3 Oct: been in Leh one month.

No skit at assembly today so the "wise principal" took advantage to lecture the students about behavior ( all in Hindi or Bodhi) and while this was going on the Games teacher walked through the seated students with a pair of scissors inspecting the boys hair and snipping off chunks if it was too long!

In addition to my 2 classes I was given 2 of Mingur's physics periods to teach (although one of them turned out to be someone else's). I used the time to teach extra chemistry and today used one of the "smart rooms" to present a lecture on gas laws using some of the electronic versions of power points and problem sets I brought with me. I think it went well. Would love to have the lab equipment I'm used to to do demos and labs. Unfortunately there isn't even any ice or a simple microwave available for doing demos of Charles' or Gay Lussac laws. We'll have to settle for problem sets.....

Spent about an hour trying to find an ATM that worked or had money this afternoon- success, so I can pay for my last month lodging. When I returned I was surprised to find 3 American women having tea at the house. They all live in Guatemala half the year and 2 of them on Lopez Is the other half- small world. They are on vacation in India and knew another volunteer who had lived here, came to say hi and are staying for dinner. We all made momo"s together (and I am getting much better!).  It was fun evening and what a small world it is: one of the women from Lopez put on an art workshop at French Camp for Joseph and Connie this spring. 

Today my new copy of Jo Nesbo new book arrived on the iPad and I will huddle under the covers for awhile with it.

4Oct

Woke up to colder, cloudy weather and some fresh dusting of snow a few hundred meters above the house- we were lucky on the climb, but I really wish I hadn't left my warm jacket at school yesterday and that my warm clothes were not still wet hanging on the line from the trip! Was hoping to hear some news on BBC World on TV this morning about the debate , but it is 9 AM and still no power.

Today I planned to continue lessons on Gas Laws using the Smart Class. Kalsang, the IT guy with the ONLY key is on leave this morning, so of course nobody can use the technology.....AAAARGGGHH! Silly little things like that make life frustrating.

5Oct

Sunny day and a bit warmer. Last night Yangchan invited Katarina for dinner and to stay over in one of the guest rooms. I think it was a good break for her to get out of the hostel and have some good food. Apparently the "Wardens" of the hostel live up to their name and are not very friendly.

This morning I wandered into the bottom floor of the Admin building and discovered the music room and met the music teacher. Their is a full set of donated brass instruments that apparently nobody wants to learn, guitars, keyboards and some traditional instruments. The amazing thing is a full recording studio! which only gets used when volunteers from United World College (IB?) come here because nobody here is trained to use it.

Assembly today: another 30 min  haranguing of the students about behavior and dress by the vice principal (only about 15 had to run today). Apparently someone had broken into one of the school buses yesterday and stole some mobiles and money during the day. During the assembly one 7th grade girls collapsed and was taken to Yangchan. Apparently dehydration.

Had an interesting discussion with Dorjay (the teacher) about discipline. He is one of the teacher's who outwardly  seems to be progressive and fun. However, it turns out he is also one who uses the switch a lot (I think more than most). according to him when he does use it he uses he hits the students hard and so they are frightened of it. He indicated that he does not like to use it and feels bad but thinks it is the only way to get respect and good behavior. I tried to offer some other suggestions, but he did not seem to think they would work.....

I admit it: I am beginning to figure out cricket (with the help of Dorjay and Andu) and have become a fan. Tonight we watched West Indies destroy The Aussies in the semifinals.

Drinking water: Clean water is always an issue in 3rd world countries, but so far here in Leh it has not been an issue for me. Our drinking water comes from a tap in the yard that comes from a mountain stream someplace (will be shut off soon as the weather cools more and then I think we get it from town and some other source) that Yangchan says is safe to drink. It is cold, clear and tasty and I have drunk it straight with no I'll effects that I am aware of. However, my normal routine is to fill 2 L every couple of days and sterilize with my steripen UB device( easy, quick and effective) and so far I am fine. Not sure it would be the same in other less clean parts of India.

6 Oct

Saturday half day of classes/last 3 periods this week with "games" after lunch (usually competitions between the 4 houses)

This morning at assembly I was sitting with Shabbbaz ( the local, young, new computer teacher) he asked me if I liked to fish. An unusual question since all of the Buddhists are totally opposed to any kind of killing wild animals, including fish. Turns out Shabbaz (should have realized from the name) is Muslim and loves to fly fish for trout in the spring and summer ( too bad it's out of season because I am sure we would have gone). He and is buddies have to keep it quiet for their Buddhist friends and sneak out to go.

Rather than the usual competition between houses today, games was a inter-school competition in basketball and volleyball between a team of 8 Lamdon boys and a team from another school in town. The same 8 boys played both complete games and matches while the rest of the students watched and cheered. Lamdon won the b-ball game ( close) but were pretty rough and I only watched one game of v-ball but they easily won that also.

