So there’s some grumbling here and there about this whole blogging experiment–”Why do we have to do our outside reading on the blog?” “Why do we have to write comments?” “Can’t we just do regular work?”–and believe me, I hear you. This is a new approach and it takes some getting used to. There are days, in fact, when Edublogs and Learnerblogs are being all dee-te-dee and I just want to scrap the whole blogging idea and assign a bunch of essays and book reports and be done with it.

But I haven’t given up yet, and I don’t plan to, because nearly every day I come across a wonderful use of a blog to communicate something vitally important. The Talimi Haq School is in India and serves a remarkably underpriveleged population. This is from the notes they made when the school was founded:

The school shall cater to : (a) Children of school-going age who are unable to go to school because of their poor backgrounds; and (b) working children who are not attending school.

Talimi Haq’s blog is rudimentary so far–they talk about their school, and the students introduce themselves. But it strikes me as great, too–it’s real people in a faraway part of the world communicating with us, and for me at least, they’re getting through.

There’s a post on the blog with the title “We Are Here.” They certainly are. They’d probably love it if you visited.

Meanwhile, other matters Indian: Ms. Steinhorn’s in India right now on a Fulbright, and she’s got a very nifty blog that’s worth reading. I’m hoping her students come online soon so we can do some work with them. Also, Ms. Sarcar (the Indian teacher with whom Steinhorn switched for the semester) started a blog that’s very cool–it’s her reflections on being here.

I thought to myself – what do we Indians get being so utterly american in a country that has nothing similar to our own culture.
Picture this – I got down from the M26 crosstown bus and saw a frail old lady pushing her cart across the road trying to balance her things and herself against the force of the harsh cold wind. And on the sidewalk a man looked on disinterestedly chewing on his pizza while his girlfriend petted her dog as it deposited shit and then lovingly picked it all up in a plastic bag.
I have trouble processing this. In this country a dog is treated nicer than an old person is.
Perhaps I have a rather shallow view of this society, but Rukmani said something to me that made so much sense.
She said when the American teachers return their photos would be full of people. And ours would be full of places, people in the background but only us alone, facing the lens, smiling away our loneliness.

By the way, if you were wondering how the Talimi Haq School got its name, check this out:

Talimi Haq means “right to education” in Urdu. It also means “truth is learning”.

Yeah. Exactly.