We, the first year Juniors, were privileged to have classes by a team of knowledgeable, experienced, and gifted master teachers during our six months’ T.T.C. (Teacher Training Course). We were blessed with the input sessions of Sisters Mary Shaija, Anima, Shobana, Sushma, Jyotisha, Ranitta, Neelima, Prema Devaraj, Lata, Prabha, Namrata, Josephine, Sushila, Archana, and Anjali Jacob. We started our classes on the 15th of June 2020 with a prayer service and an orientation talk by Sister Mary Tessy, our Provincial Superior.
Sister Mary Anima taught us phonetics and reading with syllabication, pronunciation, diction, and expression. She also gave us the History and Heritage of our Congregation, as well as the Four Cornerstones of Notre Dame Education. Sr. Mary Sushma, who was gifted in handling the primary school children, taught us how to write lesson plans for the age group. Sister Mary Shobana introduced us to the treasures of God’s creation through her teaching of Science, Administrative Skills, Spelling and Vocabulary Development.
Our Mathematics teacher, Sister Mary Sushila, taught us that every problem has a solution. We learned the basics of the computer application with the help of Sisters Mary Josephine and Anjali Jacob. We were very much interested to learn ‘power point’ and how to insert pictures for online conferences. We had sessions with Sr. Prema Devaraj on good Healthcare — physical, mental and spiritual — through yoga exercises, acupressure, hand reflexology, herbal medicines for common diseases, and balanced diet. Sister Mary Archana taught us a number of songs and rhymes for young children. Sister Mary Prabha taught us about finance management. She explained the duties of a treasurer, what is a budget, and how to maintain the bills and do bank transactions.
Sister Mary Namrata taught us Educational Psychology, stressing the stages of child development and behavioral patterns. Sister Mary Jyotisha’s classes on ‘Laudato Si’ deepened our awareness that we are part of the universe — interdependent, interconnected and interrelated. We are called to restore Peace, Justice, Love, Harmony and Beauty to creation.
We thank Sister Mary Tessy, the Provincial Superior, the Provincial Council, the Provincial House Community, Sister Mary Shaija, the directress of TTC, and our Sister Teachers for forming us to move into mission- oriented community life.