AFS Indian teachers visit Motueka

848 - Two AFS teachers no 1.jpg

Two AFS Indian teachers, Miti Dhingra and Namrata Markan have briefly visited Tapawera Area School during their busy trip to NZ, visiting various educational facilities.
The teachers were on a three-week visit to NZ and are hosted by Wellington AFS families. They briefly had two, three night stopovers with NZ teachers in Tapawera and another in Marlborough before returning to Wellington.
This is the first time that India has sent teachers on the AFS programme to NZ. The teachers were fortunate to be from the same school in Delhi where they both taught senior English, Grade 12.
There were lots of comparisons made between the two countries especially in the field of education. Their school is a private school where the students had to pay to attend. There were over a 100 teachers to teach 2500 students, who started school at four years until they were 18.
The classrooms are similar in size to NZ but they have more students in them 50-55 being the norm. It is an integrated school with the students having to wear formal uniforms.
The structure of the school is similar to the Area School with primary, intermediate and secondary blockings of the students. With 40-minute lessons starting at 7.30am until 2.30pm and only a 20-minute break for lunch, the teachers and pupils are constantly busy.
However having, as part of your job the requirements, to work on Saturday to attend staff meetings, to do planning and preparation seemed a lot extra considering that the teachers in India earned 1/5 of NZ’s teaching wages.
Exploring the classrooms at the school and seeing what the senior students were doing here at Tapawera was an interesting experience as in India the classrooms are not decorated with student work or  posters on the walls. They are plain, with black boards being the teaching tool. Students throughout India have a core text that all students learn at each level.
Olivia Williams Year 13 was working on producing her three panels for the static image “The Piano” by Jane Campion. Olivia was surprised to hear that they knew of this NZ film but recalls that they commented that they “liked what she was doing with it.”