Tuesday, April 15, 2014

A Tough Cookie

As I mentioned in the previous blog entry that I am teaching two (actually three now) kids from our neighbourhood. All these children are from impoverished background though they do go to school. 

I had a lot of trouble with one of kids, Neetu (our Dhobi's daughter) last week. Though a very bright kid she has a tendency to resist learning anything new. Happy in her own comfort zone is her mantra in life. So she was happy doing addition and subtraction but resisted multiplication. And learning anything new in English was completely out of question for her. 

But she still liked coming for the classes (I suspect this is because of biscuits that I offer and also because she doesn't want to feel left out since her brother comes). So what was her solution? Come for class but refuse to study. I tried cajoling, reward of chocolates, coloring mickey mouse and even offer to make small trinkets for herself with wooden beads but Neetu is a tough cookie and she refused to even acknowledge my presence let alone talk or respond. 

While she was not talking to me she would disturb the other two kids, who were happy to learn. This went on for two days and I was clearly disheartened and losing patience. Then one day I decided to send her back since she was neither studying nor letting anybody study. She sulked for some time but did leave without creating any further ruckus. And then the magic happened. Next day she was the first one to arrive with all her books in tow. 

So far I am enjoying interacting with these kids. Lets see how it goes...

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