Hyderabad School | The Modern Story

Andhra Pradesh, ants, creative exercises, digital cameras, elephants, experiential learning, framing, Government High School, Government School, high school, Hyderabad, Hyderabad School, India, photo composition, Railway Girls School, youth photography

Elephants & Ants!

With the Railway school’s TMS classes on hold as the girls sit their quarterly exams, Ilana and I have a chance to catch everyone up on what’s been happening in our classrooms lately. At Railway we teach separate classes with 16 girls each. We plan our lessons together, which allows us to give each other feedback on which elements worked and which didn’t.

In our first few weeks we focused on introducing digital photography. After our basic lessons using diagrams (on/off button, lens, shutter, display, etc.) and group camera practice we introduced the idea of framing–“what you include or exclude from the picture.” We gave each girl a paper frame and took them on a walk around the courtyard. As they held up their frame to imagine what they shots they would take they started to understand that they have the power to decide what’s inside the frame.

Lalitha, Jayashree, Krishna Veni (8th year students in Kara's class)

Explaining “composition” and “perspective” the next day proved to be a bit more difficult. We’ve learned from more recent lessons that the girls understand definitions and also homework instructions much better if we print them out. Railway is an English-medium school, but our American accents are difficult to keep up with!

Additionally, the girls had some difficulty imagining that the elements they were including in their pictures could be arranged in different ways. We didn’t want to leave them confused but also wanted to keep class proceeding to new activities and concepts, so Ilana and I came up with an exaggerated example for the girls to practice and wrap-up composition and perspective in the next class.

We divided each of our girls into small groups, each of which had a camera and a task: take photos of things around the schoolyard…as an elephant or an ant. Half the girls had to look through the lens as if they were tiny crawlers and half as if they were galumphing beasts. Some of the results are below, and you can check out more photos in the Elephants & Ants set on our Flickr page!

A new vANTage point

Another ant shot

Elephant!

Hello, elephant

The girls are also making great progress with storytelling and expression (more on that in the coming days), but they are always eager for more time using the cameras!

Oct, 26

tms@themodernstory.com

Daily Updates

Hyderabad, Hyderabad School, Nalgondo School

Ready for class!

We can’t believe it’s already been one week since we landed in Hyderabad! We spent this past week visiting the schools, exploring Hyderabad, and basically getting our feet on the ground. Since there are not many foreigners here in Hyderabad, we have found ourselves attracting lots of attention from the locals! Many people have approached us, striking up conversations to practice their English. Others have asked to take pictures with us. And others just like to wave and say “hi”. We have found people to be very open, and ready to help with advice, as we have had to stop and ask for directions many, many times.

We have met with both the A.P. Residential boy’s school in Nalgonda and the Government High School Vijaynagar Colony in Hyderabad and have set up our weekly schedules with them. This past Wednesday we visited the boys Residential school in Nalgonda. The trip to Nalgonda is a hike from our apartment in Abids. Along the way, we got a chance to see some wandering cows and also the incredible traffic here in India (which goes many different directions and at high speeds!) The boys at the school were all enthusiastic, friendly and very eager to learn. A friend helping with the Modern Story project, Sayed, introduced us to the administration at the Boy’s school and the boy’s quickly took us under their wing, showing us around the school grounds and talking with us in one of their classrooms. They were excited to see us and couldn’t get to us fast enough to say hello and shake hands. We visited the girls school yesterday and were greeted by a warm administration, who was hospitable to our needs and excited about the potential of the Modern Story Program.

Today Swarna, our American Indian Foundation coordinator, invited us to an event at the Ossmania University campus, on the east side of Hyderabad. It was a chess and art competition for blind and deaf students. The students played on boards with grooves in the spaces so they could feel where to put their pieces.

We also befriended a group of enthusiastic young girls who were there to paint and sing at the event. They gave us a mini-lesson on some Telugu, the state language of Andhra Pradesh, which we would both like to learn some of while we are here. They also gave us some suggestions for Indian music to listen to. They attend a high school in Secunderabad, a northern section of Hyderabad. We are determined to go visit them sometime soon!

After a week in India, we are feeling more settled. The auto rickshaws are now a common sight. The haggling has become second nature and we are both becoming skilled bucket bathers! Our short time here has made us eager to see more and learn more about this wonderful place. As much as we are here to teach, there is also much here that we can learn – the many languages, the history, the culture, the family relations, the food, religion, and on and on and on! We are very happy to in one day be teaching at the schools and will keep you posted on our progress!