…or at least my fifth graders think so!
It all started the day Laxman-sir, my headmaster, walked
into the staffroom and asked, “So, how do you feel about teaching science?”
Heck, as long as it’s not math, I’ll give it a go, I
thought. The previous science teacher was recently reassigned to another
school, leaving grades 4 and 5 without a science teacher. I gladly accepted the
request, already picturing simple, but fun, experiments to try with the
students. Baking soda volcanoes. Balloon rockets. 3-D solar system models. How
difficult could it be?
Opening up to the lesson I was supposed to teach, I was
given a rude awakening. Communicable and non-communicable diseases. Woof.
Scanning the list, I realized the easiest way to explain things like whooping
cough, mumps, and measles to my students would be through acting out symptoms.
Which worked perfectly until we got to “chicken pox.”
“They’re spots on your skin that itch,” I explained,
motioning to my arms and face. The students faces changed from mild interest to
surprise to horror before they started whispering among themselves and looking
nervously at me.
“Miss! Miss! You have chicken pox?!” brave Purnima asked for
the rest of the class. She gestured wildly at my nose and cheeks. “Spots!”
And this is what happens, folks, when you don’t have enough
Nepali to explain the difference between chicken pox and freckles…
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