Stephanie Walter in TGD School

Stephanie Walter

I have been in Thatta Ghulamka Dheroka – a small village in the backwater of Punjab - for almost a month. How time flies! I’ve seen some wonderful attachments of young students with me.’ Teaching English to young children from a rural background is no picnic. But the best thing is that I already have overcome communication barriers.

In my last article I wrote about my colorful magnetic letters and numbers which we put on the doors. Every time one of the girls or I lose one of them as they fall on the ground the girls scream "Oh, No". I say "no problem." Also "no Urdu", respectively "no English" are often used sentences in the School.

I enjoy when young girls try to explain me something in Urdu. They can't believe that I understand only few words in Urdu. So I say only "no Urdu, no English" and the answer is "no English, no English. But we perfectly communicate and go along very well.

Every day morning, on my way to the School the girls meet and greet me not only with "Good Morning" but also with "no problem, no problem" or "no English, no English". I am greeting with Good Morning at 2 PM or even at 8 PM but I enjoy that. Soon I will teach them greeting for the afternoon and evening.

Best thing is that the young students enjoy learning and as much as I enjoy teaching. In the process, they are exposed to English words and phrases and I to Urdu. The process goes on.