a mountain school

there is a yoga resort nearby that has adopted a nearby school in order to aid them, since 2006. on saturdays' one of their staff volunteers to teach some of the classes. so today i asked to join him. i had no idea where i was going, so i was pleasantly surprised when he picked me up and we went on his motorbike up the steep swerving mountainside for about 20 minutes, ending up in nowheres' land! we passed the cocoa plants, the mud brick houses, the palm trees for making liquor, and eventually came to a long winding steep path that ended up in a school yard where children suddenly stopped playing and stood erect and respectfully clasped their hands in prayer style and welcomed us by blessing us "om swastiyastu".

we stood next to the small altar at the entrance to the elementary schoolyard, which consisted of a long building on each side of the courtyard, where there were 3 classrooms. the atmosphere was casual, kids in class, out of class, teachers, inside, outside, doors, open, closed, some kids in uniforms, some not...and when we crossed the courtyard and went down some steps to another wing of the school, we suddenly walked into a classroom of 28 sweet 1st graders that were sitting quietly at their desks, awaiting their teacher, dirga, that had brought me with him.

from being a shy, polite, young balinese man, he suddenly turned into a clowning, playful actor with the children. the classroom was simple, old, and with the bare minimum of an old chalk board, some bits of white chalk, and the kids sitting two to a table on benches, in three rows, boys and girls mixed together. after some hellos and joking around with them he asked them to open up their notebooks and show him their drawings from the week before. 

some had notebooks, some didn't, some knew how to draw, and drew the surrounding mountains, houses, pets, and trees. others just kind of had a scribble with a pencil, some knew how to write their name, others not. he went to each child and playfully identified what he saw in their drawings. next he invited one at a time to come to the board and write their name. about half of the kids enthusiastically raised their hands and he had fun teasing them by slowly deciding who to come to the board each time. many of them have 4 names, so writing their name is not a simple task; leaving enough space inbetween each of the 4 names, capital letters and small letters, 

after about 5 children he moved to learning how to write all the small letters. there was a poster on the wall with the alphabet written on it. they use the same letters as in the west, just some of the names are different. he invited those that knew how to write 5 consecutive letters to come up one at a time to the board. after each child would finish his turn at the board everyone clapped for them. it made no difference whether the child really knew the alphabet or not...the poster was there and he kiddingly tried to stand and block it so they wouldn't look at it, but they all did, and it was irrelevant. what was impressive was to see how tall and proud they each stood as they walked to the blackboard and when they returned to their seat amongst the clapping class. even the child that had wanted to write the whole alphabet, and just copied it from the poster letter by letter, was proud. homework for next saturday was to learn how to write the whole alphabet. 

as dirga moved about the classroom with exaggerated antics and enthusiasm, the 24 children did what children do...teasing each other, borrowing erasers and throwing them back at someone, hiding someone's pencil, going in and out of the room, older children standing in the open doorway teasing and offering them food, some pushing and shoving of boys with boys and boys with girls, and everyone was happy and easygoing. when one child told dirga that the other child had hurt him, dirga happily invited both of them to shake hands and be friends, which both boys did happily. after that others also suggested that they too would like to shake hands and be friends with someone who had teased them too! so he invited each pair to join hands and beeome friends too, as the class clapped again in support. 

i watched all of this with a million questions going through my mind! where is the discipline, the control, the order? how is it possible to just have fun with whoever wants to learn and let go of everything else?! one boy who had been sitting underneath his table, and then crawled out and sat with his notebook on top of his face, as if asleep, was soon surprised to find the whole class laughing at him as dirga crept up to him laughingly surprising him as he removed the notebook, and made a joke. the child too laughed, embarrassed, but feeling part of the funny situation...not at all ostracized or shamed.

the next classroom we entered were 6th graders. there were about 30 of them, some squished 4 to a bench, other benches empty, all active and happy to see dirga come into the classroom, the two entrances to the classroom also quickly filled up with kids from the other classes that happened to stroll by and wanted to hear what he was teaching the 6th graders in this english class. all were welcome, to stand, to sit, to come in, go out, it made no difference to anyone. by the end of the 30 minutes there were only 15 kids left, but this was of no concern to anyone. whoever wanted to learn english came, and when he had enough, he just left and played out in the courtyard. 

