For example...

Dear dedicated reader,

Sejalben came to me the other day and asked when I was free.

My knee-jerk reaction was, “Why?” I mean, here, you never know.

“My 8th standard English class has told me that they want to meet you,” she said. “Can you come? When are you free?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought perhaps she had found a forgotten disc of her already four hour wedding video which we watched a week ago. To be fair, I enjoyed most of – er, one hour of it.

We compared schedules and settled on a period today when she had that class and I was free. “They simply want to ask you some questions,” she explained. “They have not met you and they want to meet you.” I said I’d be happy to do it.

When the appointed day arrived, I met Sejalben in the staff room and she motioned for me to follow her upstairs. The 8th and 9th grade all-girl classes are ferreted away in the same hidden part of the third floor of the school. Why they are isolated in this way I don’t know – perhaps it is related to the amount of giggling that they do.

As she entered the class, the students stood up in their customary manner and said, “Good afternoon, madam” in the same well-rehearsed, choral manner that they do when I enter my classes. She waited until she had reached the front of the room, put down her things and straightened before she said. “Good afternoon, you may sit,” in clear English. I stood in the corner, awkwardly clutching my teaching materials as I eyed the room, searching for a free space on one of the packed benches to sit.

She motioned that a few of the girls should move from the first row bench. I almost protested, but as the girls motioned for me to sit, I caved and took my place.

Sejalben turned to me, “Just wait five minutes, all right? I have to teach one of the modal verbs first, and then they will ask you some questions.”

I nodded and settled in to watch her teach. The opportunity for observation was welcome.

She began to write on the board, explaining as she went in a mix of Gujarati and English that the girls would be learning the verb “may”.

Having explained that “may” means there is some possibility, she started out with a few examples. “There are many clouds in the sky,” she wrote, “so it may rain.”

“Aishwarya has come in first place in the exam last year, so she may come in first again this year.”

“Hirel is sick, so she may not come to school.”

She turned to the girls, having explained these sentences thoroughly in Gujarati. “You understand?”

One of the girls sitting in the first bench asked her a question so quietly that I couldn’t catch it.

“That’s right,” Sejalben replied. “Another example would be, there are bombs in Surat, so there may be more explosions.”

I was taken aback. Who knew that 25 (defused) bombs found in the aftermath of the explosions in Ahmedabad in a city less than an hour away from here could be fodder for instructional example? Not me…

Best,
Cat

P.S. I'll be in Delhi for the next 5 days so the next update will be Wednesday, August 20th.