This is my Nepal

Swimming in Godavari! 

There are times when I am so embarrassed with my behavior or my reactions to situations. Today is one of those days. I prayed this morning that I would learn to love people with patience, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness and understanding, but I managed to do the complete opposite of that by the end of the day. And if that is not bad enough I keep hearing these words in my head “you reap what you sow”. 

Way to go. 

Jaymasi friends!

My time here in Nepal has been quite an experience. I have been challenged in many ways. In my time here I have helped implement a new curriculum in the school while teaching English and Social Studies to grades 6 and 7. I have greatly enjoyed teaching. It is a passion I’ve had all my life. Even as a young girl I use to line my barbies and stuffed animals up to teach them. I taught my brother everything my 5-year-old brain new once he could walk. 

The students at Living Word Academy are really remarkable. I will cherish my memories of them for years to come. One of the biggest struggles I have faced in the school had been to teach the idea of expecting excellence out of yourself. The Nepali grading system is very much to blame for this lack of thinking. See in the Nepali grading system you get a grade out of 100 points like our English system. However, the dramatic difference  is that for Nepal the passing grade is 32 out of 100. I will pause so you can catch your breath again…it’s shocking. 32 is ages below even the lowest grade mark (F) in the English system.

So what we see from such a low pass grade is that Nepal is not expecting excellence out of their students and the repercussion of this low standard is that I walked into a school who’s students dont take time to learn something, but rather just memorize their textbooks word for word without any comprehension of the text. But this low standard is not only affecting students. The teachers are only teaching the bare minimum, standing in front of the class just merely reading the textbook rather than teaching with enthusiasm and excitement. Then after assigning classwork they leave the class to go sit in the sun chatting with the other teachers.

So you’re probably wondering where the good part is in this story. At first i thought the solution to all of this was to enforce strict rules and run full force into teaching as much as I could to these students in the little time I had here. But after they failed absolutely every assignment I gave them and could not explain to me the main point we were discussing I realized I had something terribly wrong. So after much trial and error and many motivational talks about how we have to expect excellence from ourselves because it’s not enough just for someone else to expect it from you,  these students began to break out of their culture bound boxes. We wrote many journals about our dreams and goals in life, how we could change the world or make a difference in our communities. These kinds of questions were very difficult for my students to answer because this was the first time in their life they were asked to think about such things. This, I realized, was what my students needed more than being taught 1,000 grammar rules of the English language.

These expressions of creativity dramatically changed the attitude of my students almost overnight it felt like. So I began to use creative thinking to teach basic grammar (parts of speech, sentence structure , etc). After grading my students first quiz with this new way of teaching I couldn’t contain my excitement. Quiz after quiz after quiz was marked 99, 95, 100. My students were breaking out of this Nepali mindset and soaring way above what they ever thought they could ever achieve! Handing back those quizzes to them was a day I will never forget. Their excitement was more than could be contained within our small classrooms. I overheard them at lunch telling other students about their grade and even days later in church still so proud and exuberant. 

From that first quiz these 35 students haven’t let go of that expectation of excellence within themselves. I have seem drastic improvement in every single one if my students. Seeing them expecting excellence from themselves an living up to it has completely masked all the difficulties I’ve faced here in Nepal. 

This story was all to say that I am especially grateful for you helping me get to Nepal. I would not have been able to experience this if it weren’t for all the people who helped to get me here. I am forever thankful for your support and encouragement along the way. Today was our last day of school for this year. I remember the days sitting in the resource room really wishing school would be over, but now I am sad to see it go. We can be like that sometimes can’t we? I have only 5 short weeks left here in Nepal and I am sad to see it has gone by so quickly. I will see you all shortly and cannot wait to share more of these experiences with everyone. 

With great love and appreciation, 

Amelie

Eating at Bakery Cafe! :) 

Like father, like son.

You could see being a missionary just like coming into a new job already with experience.
Some people graciously accept you and the knowledge you bring while others see your coming as an intrusion into their already working system.

Even in our own lives we can be blinding to seeing things only from our point of view. To bring change it’s crucial to be open minded and accept that someone else might have knowledge that you did not even know you were lacking, or they have a better system.

Accept correction and help as a good.

Here in Nepal I see teachers who, because they have their masters degree (in any subject), feel they have all knowledge and don’t need to listen to my advice.
I have also seen myself doubting different systems here as being productive or efficient because I already have a way of completing the task.

It’s the missionary and the people your serving who both have to be open-minding, willing to accept criticism from both sides.

Lesson learned.

xo,
Amelie