Nick Clark

August 7, 2013 - All Posts, 2013 Operation: Hanuman

Nick's Picture
I love it every time I’m here in India. I always have heartwarming experiences. In fact, today I had an experience that touched my heart. Throughout the last couple of days, we have recognized the English skill level of each of the Mountain Girls who we have been working with. We have seen that there are high, medium, and low levels. Additionally, there are four girls who struggle with even the simplicity of the alphabet. Julia, Hayley, and I recognized that they needed special attention, and we wanted to make a bigger difference in their lives. We decided that for the rest of our workshop time with them, the three of us are going to have intensive one-on-one basic English training with them: Team Basic!

When all of the other girls broke up into groups for workshops in the morning, we took the four girls for Team Basic upstairs. I was reminded of my own experience as a student in elementary school, since I always struggled with learning and was pulled out for special attention on a regular basis. Knowing how these girls felt gave me an even stronger drive to help these girls really understand the basics of English. As we were going over the basics, two of the girls were struggling to memorize the sounds of each letter. One girl, Narlo, began writing the Hindi phonetics for each letter, and that sparked warmth in me because that is exactly what I do: when I don’t know how to spell a word, I write it out phonetically. Narlo gave us an idea, and we then had all four of the girls write out the Hindi phonetics for each letter. At this point, their learning increased dramatically. We were so excited about the progression that these girls made today, and so were they.

Since we’ve been working with these girls, we can see in their eyes how much they want to learn and understand English. They inspired us to spend several hours this afternoon while other workshops were taking place to create a Basic English workbook. In the book, each letter combination is laid out with examples and the Hindi phonetic sounds and translations. We are really excited to give these girls workbooks because we know that it is going to bless their lives. India never ceases to give you a heartwarming experience.

One Response to “Nick Clark”

  1. Go team basic!! You are some of my most favorite people!!

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