Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I'm feeling so proud of myself!

If you are thinking "Look..she is blowing her own trumpet now!", yes I AM! :)

Before you start shaking your heads and reach for the close button wait! First listen to me! I know after you are done reading, you will pat my back too! That's something I can guarantee 100%. Ab stamp paper par likh kar doon kya? :)

So the thing is I've been teaching my maid, who does our utensils, to read and write in English as well as do basic numbers work. Its been about 2 months now. Probably a little more than that. I manage to teach her about 3 times a week on an average. And now I can proudly say that she can easily read and pronounce correctly the 3 letter words! Yippee!!!

She can also read numbers in hundreds! Yippee!!

I think she has done a great job in learning and grasping things. Especially looking at my teaching methods. It was a first time for me too when it comes to teaching. I had to do a refresher in the phonetics myself when teaching her. And but of course we had Anirudh who would always give his 2 cents whenever she would pronounce a letter wrong or write it wrong :)

So how did I start about teaching her? She herself came forward one evening and asked me "Didi, aap mujhe English likhna aur padhna sikhayoge? Mera bhi seekhne ka mann hai." I said "Haan bilkul. Par mann laga kar karna padega. Yeh nahi ki 6 din mein bore ho kar chhod diya." She nodded her head with so much conviction, that I agreed. I agreed despite the fact that I reach home only around 6:45 - 7 pm.

A little bit about her. Her name is Arti. She is actually the daughter of my maid. She is the eldest amongst her sisters. They are 4 sisters. She studied only for a year. Her parents took her out of school when their financial condition was bad. My maid's husband was jobless. He is a very decent guy. Doesn't smoke or drink and neither is of the types who beat their wife and children. He tried to get jobs here and there but to no avail. Finally he got a job as a rickshaw puller. But he would sometimes not even make 200-250 in a month coz he would drive the rickshaw on rent and would have to give major chunk of the earnings as rent. So she asked us if we can give him the work of cleaning our car. We agreed and gave both our cars to him. That way at least his fixed income would be 300 per month besides the money he would make from the odd jobs. Slowly he got more such car cleaning jobs and now just by cleaning cars he makes more than 2000 a month. So as a family they manage to make about 5000 per month. And over the time instead of my maid, her girl, this girl 'Arti' that I'm talking about, took over the job at my place. Its been almost a year since she has been coming to our house. I've always been fond of her and she knows it. Probably that is why she could get herself to request me for teaching her. She probably knew I won't say no.

Before starting to teach her I asked her why she wants to learn reading and writing. She replied, "Meri chhoti bahno ko bhi aata hai. Mujhe bhi seekhna hai." She went on to tell me that her sisters go to school but she cannot as she has to help out her mother in earning. I felt a bit sad but then this is reality. I decided that I will even sponsor stationery for her. So slowly and slowly we started from alphabet, to numbers to pronunciations and now to 3 letter words. And how she has progressed in these 2.5 - 3 months, I'm really happy about it.

It actually gives me dual happiness. One, she is on the path of being a literate. Second, I feel a little satisfied that I've been able to help in making someone literate. I do not feel wasted doing just our own things. I know we still have a long way to go but being able to read and write 3 letter words as well as the numbers is a milestone in itself.

Now I've to think of something to award her for her efforts. Probably I will ask her only what she wants :)

38 comments:

  1. :)

    solid pat on the back deserved NM!! :D

    if there are more people like this, we wont need a times on india led Teach India movement!

    good jon by Arti and you and ofcos l'il helper anirudh! :)

    yes! do buy her something nice that she wants!

    hugs

    abha

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  2. Oh ~nm, that's such a wonderful thing to do. Good on you ! You deserve a pat on your back AND a BiiiiiiiiiiiG hug from me.

    I agree, Arti needs a reward too for her determination to learn despite the unfavourable circumstances....let us know what you got for her.

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  3. you have all the right to feel proud. and I feel proud about you. Many will speak things, but you did something to bring a difference to the family - you deserve more than a pat on your back... :)

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  4. wow!!! big big big pat on ur back... a fantastic thing done... i think arti needs an award for sure and u need for too :) :)

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  5. that was an effort, i must say..!
    nice post..!!

