And Bingo Was His Name

A quick housekeeping note: In last post, I incorrectly identified Roman’s in-laws (wife’s parents) as his parents. Sorry.  I hope this didn’t cause you all too much inconvenience.

I apologize for leaving this blog post for so long. It’s just that I’ve been busy, believe it or not. I might as well start telling the stories! Since I have so many little things to say, I might jump around a bit. I hope that’s ok and not too difficult to follow. Definitely won’t really be in chronological order.

First of all, let me talk about work. My first real-real day of work, I met my on-site supervisor, Rashid. He’s a very nice man, and easily is the most fluent in English on-site. This is mainly because he did a Master’s degree at the University of Western Ontario (sorry, Western University). I’m pretty sure, actually, that he was there at the same time as Mom was! Kind of a neat coincidence!

Anyway this first day, we sort of did another tour, but in a more detailed, hands-on fashion. We started the day (9am) at the ‘opening session’ which happens every day. The students from all classes sit in this big room and sing the national anthem, meditate for about 10 minutes, and share their thoughts with their peers. I was introduced to everyone, and then when classes started, we began circulating through them. We stopped in every classroom and I was introduced again to the students and the teacher. It allowed me some opportunity to speak with the kids, and for them to ask me some questions. In some classes we stayed longer than others- for example, in Bristi (say brish-tee – the Bangla word for rain; all classes have water-based names but usually they aren’t used. Bristi and Jhorno [river] are the exceptions: JK and SK equivalents respectively) we helped the students form English letters properly. I thought it was pretty neat that at the same time that these JK students are learning to write the Bangla script, they’re also learning the English script! English is so important for students, because it’s critical for any job or education that deals with foreigners or foreign products (that is, all the desirable ones), which is the ultimate goal for everyone.

Throughout this more detailed “tour”, I tried to take note of classroom atmospheres, student-teacher relations, and, where possible given my weak Bangla, staff and student performance. This is basically what I spend half of my time doing now on a regular work day. I am supposed to be assessing all of these things and looking at areas for improvement. Eventually (and hopefully starting soon), I’ll make recommendations on how these improvements can come about. But for now I am still largely in the observation stage. I’ll basically just sit in on a class, or a staff meeting, or a discussion between Rashid and a teacher and make note of what I see. At this point, a major focus I’m developing is on poor-achieving students. In one particular class of 30 students, for example, almost a third of them are failing in several subjects. I want to find out why, and see what supports are available in the METI system to help deal with these issues.

The other half of my time is basically spent on teaching English or helping teachers plan their English lessons. I rotate through the grades, taking usually two or three per day. My focus is mostly on the upper-years (grades 7-10), but sometimes I will also take a younger grade. Despite the drudgery that is marking papers, I don’t mind this teaching so much, because the students are all fun and interesting to work with. But I’m hoping that my work can take more of a long-term-benefit focus (ie. How I spend the other half of my time). The teachers really like when I teach (and, as I mentioned, help them plan their own classes when I can’t be there) because, as they tell me, they are often very poorly qualified to be teaching this subject. Most have not had any formalized English education beyond their own high school days. With me and among each other, they admit their weaknesses, but in the classroom, they often won’t admit this to their students. So sometimes there are awkward moments in which the students seem to know something better than the teacher, but the teacher pretends they are confident in their position. I try to help in these cases, but only if I feel I won’t be making the teacher look unknowledgeable. I know that it would be pretty embarrassing to have a 19 year old tell you you’re wrong in front of your students…

Spoken English is not emphasized in the curriculum here. On the examinations required to pass high school, there are no oral exams. This, to me, is problematic for me for 2 reasons. First of all, because when I teach a class, they often have difficulty understanding me and/or responding in English. The second reason is that spoken English is actually probably the most important and practical application of the language for these students in the context of English as the “International Language”. Their grammar is generally fairly solid (or at least, it will need to be to pass their exams), and so their main issue if studying/working abroad or working with foreigners would be the ability to communicate orally. The teachers are mostly lacking in this area too, and so this is another area I’m focussing on. Is there anything I can do to help improve spoken English? Already, some of my English classes with the younger grades (4,5) have emphasized pronunciation. I hope this is helpful.

