Why am I here? I would say the answer is twofold: Fist, to grow Bagru Textiles as a business. In doing so, I am to also aid the local community through social entrepreneurial ventures.

3% of Bagru Textile’s net profits go into a community fund. In the past, this money has been spent on cataract surgeries and water initiatives. All of these projects have been spearheaded by past minerva fellows. Now it’s my turn.

During our first “community meeting” – which consists of 16 printers we contract work to, I asked they wanted – “the people.” The resounding answer was English classes for their children. And just like that, the following evening, I had a crew of Indian children sitting in my bedroom (also my office, showroom, homework room and now classroom).

My original hope was to connect these English classes to Bagru Textiles via the community fund. We came up with the idea of hiring a translator, hoping they would help explain things in Hindi if the students couldn’t understand my English. This would help the class run smoother, and there would be another authoritative role in the room as well.

In this sense, the classes wouldn’t just be me volunteering, but serve a greater, deeper, community purpose. And of course we could throw the BT name on it.

We interviewed a few candidates and found a nice young girl who speaks English. We hired her on a monthly basis.

Classes have been going on for nearly 3 weeks now. We meet 3-4 times per week from 6-7pm.  I’m working with ages from 7-20, so there is a large range.

There is a certain rhythm to each class: the students sit down, write down the 5 english WOD, (words of the day) we come up with sentences for the words, we review past WODs, and then we spend the second half of class doing a speaking activity. I’m completely new to ESL teaching, but I’m coming up with some games the students love. I usually try to incorporate tenses into the games since that is where the children need the most work. For example: “Tell me about what Bagru will look like in 2050.” This was a fun one. No more block printing, Americans everywhere, and many palm trees. Every day I get to laugh at some silly responses they come up with to my questions. At least they are speaking English!

I have gotten a nice group of 10-15 students who regularly attend class. Next week we are having our first exam which will cover all of our WOD’s and some speaking exercises . The students are voluntarily engaged and taking time out of their days to study. I am lucky to have students are want to learn – this also helps my position in the community.

My assistant teacher has been great, but she has turned more into another student than my assistant. As a result, we won’t be paying her after this month. I am disappointed because now the class has no connection to Bagru Textiles (despite the fact it takes place in our office). But hey, overall, the kids are learning and they love it. This is all I could ask for. I’ll be teaching as long as there are people to teach.