2....2....2 posts in 1

Today we went to a school that trains people to be teachers. It was really interesting to see the program. Again, the adult students had a morning meeting which included meditation. Also, they wore uniforms! I was trying to compare it to teacher training programs in the US and there's not much in common. The program is two years and it costs a total of 20 dollars for both. Think about how many college graduates go into debt with student loans - no here, at least not for the teaching program. There was two classes - one was the first year students and the other was the second year students. The first group was listening to a presentation on New Delhi, but the power went out so the teacher had to improvise. I honestly couldn't tell if it was just giving the students some content knowledge or what. The second class was doing a plaster of paris project. The schools here do have a strong art presence with the painting and decorations around the schools. I don't know what they were doing other than learning an art concept. I spoke to a few young girls and was asking some questions about how they would use this in their classes when they become teachers and how they might do a follow up activity to check for understanding....I don't know if there was something lost in translation or if they haven't covered those types of things. I asked Rajesh if they learn strategies and methodologies and he said yes, but they were maybe trying to show us something different during our visit - more hands on. Still it was interesting to see how their teaching credential system works.

We stopped by the Red Fort which is a large fort in New Delhi built by the same man that built the Taj Mahal.....Shah Jahan. It was huge with lots of different buildings to house the king, house his concubines, mosques and such. Evidently after he lost power they buildings were looted for the gems that were all over the walls and ceilings and the buildings were painted white. There was a river right next to the fort but the British (during occupation) didn't like the mosquitoes that came with it so they re-routed it. They are restoring the walls and discovering some amazing art underneath. Well, once again a huge crowd was forming and people taking pictures and/or selfies with us in the background. I asked Rajesh what was up? It isn't tourist season (too hot) but surely there are tons of foreigners when it is. He said that many of the people here were here on vacation from small towns and villages and we were probably the first Americans they've seen....so I guess that explains it....but it's a bit overwhelming

Today we left to all go to our host cities for our week long teaching experience. The pair that was supposed to go to Mombai had their trip cancelled due the flooding that's going on their right now. Because of this, we have Jo Beth with our group to share in our experience! Crowded flight to Kolkata. By the way, this city was originally named Kolkata, then when the British took over they changed it to Calcutta. Now that the British are gone, there is a movement to start changing names back to their origin...hence the name change. Rita joined us at airport and we took a............guess......UBER! Big thing here in Kolkata - all white cars and have numbers on them from Uber. Most everything else is the same except you can pay in cash. Got to our hotel - the Kenilworth - definitely an old world British feel. Amazing old hotel that has the colonial feel and you can almost transport yourself into the past and imagine what it looked like....Tomorrow we will hit the schools and really get into it!