Back to that first day: I also taught an English lecture for the DESI students in the afternoon of that day, since they also have English class covered by one of the METI teachers. I talked mostly about Canada and its context within the English language, and about the culture. I was surprised to learn when I arrived at METI/DESI that most people don’t really understand at first that my first language is English. METI/DESI receives a relatively fair number of foreign visitors, but most are Germans, Swiss, Koreans or Japanese. They will always communicate with these visitors in a common language – English. But, of course, it’s always the second language for both speakers. It was very difficult to convince the cook, for example, on the first day that English was my mother tongue. He was telling me the Bangla names of foods, and then the English word, then the German word which he had learned, and then asking me what my local language called it. I would repeat the English word, not really understanding at first. He was surprised: “Same as English?” When it finally clicked for me, I explained it was mother tongue. He seemed outright shocked!

One of the most common things I am asked when I enter a class, regardless of the age group (though apparently only when the regular teacher isn’t in the room for older grades) is to sing. I don’t consider myself much of a singer and being put on the spot to sing is not a terribly pleasant experience for me. I also don’t really have any good songs memorized, let alone Canadian ones, so I’ve so far basically limited myself to O Canada and Land of the Silver Birch. With the younger kids, I’ve sang The Itsy Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald (the animal noises were lost on them. I read an article once that animal noises vary incredibly between languages. That is to say, while we would say, “a sheep says ‘Baa’”, another language might say [just an example for the sake of the point] “a sheep says ‘Meh’”). Bristi always asks me to sing Hello, Good Morning but I had no idea what song that was. I’ve now learned it from them. They also ask for Bingo Was His Name. I thought I had that one covered, but when I sang it I got confused looks from the kids. It took me a while to understand why, and I’ll get to that later in the post.

In the afternoons, younger classes have ‘activities’ instead of classes. These vary from clay modelling to storytelling to group discussions. One afternoon I sat in on the grade 3 dance class. They have a special “Dance Master” who comes in to teach the students dance. Watching them, I was amazed. They are such good dancers, and dancing on the Indian subcontinent is always more interesting than North American dancing anyway. The fact that they were grade 3s just absolutely boggled my mind. I think of grade 3 still that age where your coordination with others can be a little weak. For these kids, not so. I didn’t get any pics or video (stupid me), but hopefully I’ll get the chance to see it again and get some then.

I thought I’d be working five days a week, but I’m actually working six here at METI/DESI. Saturday is not in fact a holiday for me, because METI is open. Not for students, just staff. Teachers use Saturdays to do marking and deal with issues from the previous week, and make lesson plans and coordinate activities for the upcoming week. It’s pretty laid back though, and I probably really only call it a half day worth of work. We take a liberal number of cha breaks, and sometimes Roman asks me to accompany him to the market in the afternoon. Speaking of cha breaks, we take them during school days too. Students have a 20 minute break that I’d call a “recess” around 11:30, and all of us teachers head across the street to the little tea stall. At the end of the day, we often go again. I love it.

One Saturday, Roman took me to Kaharole, which is a larger centre nearby. While Bogdur is a market for essentials, Kaharole has a much bigger market, and for things like bulk rice that’s where the staff buys food. We met the two cooks there, and bought a ton of food. The market was crazy, with (thinking back to Dhaka) ridiculously large crowds. A lot of people seemed to buying cows and herding them through the narrow streets. There was a section of the market that had about half an inch of water on the ground because that’s where the fish salesmen were and water was continuously being splashed and dumped. I saw an eel for sale. Apparently you can eat them. A man tried to sell me a goat, which I found delightful because they are so dang cute. We also bought some delicious fudge-like candy, made with the sugar from dates mixed with nuts. They are absolutely delicious and (since they’re sooo cheap) I stocked up on a bunch for my room. We ended the day with a nice bunch of litchis. They are now in  prime season here in Dinajpur district, which is also, incidentally, famous for its litchis. DREAM COME TRUE. They are indeed fantastic.

Back to the goats for a minute. I’ve had a special request to talk about them more. I’d love to. Have I mentioned that I love them? I don’t really want to touch them because of the potential for ticks or lice or whatever else they might carry, but it takes all my willpower not to grab them and hug them. On a walk with Uttam, he saw me smiling at goat-babies and asked me why, and I explained to him that I find them adorable. He thought this was hilarious. I see goats everywhere, because they are always along the side of the road, and in fields, and sometimes one even wanders into Dipshikha to graze. Today also saw a little one do this impressive run-jump-360-degree-spin trick which really entertained me.

