. I put her on a chair near the window, put her feet in the right position, put her hands on the bars then pulled her into a standing position. I was expecting to have to hold her up but I didn't need to! I did this every day last week and on Thursday she didn't even wait for my help, she pulled herself up! I am so proud of her! Can't wait to see how else she will surprise me.

1st week of school

As I mentioned a week ago, jubilee house have just started lessons for the children who are unable to attend mainstream school. I have now been teaching four classes for one week so I thourght you should know how it was going.

My first class is probably my most challenging class in terms of knowing what to do with them. 4 out of the 5 are immobile due to cerebral palsy and there is a huge range of abilities. 2 are bright, alert and keen to learn new things. I've been working on colour sorting with them. The other 3 do not respond to much I do with them. When they do respond they only do it in a one-to-one setting, never when I'm doing something with them as a class. We sing some songs and I read Dr seus books to them wich they seem to enjoy. I've been trying to remember how the children with profound learning difficulties were taught when I did work experience in a special needs school but I can't remember much about it.

My next class is my phonics class. They are doing really well. Hey could already recognise all the letters but have no idea what sounds they make or what words start with wich letters. So far we've done A, B and C and they can all tell me things starting with those letters. I have also been getting them to point to letters/words when I read them stories which they're getting the hang of. 

My next class is my most challenging in terms of behaviour. They all have autism and a lot have very difficult behaviour such as hitting and spitting. Their behaviour in class is actually very good compared to usual but it is a constant battle getting some of them to stay in their chair. They can all now sort two colours and I plan to move on to more next week. I only realised on Friday that one of the children can sign all her colours. All the children have been learning ASL for some time but I didn't realise she could do it because she has her own version of all the signs. Now I can recognise them, I realise what she is saying to me more. I also want to find out if she is trying to sign other things to me. 

My final class is doing really well. I started teaching them colour sorting on Monday and by Thursday they could all do it perfectly with 4 colours. I have now moved on to shapes and am planning on playing shape and colour dominos with them next week. I always read to them at the end of the lesson. Their favourite book is 'mr brown can moo' by Dr seus and they all do the sounds with me!

I'm really enjoying teaching. There are still issues that need to be resolved with regards to the school but it's great that the kids are learning. They have all achieved so much in a week, I can't wait to see what they do by the time I leave.

In other news, the princess castle is coming along nicely. I work on it every day with Molly and she loves it. She can also now spell the colours blue, yellow, green, red and orange! Here are some pictures of the castle so far, wih Molly's choice of colours!

Religion and prayer

So a lot of people have been wondering what it's like for a Jew volunteering in a christian organisation and this weekend seemed like the perfect time to write about it. 

I want to start by writing about Passover. On Friday night I hosted my first Seder meal. It was a wonderful experience and probably my most memorable Seder. We had to make our own matza, try to cook in someone else's kitchen with unusual ingredients and figure out what to do for some of the more unusual items on the Seder plate. 

Yes, that is a carrot for the lamb bown and chillis for the bitter herb :)

We had a wonderful evening. I found a great Haggadah online written by an American rabbi. It's all in English with only the blessings in Hebrew. It was the perfect compromise between tradition and making it accessible for those who had never experienced it before. Instead of traditional hallel (the songs of praise) one of the other volunteers lead worship. This included the two Christian songs I know from RSY-netzer. We all had a lovely evening and I am so greatful that I was able to share my tradition with my friends.

I have also had the chance to watch a volunteers worship session organised by some of the world race team. It really made me think about how I do prayer, particularly in the context of a youth movement. The worship night was, in many ways, quite similar to an RSY service. We all sat in a circle with acoustic guitars (and a ukulele) to sing. There were also some noticeable differences. There was no obligation to join in with the singing. It struck me when we first sat down that one of the people leading said 'please feel free to join in, read your bible, write in your journal or do whatever worship is to you.' Many people chose to do one of these things or just sat quietly. People were also free to get up, move about and find there own space. There was no standing or sitting for certain parts and no set prayers. People behaved however felt right for them. I love tefillah (prayer) on RSY but it was interesting to see how other people did it. I look forward to continuing to learn about other people beliefs and I hope that I can continue to teach people about my own.