Goodbye dear children!!

It had been with much doubts and insecurities that I approached the first internship phase. I was so unsure about the connection I could make with the learners and the school ambience in general. But as we are about to return to our college successfully completing the teaching practice session for third semester, I feel that something holds me back at the school...some sort of impending loss... a strange force of love, innocence and pure mirth.... And with pride, I dedicate it to the children at NSS GHS Pandalam, especially the 27 pieces of my soul, fondly named as the vibrant students of my dear 8B.

We had much to do during the last week. I finished the lesson "A Day in the Country", a short story by Anton Chekhov. The children enjoyed the story very much. It was as if they actually took a stroll through the beautiful rural landscape of the story. They shared their thoughts and knowledge about the nature's plenty and could easily relate to the mischiefs and concerns of the characters in the story - Fyokla, the six year old girl and her brother, Danilka, the eight year old boy. I also taught the poem "First Showers" by Nalini Sharma. As almost all afternoons are blessed with rain these days, learners readily appreciated the sensuousness of the poem in all its vividness. In fact, they observed more than I expected, and shared their rain experiences - the scent of earth, wading through puddles, getting soaked in rain, rain drops glistening on grass and leaves, clothes getting wet so on and so forth. We also discussed the imagery employed in the poem.

A diagnostic test was conducted on 07 December 2023 (Thursday). The test focussed on identifying the learner problems with respect to spelling, meaning and grammar. The chosen areas included phrasal verb, noun phrase, regular/irregular verbs, affixes, forms of pronoun, conditional clause and word meanings.

Diagnostic Test

On analysing the number of correct and wrong responses made by the children, I could infer that most learners lacked conceptual clarity in the sessions of regular/irregular verbs and noun phrase. Hence, a remedial class was conducted on 08 December 2023 (Friday) to ensure effective learning of the same.

Remedial Teaching

I engaged 8E also, where I started the lesson "A Day in the Country".

We also conducted a Yoga session as a part of Health and Physical Education on 07 December 2023 (Thursday). Dr. Vinod Kumar K., Assistant Professor in Physical Education at our college was there to observe the session. With proper line up and warming up activities, Tadasana (Mountain Pose) was demonstrated with appropriate commentary for the children to follow. Afterwards, the benefits of Tadasana were explained to the children followed by a lead up activity.

Explaining the benefits of Tadasana

On Friday, 08 December 2023, we, the teacher trainees of English optional subject, organized a poster making competition titled "Brushstrokes of Imagination" on the theme "Reading". The competition held for 8th standard students was under the banner of "Mantra", the Association of English. The students from 8B, 8C, 8D and 8F took part in it. The participants came up with numerous creative and colourful posters and made the programme fruitful.

Creativity Unbound

I distributed sweets to all my children who took pains to prepare posters last week on the topic "Conservation of Nature". I also gave tokens of appreciation to the toppers in Achievement test and Diagnostic test. The children were so happy and excited.

8B Vibes

Today marked the last day of Internship Phase - 1. Honestly, I don't know how to pen down my feelings now. From the innocent utterances "We will miss you teacher" and "Please do come back teacher", I discern the unfathomable affection of the kids who have been occupying my brain and heart alike for the past days. However, I cannot stay back...