I teach several classes at Gandaki Boarding School!

My class of students at boarding school

the other half of the class

In the home of the Vice Principal at Gandaki Boarding School

(pics to follow later)

Wow! Just had another amazingly, serendipitous day. I tried to call first, but couldn’t get through, so I just showed up at Gandaki Boarding School (GBS). At the guard booth I had the good fortune to run into someone high up, and all he had to hear were the words Peace Corps and he sent me right to the principal’s house, where his wife showed me photos of them in Thailand. Then the principal took me to his office in the engineering college and someone brought me tea, water, and biscuits (never drink the water), and we talked for nearly two hours.

He is a very well educated man who taught in Norway, has presented papers in Australia, and is a published author of Nepal Geography. He has added the engineering part of the school and next August will add an MA in software engineering, but is looking for two more qualified faculty. He is also looking for an IT person to help him set up completely interconnected classrooms around the campus. We talked about all subjects and could not stop. I am invited to come back tomorrow to observe classes, meet teachers, and meet students. I feel so lucky that all this is happening without prior arrangements or letters of introduction or contacts. Just on my own I am able to walk in and present myself and earn the attention and trust of the top administrator. His children are grown, one studying in the Netherlands, one working in Australia and working on his MA in IT there. He told me that GBS has been voted the best school in Nepal.

(the end of the next day)

GBS was an amazing experience. The idea of GBS is amazing: the most selective and qualified students from around Nepal, no cell phones, no laptops, strict regimentation of time, clothing, behavior. Very polite students. All instruction in English, except the Nepali language instruction. 1,000 students half boarding, half bussed from nearby communities. Class sizes from 14 to 40, the best teachers. Adding a software engineering program, BA or MA, next year, already added a college for engineers.

Here was my actual experience. I arrived early at the front gate and was made to wear a visitors badge. First I had a little more time with the principal, Rabi Prasad Barak, who had me write in the visitors book, gave me some literature, and told me my visit was now official. I reminded him that I wanted to observe classes, so he led me to the vice principal, who deals with the day to day running of the school, Shiva Lal Dhital, who has been at the school since 1986, I think, and was a student before that. The buildings were under construction when I was receiving training here all those years ago. Shiva set me up all day.  Second period I observed a social studies teacher using a Dell laptop connected to a projector that showed a powerpoint about the rise of Hitler to 14 quiet students (10 boys, 4 girls) diligently taking notes. Kadananda Sharma, the A-level supervisor and English teacher, explained to me later that GBS students do not read widely, so teachers have to put information in the form that students can learn it.  (I can’t imagine doing a powerpoint of Austen or Shakespeare’s works because my students wouldn’t read the books—but maybe I should!)  The room was quite large, not air conditioned on the hot muggy day but with multiple overhead fans cooling us and making it a little hard to hear. The teacher read much of the powerpoint, but would also stop and elaborate. There were 32 wood desks, well built, with 32 comfortable wooden chairs. All the students wear strict uniforms, girls wear ties and stockings. No students had laptops, or cell phones, I’m told, and all were taking notes in comp books. I recognized the stamina of concentration that students all over the world need to succeed, being able to sit still for hour after hour, sometimes tuning out, but mostly focused and paying attention. Why can’t students have 4 minutes every period when they discuss in pairs? Or have one student every day (or every 10 minutes) sit on a stool at the front of the class and co-teach part of the lesson? Why can’t students be more active?   

