Teaching Kavita...& other pleasant surprises

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I had a startling and wonderful experience at work today. As I was handing out my worksheet on sewing vocabulary and associated pronouns and verbs, I noticed one of my students, a 20-year-old girl named Kavita, walk into the school. Kavita and I had spoken briefly twice before today, and she had always appeared to be an independent, but quiet girl, with mixed interest in my English lessons.

I haphazardly asked her if she was interested in today’s lesson and handed her the worksheet. I had been turned down by two shy girls earlier that morning, so it would not have shocked me to learn that she was also too embarrassed or too engrossed in her stitching work to be interested in my lesson. She nodded, looked down at the paper I had handed her and sat down away from the students and me I was helping with pronunciation at the moment.

Kavita, Raj Kumari, and Lata.

I had always been curious about Kavita. She rarely spoke to me, but she also didn’t seem to be partaking of the social scene of Munirka. She came to the school strictly to sew, and then she left. She carried herself with pride, but never overbearing. I was naturally curious about her, but preoccupied with the 20 or so other girls to really be able to take the time to visit with her.

Though I imagine she must have had help with the instructions, at least, from some other girl, Kavita was back at my side within a few minutes. She had completely the entire worksheet that had taken me hours to teach the other girls in about 20 minutes. Intrigued, and half suspecting the other girls had just given her the answers; I invited her to sit down beside me to review the work she had done.

I was shocked to learn that she was able to perfectly pronounce each vocabulary word without hesitation, a task I had not been able to accomplish with any other woman at the center. She read my list without hesitation: “needle”, “neckline”, “sleeves”, etc. Even though her accent was not perfect, Kavita could read without hesitating. Accustomed to working with the shy Indian girls from the slum, I was taken aback by her bold approach to tackling the English assignment I had handed her.

After a brief conversation, I asked her a few simple questions in English, which she comfortably answered, and then invited her to read a simple alphabet “I Spy” book I had brought with me to the school. As we made our way through the first four pages, I realized she was way above this level, and she freely read without vacillation…I told her that she didn’t need to continue, and she asked me if she could return to her sewing. I nodded.

I was mystified. She had the kind of foundation I had hoped for when I first arrived, but had not really expected. This, and the fact that today, for the first time, the women began calling me “Didi” as I sat with them around a circle on the floor and taught them vocabulary associated with sewing activities, made me feel like I was finally beginning to break ground.

 I’m bringing Kavita a few books to look over with me tomorrow. I had to search through our resource center; and it was difficult to find a book that was not as advanced at George Orwell, but not as basic as “I Spy.” On another note, my Hindi is progressing, and thought I can slowly read now, I still have no idea what I’m reading about. Maybe the girls can help me…maybe Kavita will prove to be a dream student. Maybe I should not get my hopes up. We'll see.