Yesterday I told you about visiting the slums and after that the children from the Inter Faith Child Study Centre did a programme of entertainment for us.Here they all are gathered, many parents there as well, the Rev Amiya Das welcoming all for the evening.
First we were welcomed with garlands.
The garlands are wonderful, but they are surprisingly heavy. I have quite a few while I have been here and I use them to decorate my room for a few days before they die.
We were then entertained with dances and songs. These children from the Muslim slums energetically singing and dancing along to a very lively Christian song.
This little child spent quite a long time looking up at me and playing peekaboo while some of the dance were happening.
These are the first two little girls who will be attending St Michaels School Bankura, an English medium school, all the teaching in English. He prayed for them and and then they did a beautiful dance all about aspirations and following your dreams. They are hopefully the first of many more in the future to go. They have been learning English in the Inter Faith Centre so have enough to start in the school and they will be helped with their homework at the Centre just like the children here are.
Another lively dance by some of the teenage girls, they all seem to have boundless energy.
All their numbers seem far longer than the numbers my children used to do in shows, they all average six-eight minutes. They just keep going.
At the end of the evening Rev Das presented to this mother and her family a gift that had been sent from Harriet that was with the team there in January, and this family had invited her into their house, so she sent a photo of them and a gift of clothing for her children.
It was a very enjoyable evening and good to see what they are doing in the other centres. It is amazing the talent some of these youngsters have and if it can be encouraged and channeled in the right direction it will give them a good start to a better life. Being able to speak, read and write English is one hurdle they need to overcome. In India today being able to be interviewed for a job in English will help you get a good job.
Many of the younger children here, studying at St Michaels read and write quite well but their spoken English needs improving, they understand a lot when you speak to them but are not good at replying. I have been working with them on that. No longer will I let them push a violin at me and say 'loose string', they have to ask me 'Please will you tune my violin, my _ string is loose.' and they don't get their violin back until I have had a 'Thank you'. some are still quite shy to speak English and do the usual head tilt here meaning 'ok, or yes, or I understand'
It was a very enjoyable evening and good to see what they are doing in the other centres. It is amazing the talent some of these youngsters have and if it can be encouraged and channeled in the right direction it will give them a good start to a better life. Being able to speak, read and write English is one hurdle they need to overcome. In India today being able to be interviewed for a job in English will help you get a good job.
Many of the younger children here, studying at St Michaels read and write quite well but their spoken English needs improving, they understand a lot when you speak to them but are not good at replying. I have been working with them on that. No longer will I let them push a violin at me and say 'loose string', they have to ask me 'Please will you tune my violin, my _ string is loose.' and they don't get their violin back until I have had a 'Thank you'. some are still quite shy to speak English and do the usual head tilt here meaning 'ok, or yes, or I understand'
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