Some goats playing on logs and such. I need a better picture to illustrate their cuteness. New goal for this week.

 Along with grazing goats and cows, there are a handful of dogs that live at Dipshikha. I don’t think they’re really pets per se, because no one really claims them as their own. The sleep outside and I think the majority of their food is scraps from meals. Maybe the cooks also feed them more, I don’t know. Anyway, a couple are really ratty-looking, but a couple others are much nicer. Arjun, the DESI student who showed me around at the Temple last post, is fond of them and has named two of the nice looking ones Sweetie and Don. I generally don’t touch them, again because of ticks and the like, but one day when I was sitting outside the METI classrooms, Sweetie and another dog (who looks like Sweetie. I can’t tell them apart) ran up to me and lick-attacked me. Cute!



Sweetie and friend outside a METI building. I'm sure you're probably thinking "Why doesn't he post pictures of the building, not dogs?" I reply, "I'm waiting for a good sunny day to get really good pictures. So far, there's been a lot of cloudy days."

In the evenings, I often join the DESI guys back at their ‘hostel’ to hang out. Sometimes, we head to Bogdur, where the market is, for cha and bananas and whatever other errands someone needs to run. As I mentioned in the last post, they are very nice to me and we have become true friends. They make fun of me when I say “Mane ki?” (“What does that mean”) because I say it so often, and I now call one guy ‘Nana’ (Bangla for maternal grandfather) because he would tease me for the fact that I often said “no” twice when people would try to load me up with a third plate of rice: “Na, na” (No, no). He also calls me Nati (grandson) now. On the other hand, I have learned just enough Bangla to tease them back a bit. I can call them monkeys and say things which are roughly equivalent to “Get outta here!” and “Hey kid, shut up!” which provide more than adequate defenses against their jokes and pranks.

There’s a young boy who attends the METI school named Fahim (his actual name is way too long for me to follow, but I think I’ll have him write it out for me. Fahim is what everyone calls him, and this is my best estimate of the spelling. The ‘h’ is barely pronounced). His family actually lives on the Dipshikha property in some houses that are set back in a far corner. His mother works in the microcredit department of Dipshikha. Every school day, Fahim shakes my hand in the morning and evening and has a “good morning” or “good afternoon” always ready for me. He has a delightful smile, and is in grade 4. His class is particularly weak, but he is a very strong student (easily outstripping his classmates in every subject). His English is quite good for a grade 4, but overall not quite good enough for complicated conversation. But he’s very forgiving of my Bangla, and we chat every time we pass, be it during class time or afterwards.

One evening, he came knocking at my door with Bokul, the DESI student, who is very close with their family. Fahim had for me a lovely bunch of litchis!! His father owns a bunch of trees, and so he brought me some as a gift. He’s really a delightful kid. I chatted with Bokul and him for a while before, as usual, I was asked to sing. When I finished Land of the Silver Birch, I asked Fahim to sing for me. He told me he would sing an English song: Bingo Was His Name. The mystery of my singing of Bingo was now revealed. Fahim’s version had the same lyrics as the first verse of my version, but a different melody. It’s much slower, and there are other verses with the names Lucky and Lampi (I thought it was Lumpy at first haha) and another name I don’t remember. I have no idea where the students learned this version, but I’m guessing the German donors.

Bokul, Fahim and litchis

I have also met here a boy named Horipada. My friend Melinda met him when she visited here, and so we both knew of the other before I arrived. He just finished his SSC (grade 10) in February and got excellent marks, meaning he’ll be attending ‘college’ (grade 11 and 12) soon. He’s a very chatty and welcoming kid, and invited me right away to visit his home nearby. We went on a Friday, by motorcycle. Roman and Sepal (my on-site boss) both also use a motorcycle, so I ride it often. Before Granny panics (I know motorcycles have such a bad rep in Canada – so dangerous), I just want to say that comparatively, I find the motorcycle to be one of the safest modes of transport I’ve ridden in Bangladesh. Easily, it’s safer than everything in Dhaka, including rickshaws (you were at the bottom of the driving food chain), and their ability to avoid holes and ruts make them better than other vehicles on the narrow dirt roads. And, I’ll never be driving.