Next I was put into a 12A class with about 40 students and no other teacher! I was expected to teach a class with no prior knowledge of what they had done and no lesson plan! The students were very polite, but a little shy to speak English with me, even though all their classes were in English all the time. I had to tap dance, and I wasn’t prepared. First I introduced myself and my bio, BA Biology, Peace Corps, phD at USC, teaching high school in USA, etc. I told them I was a teacher of reading and writing. I wrote the Hunger Games on the board. No one had ever even heard of it! Two students had read Harry Potter, and admitted that their school was a little like Hogwarts, with four teams vying for points. Two had read Twilight, and a number had just started reading Percy Jackson, the series, which I later found out the librarian had just acquired recently.   I asked about science fiction, but they thought I meant Stephen Hawkings or physics texts. Then I talked about essays. They have to write two essays, 250 words each, at the end of 10^th grade, which is the end of high school, and at the end of Plus 2, the first post secondary years. The topics are not known ahead of time. I ran out of material, which I admitted. I walked around the room from student to student as they gave their name and favorite subjects: Biology, Maths, Chemistry, Physics, one Computer, one English, two Nepali, one Social Studies. So I talked about my nephews who were studying at Harvey Mudd and UC Santa Cruz in advanced math and artificial intelligence. I introduced the idea of computers smarter than humans. It evolved (who knows how?) to a sort of declaration that we should be careful: remember the movie I Robot? I asked for a rebuttal, and a youngish, nerd kid stood up and defended software protections against machines taking over. I found another student who was willing to talk about hackers who can disable protections. Back and forth, me facilitating, all in English, pretty good for no plan at all! The students applauded as the two key debaters sat down and I felt a little of the applause was for me. I talked for a while about the Stuxnet virus or Trojan Horse, which they got the classical reference, and how hackers can be nationalists as well and how many centrifuges had been disabled by this carefully engineered virus, delaying Iran’s purification of Uranium 238. I felt like a polyglot, able to discourse on multiple subjects, including Chemistry and science, and world politics. (It must be the altitude that gives me visions of grandeur!) Eventually I was saved by the bell and they thanked me for a good class.

The vice principal treated me to lunch in the giant dining hall, and then off to a fifth grade class with a substitute. (I feel substitutes hurt continuity of instruction, and I had witnessed two in one day.) The sub wore a traditional sari and was quite competent. The students called me “Sir.” First a girl of ten years summarized a long story about a tiger, and the teacher praised her memory. Then students were to write 5 questions, who what where when why, to ask me or her or a neighbor. Soon there was a  long line of shy but engaged students asking my name, my profession, favorite pet, favorite sport, favorite player (Lionel Messi for Barcelona and Argentina), then they went back to their desks and composed five sentence essays explaining all about me (or the teacher). It was quite delightful and a good lesson for a standby. At the bell they all wanted my Facebook password! I had to move through a crowd of eager students that would hardly let me go.

Then I had tea with the teachers and some asked me questions about moving to North Hollywood and would their pre-teen kids adjust there. Last I went to a 10^th grade class, where the students are preparing for the SLC leaving exam. The topic was the importance of breastfeeding, which could be on the end of year exam and seems to have important health implications for a nation like this, but I was so surprised that no 15 year olds laughed or chortled at the topic. They were either focused, or the topic doesn’t strike them as in any way prurient, or they are not like American teens, who I am sure would have been smiling. The teacher read the last paragraph, with some explanations, then they were to complete a vocabulary exercise, which seemed tedious to me and perhaps elementary, then I was asked to give a treatise on the topic. I composed some notes and spoke the last ten minutes of class about antibodies from the mother and the scandal of Nestle selling infant formula in the 1970’s (I think) which was mixed with unpure water. The only questions were from the teacher who asked what are the most important  elements to a 250 word essay, which I could speak about at length. I asked for other questions from the students, and one said, “Perfect, therefore no questions.” I was flattered, but it made me think about the role of students forming questions in education, which I have two books on the topic waiting for me at home.

The vice principal took me to his flat to eat rice, meet his wife and granddaughter. Then I was led to a soccer game between A-level and 12^th, which the latter won 2-0 in horrendous monsoon rains that drenched the field, players, refs, and the enthusiastic girls cheering. I was handed the microphone to make a statement about my feelings of observing this sportsmanship, which I kept brief. Then the principal drove me in the rain back to Lamachaur, where I got soaked in the rain just walking back to Phal’s house. What a day!!