I woke up around 8AM and got ready for the day. I met Tsetan Dolkar again for breakfast at her house (which sort of became the routine most days). Then it was off to school at 10AM. Again, I had about 30 students in the small classroom, including the same three 12-year-old boys who like to sit up front near me. These boys are so cute and they're really good at learning English. (They came to my classes because their regular school had a winter break, and their parents didn't want them just hanging out around the house all day. So they came to my classes each day.) Also, unlike my Japanese students, these boys are eager to learn English and speak with me!
In contrast to yesterday's fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants lesson, I prepared something more complex for the Advanced and Intermediate students. For the Advanced classes, I introduced verbals: participles (past and present), gerunds and infinitive phrases (noun, adjective and adverb types). I also started teaching verbal phrases each class. These are colloquialisms like "get on (with something)," "come together/apart," and "go over (someone or something)." The students seemed to like these lessons because I was teaching them "real world" English, along with grammar.
Again, I was impressed by how much English the students already knew. And they were very fast learners - picking up grammar patterns quickly and able to answer in complete sentences.
For Intermediate classes, I began teaching "Verb Synonyms:" different ways/meanings of a common verb. For example, the verb "get" can be substituted with similar verbs like "grasp," "understand," "catch" etc. Then I explained all the subtle meanings of each synonym and how they can change the meaning or tone of a sentence.
At the end of the day I felt more confident that my lesson plans would be more effective and were better-suited to students' levels. Before this, I'd never taught higher-level English, so it was a challenge, but has been great teaching experience. And it certainly helps to have students who are motivated, interested and grateful to learn English!
After teaching Advanced English, two Intermediate classes and doing the conversation class in the evening, I was tired. Jet lag (although India is only 3.5 hours away from Japan) still had a hold on me. Not to mention the terrifying 13.5 hour bus ride from Delhi! I didn't have to go far for dinner, though, because Tsetan Dolkar cooked for me again. Tonight's menu was dal (small beans in a sauce), potato-vegetable stew and chapattis.
After dinner I heard that there was a small Christmas Eve get together at a cafe across the street from the monastery I teach at. It's called Cafe Oasis and is owned and operated by a group of Christian relief volunteers. All proceeds go toward their humanitarian projects in Lower Dharamsala.
Inside the cafe they had a Christmas tree, candles on the tables, copies of some Christmas carols and a piano. Three Swedish girls who were working at the cafe baked some ginger cookies, made hot tea, and had orange slices. It was a warm, familiar and cozy setting to send Christmas Eve - even though I'm not a Christian.
That I'm not a Christian came up during a conversation with one of the Swedish girls. I think she was kind of shocked for a moment, because I guess she expected everyone there (especially a Westerner like myself) would be Christian. But I actually had no idea at the time that the cafe was owned and run by Christians. I'm totally cool with that, but I guess when i mentioned to her that I'm a Buddhist, I caught her off guard.
Anyway, the cafe was a nice place to be that evening - mostly because of the atmosphere and, more importantly, it was warm! The temperature started dropping this evening, and my room was getting almost too cold to sleep in at night (even when wearing 4-5 layers and wrapping myself in a sleeping bag and two blankets!) So the next day I decided to talk to Lobsang to see if he could help me find another cheap place to stay near work.
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