In search of Saraswati…

Last week consisted primarily of class planning, teaching and re-writing/updating the Concerns Universe Foundation brochure, which included re-writing the organization’s mission statement. I’ve been working with Concerns on the later for the past few weeks, but wanted to get it finalized and to the printers last week, as I’m leaving Thursday for Bombay. We finally got it to the printers on Saturday. We’ll have 1000 copies delivered on Wednesday, just before I leave. The next step is to help them update their website.

From a teaching perspective, the highlight from last week was bringing Nerrel to class to help me teach the girls some songs. Here are the songs/selection of words that we taught them:

It’s a Small World After All

It’s a world of hope, and a world of fears,
It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears,
There’s so much that we share,
That it’s time we’re aware,
It’s a small world after all.

It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small world after all.
It’s a small, small, world.

(Nerrel went the extra mile to explain to the girls what this song was all about; although we might come from different “worlds”, we still share plenty of things in common – as human beings, and as women.)

Any Dream Will Do (from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat)

Group A: / Group B:
I closed my eyes / I closed my eyes
Drew back the curtain / Ah, ah, ah
To see for certain / Ah, ah
What I thought I knew / What I thought I knew
Far, far away / Far, far away
Someone was weeping / Ah, ah, ah
But the world was sleeping / Ah, ah
Any dream will do / Any dream will do

Top of the World (The Carpenters)

Such a feeling’s coming over me,
There is wonder in most everything I see,
And the reason is clear, it’s because you are near,
You’re the nearest thing to heaven that I’ve seen.

I’m on the top of the world and looking, down on creation, and the only explanation I can find,
Is the love that I’ve found, ever since you’ve been around, your love’s put me at the top of the world.

(I made up some actions for this song, which kept both Nerrel and I thoroughly amused.)

Overall the girls did a pretty good job, considering a lot of them can’t speak much English at all. Some of the girls really got into it, with facial expressions and all. For others I’m not quite sure they knew what was going on.

Tags: Travel

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