"i love you.
you love me.
we are a happy family.
with a great big hug
and kiss from me to you
will you say
you love me too?"

this was sung to the tune of "this old man, he played ten...."  he wrote the words on the board and then recited them in unison with the kids  phrase by phrase, with some translation. next he had them counting off and reciting the alphabet one after the other, each saying one number or letter in the sequence. everybody had a great laugh whenever someone didn't know what to say for their turn! and so they would all start over again. and even though the same child was mixed up 5 times in a row, they all laughed, including him. next he divided the class in half and while he had them doing a clapping hands and snapping fingers rhythm while reciting their own number or letter followed by the next ones" ( "one two" "two three" "three four"... ) some shouting it, some quietly mumbling, some with the beat, some off beat....and then...all running off for another break.

he had a break now too so i asked some of the million questions i had after watching this unusual teaching method.

 first, are any of the kids on ritalin? he had no idea what i was talking about. they have no children taking medication for behavior problems. 

is this open free style of teaching typical at all schools? saturday is the day that the kids choose what extracurricular subjects they like, so there is not the usual teacher and framework. 

why aren't there disciplinary problems? all the teachers are taught to try and enter the minds of the child, to be his friend, to think and act like a child. laugh,be playful, have fun, pretend. this way the child learns through his whole body, and not just using their brain and  eyes by looking at a serious teacher standing in front of them teaching them information.

what happens in the higher levels? even there the teacher is a friend to the students, not only teaching them the subject, but building up a personal relationship with the student, knowing what is happening at home, in life. 

where are these children from? they are mainly from poor families in the area, so the children walk between 1-2 kilometers up and down the steep mountain to come to school. on saturdays they are given a hot meal, as part of the charity, since many never have a hot lunch. they are taught the importance of nutrition and sanitation too. 

we finished our break and went to the classical dance class. there a lovely young woman was teaching the 3 dances that young girls do, and the dance for the boys. all ages were together and the 45 some kids that had chosen this class were all squished in the classroom together, having pushed the desks a bit to the side. dirga is also a classical dancer so he volunteered to take the boys outside and teach them while she focused with the girls. i joined in, happy to have an opportunity to learn some basics in this casual atmosphere.  what surprised me was that it is taught just like with the gamelon! she dances the whole dance at top speed, with the speakers blasting the famous gamelon accompaniment and you just imitate her from beginning to end, year after year, slowly improving by your own efforts. no explanations, no step by step. whoever wants to try, at any point, does, and whoever just wants to watch, watches, no mirrors, just copying from the person standing in front of you, or next to you, or the teacher, if you can see her! 

the boys were so cute! they were holding their spears, but since there were only 6 spears and 16 boys, the others just pretended to hold a spear, or picked up a branch. as dirga also led them through their  dance, i suddenly understood that it is the balinese tai chi! it was so lovely to watch, and also amazing how each step and movement of shoulders, hands, feet are all exact and have the same bent knees as in tai chi, and the weight of the body being placed on one foot or the other, and the theatrical eye movements, which i now know are also excellent eye exercises. this applied to the girls dancing as well.

what was nice to see was how these young boys could have these wooden spears in their hands and battle with each other in a dance which is perfectly choreographed. so they had a way to express their masculinity and power, but in an artistic and creative way.it was also nice to see the young boy that just couldn't get the right beat during the english lesson, suddenly a wonderful dancer and right on beat. i asked dirga if all the  boys like learning dance, and he said no, not even when he was a child. what is interesting is that at any performances at the temple or on stage, the children are exposed to these same repetitive dances and know the music and the movements by heart just from seeing it all the time. 

another thing that "clicked" for me was that there is no desire to control anything...if the motorbikes are parked where they are practicing the dancing, they will just dance around them, not try and get someone to move them, there is so much noise and multi sensory things going on all the time, even in the classroom, and no one is trying to make it quiet and "conducive" to studying! at one point i went to hear the children that were playing on the gamelon and drums, another teacher came up to me and started a conversation and was surprised that i insisted that we go into the next room since i can't hear or speak in this noise! i realized that this is something i have been conditioned to. and they haven't! so when i go to the temple or a music festival, and there are multiple attractions going on all at the same time and people mulling about through it all, talking laughing, it is all part of one big Whole that they call Life, here....