Anyway, Horipada took me on a ride around the area. We went to Kaharole, and visited a man named Gopi or something (who is, incidentally, the METI ‘Dance Master’), who also joined us.  We drove to Sangra National Park, which was a nice, shady forest that was a nice break from the hot sun. We didn’t spend a long time there, mostly just driving around the narrow paths on the motorcycle. I saw some interesting birds, but I can’t identify them. I couldn’t get a picture, either, unfortunately. After a couple stops at random relatives houses and in Kaharole again for some tasty mishti (actually the best I’ve had in Bangladesh so far), we finally got to Horipada’s house. His whole family was there, plus an innumerable number of neighbours, and it was hard to keep track of everyone. But, the food was absolutely delicious, from a sort of sweet rice pudding, to fresh mango, to delicious potato curry. Horipada’s family is certainly not wealthy but they were very welcoming. Here they are and a shot of their home:

Horipada's home. His mother on the left and a relative and/or neighbour on the right. They are sweeping rice (I guess to dry it)



Horipada's family. If I'm not mistaken, back row left to right: Brother with baby, Horipada, brother. Front row left to right: Mother, sister, Father

Sangra Forest

A few days ago there was a village fair nearby. It was just one day, and Roman took me over on the motorbike. It was a huge swarm of people, larger than I expected to see in the rural area, and all in one place. Of course, I was a big centre of attention. One man literally wouldn’t let us pass until he had asked his fill of questions (one of which was “Did he come by plane?” Roman replied, “I don’t know,” and we still laugh about it). There was some music being played (drums) and I think some dancing, but the crowd was far too big and tight to force our way to the front (also I suspect, but am not sure, that Roman had zero desire to see it because it was traditional Hindu music and he’s Muslim). A lot of the DESI guys and some METI students were also around and we ran into a bunch of them (a nice rest from the staring). There were a lot of trinkets being sold, and I picked up some nice souvenirs (not telling what they are). There were a couple small carnival rides for kids, and some carnival-type games. I did pretty well at shooting the water balloons with a bee-bee gun, but not so well at the competition where you have to lower a ring around a bottle of pop in order to win it. The atmosphere was really cheery and it was nice to see so many families out having fun. As far as I can tell, it was a really big event for the local community. Ah, and how can I forget the food! There was so much being sold, but I avoided a lot of the fried stuff (safety inspections would fail them). Instead, mishti (of an extra-large variety) and some milk-cookie-things did just fine. It was a lovely afternoon.

Another afternoon, Roman brought me to the house of one of the METI teachers. She’s teachers Bristi, and has been with METI since its founding – the only original teacher left. She’s very nice and her English is above-average among the METI staff. Uttam and one of the DESI guys, Bidan, were doing some yard work for her (planting some trees and putting up a fence), and we just stopped in to see how things were going. The teacher has a nice bit of property, with a (relatively) roomy house, a lot of animals and several mango and litchi trees. We made a green mango salad. It’s just chopped unripe mangoes, chillies, salt, and sugar-cane molasses. It’s got a sweet and sour flavour and with the chillies made me sweat quite a bit. But still delicious! The teacher also has a cute, hyperactive son who’s in her Bristi class, and he’s always fun to be around too.

Now, it’s actually summer vacation for METI. It’s not a terribly long break (just over a week), but I am for the time being off of my regular schedule. Not that there isn’t plenty of work for me to do still, especially with DESI still running, where I’m also doing a bit of observing into the practices as well. But, it left me open one morning to join Sepal on a motorcycle ride to Biral, which is the local administrative centre (the administrative division is called an upazila). It’s about 10km away, to give you an idea, and this qualified as a “really long ride” by local terms. I’m not entirely sure why Sepal needed to go, but it gave me a really interesting look into the local bureaucracy. We went to the upazila education headquarters and met with the primary and secondary education officers for the upazila. They had limited English but wanting to feed me lots of tea and snacks and it was neat to see their work setting.

That’s the last story I can think of at this point. There may be others I wish to share, but if so, I’ll just sneak them into later posts. Again, I’m sorry for the wait and for the jumble of unrelated stories. I hope, at least, it gives a sense of how busy I’ve been!

-C

Bonus photo: A common sight around Rudrapur. Chillies drying in the open air. Don't ask me what the background writing says.