My children are poor eaters. And I have become a better teacher! What is the connection, one may ask, between eating and teaching? Much, I would say.
When my wife is on duty or hassled with house work and the children are at their regular scene at the dining table, I take control. Initially it was the use of force, only to realise that they become more stubborn. If they open their mouth, it is only to let out a big howl, bringing the neighbours to our doorstep. The idiot box was the next option. But while Tom and Jerry went about their antics or Doraemon was up to his magic tricks, our children would sit open-mouthed in wonderment. Flies could enter, if they would; not their hand to mouth!
So, I decided to take over. Initially, I began with the regular stories that we all know and soon ran out of them. It was coming to a situation where I had to read up grandma and grandpa stories from books to stock up. Not easy when you have your own heavy tomes to read and prepare notes for classes. Then I realised the everyday event of our life could be made entertaining. So it was that I started telling stories about my everyday journey to and from work, of my day at the workplace, of the people I met, of the students I taught. Mundane everyday things when I am living the day, but making it alive and happening through my words. And each description of an event leads to further questions, as can be expected from kids. What and why and when and how and where and who were Kipling’s friends. Not for any parent telling a story to get his kid to eat! But in this storytelling, even as the morsels were filling their mouths, I realised I was becoming a better storyteller.
And in turn, at work, questions from students at the workplace was becoming a challenge to look forward to. I could detect from their faces when my lectures were no longer holding their attention, when things were just flying above their heads. Approaching each lecture or class as a storytelling session marked a new approach to teaching.
We teach the same things day in and day out; year after year. We are too bored or least bothered to change things for the better. Students, too, soon lose interest. To rephrase Mark Twain, they were born intelligent but education ruined them. Lives that should flower waste their sweetness on the desert air.
Things can however be made interesting. Can we break things up to the basics when they don’t understand or grasp things? Can everyday material be used as props to make concepts clearer? Or is it easier to switch on the PowerPoint presentation and drone on till all are asleep? In helping my children eat, they taught me how we can make stories come alive and meaningful, making me a better teacher, I hope.