The History

A few years ago my mother decided that she wanted something more out of life than doing laundry and cooking dinner for the family. Of course this was difficult for my feeble mind to grasp, especially considering that my thoughts were something to the effect of "But... but I love your cooking. What do you mean making spaghetti isn't enough!?!" My mother's desire, however, is what began my family's extended adventure teaching at Antaranga, a small elementary school in North-East India.
Antaranga is a school located in the small town of Shantiniketan, about a three-hour drive away from the major city of Calcutta. In that area of India, and in many areas of India, the public school system doesn't begin until fifth grade. Thus, if children want to attend school before then they must attend a private school, which many families (especially in the lower castes) are unable to afford. Antaranga provides free education on a volunteer basis for children unable to afford education by any other means. It has a montessori (hands-on learning) preschool class that my mother usually teaches while we're there, and it also has classes for kindergarten-fourth grade. While I'm there I work with the children in first-fourth grade teaching English as a second language.
Unfortunately, the public schools in this area (as in much of India) are woefully unequipped for effective education. The teachers often have little experience or instruction as to how to preform their job and the schools themselves have little funding. There are not nearly enough teachers for the amount of students there,the result being that students get very little individual attention. The teachers also often have little experience or instruction as to how to preform their job. Thus, Antaranga is also opened up for tutoring high school students in the evenings, where I also help students with their English.
Apart from this we also spend a lot of time in India going to small villages and teaching children and women there about personal hygiene and health. We provide instruction to local teachers on how to more effectively preform their occupation, and have been helping to develop small preschools run by local teenagers in each of the smaller villages.
That, in a nut shell, is what I'm doing while I'm MIA from Connecticut for a month+. Though my mother has gone for a few years now, this will only be second time going and I can't wait to leave in a week to see everyone I met there last year. Keep updated on the blog, and I'll do my best to fill everyone in on the school and culture while I'm there (hopefully with pictures!)