When a few children in Samagaun told their teacher they couldn’t make anything, she didn’t insist. She took them outside.
Together they gathered leaves, stones and twigs from the mountainside, carried them back into the classroom, and began to build. “After that, they became excited and joined in freely,” says Usha Gurung, Head Teacher at Samagaun Kindergarten. “I could feel their interest in learning grow.”
It is a small moment, and exactly the kind of change we hoped for last January, when eleven teachers from Philim, Krak, Prok and Samagaun, four Tergar Charity Nepal kindergartens in the Tsum-Nubri region of Gorkha, spent a month training at our Kathmandu campus. Eight months later, we asked the teachers and their principal what has taken root since they returned home.
Many Ways into Stillness
Meditation came up in nearly every reflection. Several teachers had practiced simple meditation with their students before, but the training gave them many new ways from breathing and body scans to mindful walking and noticing smells, tastes and emotions.
Before the training, Anu Gurung of Samagaun Kindergarten practiced sound meditation with her students. Since returning, she has introduced breathing exercises and other mindful activities as well. “Now the children are excited to try something new,” she says, “and the practices also help them feel calm and relaxed.”
For Dawa Yuten Lama at Philim, the benefits go beyond calm. “Through meditation, the children have clearly learned to be aware of what they are doing and how they are feeling,” she says.
Ms. Kelsang Chodden, Principal of Tergar Charity Nepal, has noticed the same. The deepening of child-friendly meditation, she says, has brought “a beautiful sense of peace and focus to the children.”
Songs, Stories and Shorter Circles
Some of the most joyful changes are also the simplest. At Philim, children now sing the rhymes their teachers learned in Kathmandu, and “A Ram Sam Sam” has become a clear favorite. “They love singing and dancing to it,” says Ritu Gurung. When a lesson starts to drag, a song brings the energy back.
At Prok, Head Teacher Tsewang Chhoten reshaped circle time entirely, cutting it from 45 minutes to around 20 and filling it with meditation, greetings, a calendar update, a weather discussion, rhymes and sharing. “The children stay more focused, participate more, and respond more positively,” she says.
She also changed how she tells stories, using facial expressions, movement and sound instead of simply reading from a book. “They have even started asking questions during story time.”
Learning to Listen
Beneath the new activities, many teachers described a quieter shift in how they see each child.
“I now give them more time to express their feelings and ideas, and I listen to them patiently,” says Anu. “The children have become more comfortable sharing their thoughts and feelings.”
Principal Kelsang sees this in her teachers, who are “noticeably more confident, patient, and truly acting as Montessori guides,” giving children time and space to solve problems and learn at their own pace.
Honest Challenges
The teachers were candid about what is still hard. Moving from traditional teaching toward child-centered learning takes time, and so does meeting children with very different needs in a single classroom. In village settings, language can be a barrier too.
“To move learning forward in new ways, I need to understand both their language and their psychology as I teach,” says Samjhana Gurung of Philim.
Dechen Sangmo, Head Teacher at Krak, knows the challenge of keeping young children focused. Her answer is to sing, dance and begin again. “When they don’t listen, I try to stay calm instead of getting frustrated,” she says. “I feel more confident and patient with my teaching now.”
Looking Ahead
The teachers are already asking what comes next. Principal Kelsang hopes future trainings will go deeper into methods and approaches for teaching the three languages they work with English, Nepali and Tibetan, handling difficult conversations with parents calmly, and other new approaches as they emerge.
For Tsewang, the training carries a personal meaning. She is grateful to be part of creating a learning environment for children in her community, “an opportunity many of us did not have when we were children.”
The seeds planted in January are growing in patient teachers, singing classrooms, and children who are learning to notice how they feel. We are grateful to every teacher who shared their story, and we look forward to growing together as one learning family.
