The Hindu : Kerala News : Sharing their lives with tiny tots

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Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007
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Kerala

Sharing their lives with tiny tots

SHARED PASSION: Ursula Bollinger (left) and Adelheid Lockfich (right), KG teachers from Germany, along with their former Indian classmate, Teresa Sebastian, in Kochi.

Few teachers get a chance to teach and groom kids as they step into the portals of school for the first time. They teach and hear the chime of nursery rhymes and are with tiny tots throughout their lives. Three such teachers who underwent training together in Germany 40 years ago, got together in Angamaly, the home of one of the teachers.

The guests — Adelheid Lockfich and Ursula Bollinger from Germany and Teresa Sebastian — their host, caught up with memories of their college days and life since then. They have retained the passion of teaching KG kids, even after 60 years of age.

They studied at Fachschule for Social Pedagogy, at Friburg in Germany, for two years.

Ms. Sebastian is the coordinator of the kindergarten section of Naipunya Public School, Angamaly. Nothing could stop the three from conversing in chaste German for some time.

Ms. Sebastian has taught KG kids in Loyola School, Thiruvananthapuram, and at schools in Muscat, Thrissur, Bihar and Kochi. She stepped in with help whenever the guests found difficulty in speaking English. “We were 40 students in one of the best institutions run by the Catholic Church in Germany,” she said.

Ms. Lockfich spoke of the need to train kids to be independent, from early in life. “In Germany, they are taught to maintain discipline in class and master inter-personal skills. They are also given opportunities to develop their creative skills, as parents there have little time to be at home. So our KG classes, where kids aged between two-and-a-half and six years are admitted, is a home away from home. Teaching is done orally and written materials take over only later in childhood.”

The kids are taken to a forest for four days every quarter, to learn survival skills. The aim is to make them enjoy nature and to teach them to protect nature. “Interactive sessions are held very often, to get feedback from the children about how comfortable they are with the learning methods,” said Ms. Bollinger. “They are taught games and activities aimed at developing their cognitive skills. Reading and writing come automatically once they are through all these.”

Ms. Sebastian spoke of how kids in Kerala are forced to study written English, Malayalam and Hindi at a very early stage.

English too is taught now in German schools. Sadly, German youth do not respect their elders as much as those in India. Unlimited freedom has taken a heavy toll and people are slowly getting back to the traditional way of life, where elders are respected, said Ms. Bollinger.

John L. Paul

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