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  6. Wow! Awesome effort!! :)
    You do deserve a big pat on your back!

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  7. like i tell my students....

    "A pat on the back,a hug from the teacher,a shake of the hand...well done"

    i am proud of you.

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  8. WOW..this is really great ..Congrats :)

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  9. You are great! Good job! Well done! :)

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  10. I think by now your back must be hurtin more than a wee bit, so here's a pat on your head :D!
    *pat pat*

    I think you are awesome. Sincerely. You have keen interest in humanity (even tho I personally think they do not deserve it) and the preservation of which can be a daunting task for most. But not you, man. You zoom about admonishing strangers not to litter, take time out to ensure someone is literate, celebrate your moms birthday with blind kids... you are an inspiration!

    LOVE you LOTS!
    *hugs*
    *some more pats!*
    Ami

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  11. proud of u, nids!
    PAT on the back! you deserve so much more than a pat, though!
    BIG hug to u, gurl!

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  12. N! you are awesome! this deserves more than a pat on the back, it deserves an applause! how did you manage to make time for it despite working full time and with a kid? Shows your generosity and compassion. very sweet of you.

    -Kodi's Mom.

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  13. Are you for real??
    Man you are super human!!!

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  14. So proud of you, ~nm! The world needs more people like you :)

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  15. OMG N, this one left me all choked up,for you achievement..but more than anything else, your generosity and noble intentions touched me most.
    That and I imagined Arti's face glowing with pride.
    You both really deserve pats on your backs and also, rewards!

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  16. Congratulations to you both (you & Arti) !
    You deserve more than a pat.

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  17. Wonderful job!!
    You know, that's one of my dreams/goals if/when I return to India...Teach my maid to read/write!! But for now...I'm the maid here...so....

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  18. Great job to you and Arti both!

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  19. o jee, ek aur award and pat on the back for ya!! :)

    cheers!

    abha

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  20. Tagged ~nm - http://manasadreamz.blogspot.com/2008/09/love-me-for-reason-let-reason-be-love.html

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  21. I am constsnlt amazed by the public service you put in. This is really fanatastic. How old is your maid? Tell hubby to get you something nice for the fantastic job you have done!

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  22. this is really amazing!
    a virtual standing ovation from me for you and Arti :)

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  23. Thanks everyone for saying such wonderful words about me!! I'm thrilled!! *takes a bow*

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  24. Wow, this is brilliant, ~Nm.

    Btw, why can't I comment on your other blog?

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  25. This indeed is something to be very proud about ..very well done nm! How old is Arti? Sad to hear their story ..5000 a month is just too meager :( But am glad u r making a difference :)

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  26. if there is a super woman award going around in blogdom u win it hands down!!!:-)

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  27. you've made a difference to arti...atleast she can feel she's doing something with her life...

    congrats girl, that indeed is a job well done...

    hugs
    Suma

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  28. Nice! Maybe you can buy her a nice book as she loves to read :) just a suggestion.

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  29. Excellent job - you deserve to be proud. Please buy her a nice book as a gift. Let her develop an interest in reading.

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  30. Kudos to you for doing this. Great job girl.

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  31. awwww I am so proud of you. How old is she? I have to meet Arti when im there! :)

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  32. NM - congratulations - to you and to Arti. I hope she can use this knowledge to further economic independence and well-being of her family.

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  33. Hey--I could SO RELATE to thsi post..You know I had taught Seema (my house help) english when she expressed a desire to learn.Every day I'd give her lessons for an hour.Imagine my joy when she proudly read my book! (she can read quite well now--equal to the level of a child in class 4)

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  34. That is so wonderful! All the best to both student and teacher for their mutual progress:)

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  35. Hi - am an occassional reader, delurking for the first time - and sorry i read this post so late! nevertheless you deserve all the pats on the back / hugs and the very best of wishes - that's such a wonderful thing to do!

    SM

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  36. WOW! That was SO NICE of you! And I know it would have taken a lot of commitment from your end to devote some time to her when you could have used that time for Anirudh. Congrats, ~Nm, and a BIG hug.

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