Posts by Emily
Phonics
Phonics in India One of our main jobs at Shunem is working with the kids on their English reading skills. We recently introduced a new phonics program with the kids. The odd thing about learning to read in India is that it is all about memorization. In school the kids will simply repeat “c-a-t cat” until they memorize how to spell it. The kids who are particularly good at this can read fine, and the smarter ones even figure out some letter sounds. However, most kids have no idea what to do if they encounter a new word. The common practice upon seeing a word they haven’t memorized is simply guessing a word that might be in the story. For example, if they are...
Read MoreGolkonda Fort
Golkonda Fort, or How Many Pictures will Emily Have to Be in With Strangers? Golconda fort is explained perfectly by the following pictures. Words are hardly necessary, except perhaps to say that Coffee Day afterward was perfect. And that Emily posed for roughly 50 different pictures. This is a brief...
Read MorePraveen and Jam
A couple weekends ago we took an overnight train to Bangalore for the Karnataka Christadelphian Youth weekend. When we got onto the train we all felt a little bit uneasy about the coming night sleep, but it turned out to be just fine. However, the way we woke up was a little bit unsettling. Prabhu Kiran, one of the two Shunem boys that came with us, tapped each of us on the back saying, akka anna, we just missed our stop! We got off at the next stop and had no idea where to go. Luckily we weren’t too far off, so our ride soon showed up with two motorbikes for the seven of us plus luggage and a guitar. Seeing the impossibility we hired a couple of autos and crammed...
Read MoreShiva Kumar
This is Shiva Kumar He has been at Shunem for just a few months now, but seems to be fitting right in. He only knows a few words in English, and is so cute when he says them. My favorite is jam. He says it more like jahm, and it is just the best. He is also extremely ticklish and will wiggle and squirm his way off of my lap when I tickle him. I told Auntie Sarah about how ticklish he was and she laughed and said, “He has a very cute face, but he is full of bad words.” So apparently he walks around all day saying curse words in...
Read MoreChickenpox
Radhika, Monika, Soni, and Moni all had it. Until they got better (within the last couple days) they spent most of their time locked in their room to ensure that not too many kids would have it at the same time. The door to our room is right by the window to the sick room, so whenever we were coming or going they would rush over and say "Hi akka! Hello anna!"
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