A Month on 8th Parallel North Latitude

To study international relations does not need to be always boring. At Anglo-American university they offered us to join a project called the BALI MISSION. It included two weeks of teaching English 3rd – 5th year at primary school in a village Gianyar – Buahan. Without hesitation, I volunteered for the course.

We, a group of students from Anglo-American University, were living approximately 30 minutes away from the school in a town called Ubud. The project was locally directed by a non-governmental organization Green Lion.

Every morning, right after breakfast, we were meeting up in a preparation center of the Green Lion among the rice fields. We were preparing there from 9 till 12 am for our afternoon two and half hours long English lessons of little “elements” full of energy and enthusiasm. The lessons had to be full of energy, entertaining (but to an extent, not to lose respect), interactive, full of repetition, songs, worksheets, competitions, visual aids, positivity, and of course patience. And right there at the primary school our unbelievable experiences had begun. Moreover, our group was the first to teach English at that school. Thus, the biggest problem was English, because that was the language of communication. Therefore, our lessons were full of gestures, body language and pictures. An Incredible experience!

    

After the preparations for the English lessons in the mornings, we rushed for lunch, then to take quick refreshing shower. We dressed ourselves into sarongs (a kind of long scarf that are supposed to be tied around our waist and end at the ankles) and T-shirts with short sleeves. We arrived to the prepared cars that were getting us to the primary school, completely sweated, thought. At the primary school we were divided into four groups – pairs). I was in a pair with my schoolmate Kristýna and we were assigned 4th Year. After the first lesson we were all welcomed by screaming of our names upon our arrivals. Our 4th Year consisted of 15 kids. It was surprisingly calm class, nevertheless positive and playful class, where big smiles on the faces were not missing, not even for a second. The most favorite activity for our students was pantomime, during which Kristýna and I were imitating various animals, sports and activities and the kids were supposed to guess what we are or what activity we are presenting. My art skills, drawings on the board, always reaped great amusement – well, apparently not everyone draw a monkey as I. The little ones were eagerly memorizing vocabulary and songs that we thought them. During the breaks we could then hear the kids gurgling on the corridors or on the yard.

  

Unfortunately 14 days went so fast that we suddenly had to say goodbye. When Kristýna and I the day before our last class, our departure, announced that we are going to have tomorrow the last lesson the always smiling and laughing faces disappeared… Nevertheless, the last lesson we enjoyed maximally! We made competitions, played and sang songs and of course we did pantomime. From me and Kristýna the kids received as a gift posters with the vocabulary we did together and we also printed them the world map with pictures of Prague – so they will not forget (as I will never forget). In return we received flowers, and we were surprised by beautiful painting on the board. When the last lesson ended, all the classes gathered so that we could for the last time play some more games and eat some snacks together, to spend little more time informally – out of the classrooms. The positive atmosphere was interrupted and ended by Vera, a girl from our 4th Year, who started crying. With the intention to calm her down I sat by her side and hugged her. However, it had a reversed consequence, I also could not hold on and I started to cry as well. Unfortunately, that unleashed a chain reaction and soon the rest of the girls from our year started to cry. Even the boys were almost about to cry… To say goodbye and to leave them was heartbreaking. The sad atmosphere was highlighted by rain.

Nonetheless, learning was surely not one sided. We also learned a lot from them, not only how to teach small kids, but also how to appreciate small things. Every single day they were astonishing us with their good mood and smiles, which was encouraging and energizing us to teach. Apart from the program we got to know Balinese culture. There were Hindu temples and smiles from Balinese people all around us. The helpfulness of the local inhabitants was stunning! When we asked for directions everyone tried to help us. If they did not know, the asked someone else, they borrowed us even their phones. This is what I would like to pass forward, to you, because helpfulness and kindness is something that is not so much popular among us Czechs, we are more individualists. Thus, try time to time elevating your head from your phone, while traveling in the public transport, and have a look if there is someone else who needs to sit down more than you do. And when you are getting on or off, do not try to be always the first one to do so. If you let go someone else in from of you, maybe in return you will be rewarded by kind smile – which will make your day a bit better. You can also sometimes give some coins to those who are collecting money for a good cause. Help foreigners to buy the correct ticket or help them when they are lost.
Simply, be a bit more humane.

 

 

Měsíc na osmé rovnoběžce severní šířky
Měsíc na osmé rovnoběžce severní šířky
Měsíc na osmé rovnoběžce severní šířky
Měsíc na osmé rovnoběžce severní šířky

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