Tell September 2018 Tishrei 5779

{TEACHING TEACHERS}
Jacob Riesel
In 2016, I was one of the two proud recipients of the Rabbi Brian Fox Scholarship; a
scholarship which encourages students from the Emanuel School community to set up a
self-sustainable project upon their graduation. I used the scholarship to visit Nepal, where
I spent just over a month teaching English and helping with construction projects.
During my time in Nepal, I
recognised a certain need for
teacher education. There were
times for example, where I was
given an English exam paper for
Year 1 & 2 students, that I was
unable to complete due to the poor
language skills demonstrated by
the teachers, and the distinct lack
of resources teachers have access to.
As Nepal still uses a caste system,
which ranks teachers in the second
highest caste (one below royalty),
many teachers are thrown into
the teaching world with little to
no education, as they were simply
born into the occupation.
For this reason, I have identified
two important needs in Nepal that
I believe the Emanuel Synagogue
community should focus on in the
long term - education and resources.
In terms of education, there are
a few things we can do to help.
Firstly, I would like to bring Hari
Poudel to Australia. Hari Poudel
is a teacher from a small village in
Nepal named Ghatchhina. Over
the past few years, especially since
the devastating earthquake in
2015, Hari has dedicated much of
16
his time and money into helping
both his village and surrounding
communities with various projects.
These include the construction of
a community centre, and a bridge
across a heavily flowing river that
was destroyed in the earthquake.
Hari has an incredible belief in
educating the next generation. He
has recently built a learning centre
in the back of his house, where
he helps the village children with
their homework, and teaches short
classes before and after school.
Hari has a passion for teaching, and
our project involves bringing him
to Australia. Here he can spend
time at both Kensington Public and
Emanuel Schools, learning how to
teach English, and how to run a
bilingual learning program in a new,
and perhaps more effective manner.
Our aim is not only to bring Hari
to Australia to learn, but to give
him access to resources which, upon
his return to Nepal as a respected
member of the community, he is
able to use to educate other teachers,
and share the new concepts and
methods of teaching he has acquired.
Following this, we will also be
looking to set up a ‘Teachers Teaching
Teachers’ scholarship. This would
allow teachers from Kensington
Public and Emanuel
Schools to visit
Nepal, and run
teaching programs
for other teachers
in surrounding
villages during the
summer holidays.
In conjunction with
this project, we
will be collecting
donated, good
quality second hand
laptops to be used
in Hari's learning centre, to increase
the access of such technology to
both teachers and students. For any
laptop donations, please contact me
on mob.0415 424 008, or drop them
off at Maxine Chopard's office at
Emanuel School (ph.83837317).
To get Hari here though, we will
need the help and support of
everyone reading this article! For
those wishing to contribute, get
involved, or just wanting to read
more, please click on the link
below…. thanks in advance!
Bring Hari to Australia
https://www.grouptogether.com/
TeachersTeachingTeachers