Maths

One day in class, I was teaching students in 7th standard how to write the standard form and expanded form of large numbers. As I was walking around the room checking students work, I noticed students making a common mistake. They were writing the commas of the large numbers in the wrong places. I helped the students who I found making the mistake and moved on to the next example. Then, I looked at the book for more example problems to work out and found a whole section where numbers had misplaced commas. Oh, the mistake is in the book! That's why students are making these mistakes, I thought. I walked over to my mentor teacher and pointed out the problem. "There seems to be a typo in the book, ma'am. Look at all these numbers with misplaced commas!" "Oh, no, no, no," she said, chuckling as she shook her head. "This is the Indian system of writing numbers. See, after writing the first three digits, we place the comma. Then, we put a comma after every too digits." For example, what I thought should have been written as 345,689,201 is written as 34,56,89,201. Oops, my mistake after all!

One of my favorite things about math is that it is like a language that can be spoken and understood in every culture. Concepts are always the same. Properties are always held. Yet, there are some differences in the way some phrases are said.

Here are some more examples:

Mathematics. I say, math. They say, maths.

The fraction 2/3. I say, 2 over 3. They say, 2 upon 3.

The operation of multiplication 2x3. I say, 2 times 3. They say, 2 into 3.

Simplifying the fraction (2x3)/(2x5). I say, cancel the 2's. They say, cut the 2's.

These differences are small but still caught me off guard as I would teach. I'm assuming this is due to the European influence in the past century and the British English that is passed down from the previous rule of Great Britain.

Each standard has one book that they use for their lessons. All of the curriculum standards are addressed in these books, so teachers can be sure that if they teach straight from the book that they have taught all of the curriculum. This is the main resource that is used in math classrooms. Of course, there are more resources available, but they are very limited. Students complete their assignments and homework in a notebook they call their copies. The copies are checked often by the teacher, but are not taken for a grade. The only grades the students get in math class are chapter tests and exam grades. Oh, by the way, I have not even seen one calculator. These students impress me every day with their quick mental math skills.

Speaking of exams, it's about that time of year! This morning, I was proctoring an exam. To save paper, the teacher wrote the exam questions on the chalk board. The students would copy the questions in their exam notebooks and answer each question. There is one exam each day, only given in the morning for one hour during 1st and 2nd period. Final exams are coming up in February, and teachers are developing their tests. Final exams are with 80 points, or marks, and students will be given three hours to complete the exams. We are making sure our students are prepared and ready for these exams. 

Meanwhile, each afternoon I am tutoring four children in English. I spend most of my time with them since they live on school grounds with their families who work here. We spend an hour each day doing English activities. Afterwards, we play games and spend time outside whenever the sun decides to pop out of the foggy sky. I am enjoying every moment spent with my students because I know my time will fly by.