A Volunteer Teacher. A droplet. An Ocean.

I came across eVidyaloka while surfing the internet and was intrigued with the idea of teaching English in a rural area.

I registered on their website and got a call for orientation where I was informed about my role as an online Volunteer Teacher. The very next day I joined as a Volunteer Teacher for the 6th grade students of Rashtriya Uccha Madhyamik Vidyalaya in Shivdaspura- Chaksu, Rajasthan.

My first day of the class began with an introduction and I asked the students to introduce themselves. A little prompting and they managed to introduce themselves, tell me about their dreams and hobbies. Some were shy while others were confident. I ended the class with the action song ‘It’s me who builds community’ wherein I shared my screen on Google Meet and we danced to the song.

The first day ended but the journey had just begun. I learnt that most of my kids had to struggle to reach the school. For most, the school was located at least five kilometres (5kms) away from the school. Many get up early, help their parents with household or construction work and then pedal or walk to the school.

Here I was, knowing the circumstances the children start out from and I wanted to make them fall in love with English when they had hardly any exposure to the language.

But I strongly believe that English as a language would be a handy tool for my kids to shine in the future.

Each day, we worked on a grammar topic. We worked on basic conversation skills, danced to English songs, watched English videos and played games that aimed to improve their language skills.

I used the online resources provided by the eVidyaloka team as a base but also ensured that I go beyond the textbook and make the class lively and fun. I brought in Rajasthani cultural references to make them feel connected with the language. I began understanding them and their struggles and with the passage of time, they learned to frame basic sentences in English.

Personally, my journey as a Volunteer Teacher taught me the value of perseverance and patience. My realisation as a volunteer teacher teaching the children of rural Rajasthan could be summed up in Hindi with the line - 'Hum boond lekar gaye the, unhe zaroorat summundar ki thi.' In English it translates to ‘We went there with a droplet, but they were in need of the ocean.’

Many government schools located in rural areas lack the infrastructure to teach students. They lack teachers for even the main subjects. It is here that our role as Volunteer Teachers become more significant as we get to touch the lives of children in these schools directly. If you believe that you could make a difference, start with the pen and paper and be a (Boond) droplet for a child in rural India. Each lesson, each concept, each interaction, each appreciation is a drop to the child in a remote rural school. And these drops eventually make up the (Sammunder) ocean.

A curious child is waiting for you to bring them the Sammundar (ocean) with your online presence and skills.

Jesstlin Thomas is an Instructional Designer located in Navi Mumbai and teaches online in Chaksu, Rajasthan in the Hindi language.

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