While watching the games I sat next to one of the teachers I had not spoken to and it was very enlightening. Stanzin ( what else) is an english teacher about 50. He is one of 3 Tibetan teachers at the school ( apparently there are no Tibetan students....). I learned  a lot about the Tibetan refugees here. Even though he was born in India and many refugees have lived in India for over 50 years, they are still refugees: can not become citizens, vote or hold any government jobs. There is one army special unit that allows Tibetans. Turns out there are numerous free Tibetan refugee children's schools, sponsored by the Dalai Lama, throughout India that almost all tibetan kids go to through 10th. The better students can continue on through 12th at a special school in Dharamsala ( where the DM lives). He went to the local TCS and to the continuation school and then onto an Indian University. He promised to take me to visit the local school before I leave (even though it sounds well sponsored and has numerous volunteers, I wonder if it might be a place that makes better use of volunteers). In addition to,learning about Tibetans, it turns out he seems to be the most progressive and far-thinking about education. He asked me a lot about my impressions of teaching at Lamdon and particularly about the science teachers. I was very honest. In light of my discussion with Dorjay yesterday he asked an interesting question: how did I feel about the corporal punishment at Lamdon School? Turns out he is totally opposed and has tried to convince (unsuccessfully) the principal and other teachers that they should be trying other means  than discipline to help the students grow up!  I eventually asked about TCS and he told me that they banned all corporal Punishment there 6 years ago.

Flights: on a whim today I decided to check my flight out of Leh on the 31st to see if I might be able to change to an earlier flight or to a direct one to Delhi (my original stopped in Jammu and my connection to Kathmandu was tight). Well, when I looked up flight to Delhi on GoAir on the 31st NONE were listed. Called the airlines and sure enough there are none on that day and mine was cancelled! (forgot to ask if they were going to tell me...?) I did get on a direct flight to Delhi on the 30th for no extra charge. Then I called Spice Jet to see if I could change my flight to Katmandu so I did not have to stay over in Delhi and sure I could but it would cost Rs 6000 (almost as much as the original RT). So, found an inexpensive hotel at the airport and will stay over.

Visa issue: so in reading online, I have discovered a little weirdness in the 6 month re-entry tourist visa I have for India. Turns out you are not supposed to be able to re-enter unless you stay out  60 days and I will only be in Nepal for 30-uh oh! After further research I think I am OK for 2 reasons

1: seems if you can convince your airline to let you on the Indians don't really seem to care

2: if you have an itinerary (that you can show) that has you transit through and out of India to go home(which I have) there is an exception. Hopefully it all works, but I guess if not I will just have to buy a ticket home from Nepal and skip the Tigers.

Same same but different:Ladakhi vs American students

Lamdon School students: As they say here, "same, same, but different". Been thinking a lot about the comparisons between the high school kids here and in the US/ Central Oregon. Some obvious differences are that most of these kids can speak and understand 2 or 3 languages ( English, Bodhi and Hindi), that they always address me as either Sir David or David, Sir and that during school they all wear their uniforms (pant, shirt, tie and sweater and school cap: Today at assembly teachers went through the students, picked out 30-40 who didn't have complete uniforms ( most I could not tell what was wrong) and made them go run for about 5-10 min as punishment). Another difference is the total lack of calculators. All calculations in class are done by hand, including square roots. They also have memorized the trig tables. Today in class, as they were working out gas law problems by hand, I asked if calculators were allowed ( yes they are), if they didn't have them because of cost (no). Turns out they don't use them because they are not allowed on the big tests and so they choose to practice and I assume are also encouraged to do so by the teachers.

However, beyond these obvious differences there are more similarities than I might have expected. Most obvious to me are the interactions between boys and girls. I would have expected more separation and shyness ( and maybe in other parts of India there is....?), but here there is lots of flirting, teasing and besides the absence of any PDA not much different than what you see at RHS. I am also pretty sure that if given the opportunity to wear there own clothes that there would not be much difference in dress- perhaps a little more modesty (probably no  bare bellies), but similar jeans, b-ball jerseys, etc.

In the classroom, there seems to be a similar (to US students) distribution of students who are interested, tuned in, asking questions, taking notes, working problems, etc (10-30%) and those who are just there taking up space and using the limited oxygen because they have to be. 

Their technical abilities at doing complex math problems and computations are far beyond those of our students of similar age. However, as I have mentioned before, manipulating and plugging numbers into equations does not necessarily translate to understanding. The need to plow through the syllabus and have students "prepared" for the FA is paramount ( not that different from the IB sciences....) and leaves little time for exploration or taking time to make sure of any understanding. It also gets in the way of taking anytime to experience doing science and an inquiry approach until after (or if) the syllabus is complete. Because of this emphasis teaching(in science and math at least) is exclusively lecture and copying of notes. Last week I had the opportunity to watch ( and try to help) the 11th classes prepare for a large chemistry test. What I witnessed was the serious students memorizing the most complex concepts and definitions and ignoring the actual problems and models that they were eventually tested on.  I was surprised that the actual test was very reasonable and for the most part pretty simple. However, the students' struggled to do simple stoichiometric and concentration calculations, draw orbital diagrams,etc. The test consisted of about 10 questions and nobody was able to finish in the allotted class times. The majority of both classes needed the entire next period to finish ( or not). The teachers talk about the national reforms pushing away from rote learning, but it seems so ingrained in the culture that both the students and teachers find it hard to shift away.

The students get no exposure to the concept of inquiry and very little opportunity to work in the lab. I have only seen students in grades lower than 10 actually doing a lab and those are all cookbook types. When I ask about labs for the older kids, the response is always, "after we complete the syllabus". There does not seem to be any understanding that concrete exposure to real phenomenon can help in developing understanding. Granted, the science curriculum in the upper grades is new and they are behind, but still.... 

I find it interesting that when I teach classes here and present relevant side topics, ask probing questions and respond to their questions with deeper questions (rather than answers): the tuned in students respond positively,and seem to like the interactive approach. Unfortunately, except for one time, the teachers' whose classes I am taking are not there to witness these interactions and are off somewhere else.