Wednesday November 17th

Teachers from Y1 - Y5

I thought I was tired yesterday, but today I am twice as tired and my voice is disappearing fast! This is partly that I am out of practice (not that I was ever in practice) with dealing with nearly sixty 15/16 year olds and also the huge pollution here – dusty streets, heavy traffic that is anything but eco-friendly and smoking – not me, everyone else!! I have taught five periods today and in period six was interviewing staff for the staff profile that we are trying to put together. Much to my amazement I am getting a huge buzz out of teaching Y9 and Y10. They are so keen to learn and soak up everything you say to them. The creative writing they did this morning was just astounding considering their backgrounds and that they are writing in a foreign language. Our Y9/10’s from similarly disadvantaged backgrounds cannot write nearly as well in English, let alone a foreign language. So where are we going wrong? Earlier in the day I took a Y1 class (though it has children from 5 – 10 in it!) – 59 of them and we did music! The teacher there has no English and so all communication is through mime. If anyone had video-ed my performance, because that was what it had to be – I’m sure it would make for hysterical viewing. We did lots of action songs using the puppets, heads and shoulders, knees and toes, some rhythm work etc etc. Great fun and we ended up outside doing the hokey cokey – unheard of in that setting! I’ve had a long discussion today with the senior English teacher about the possibilities of these students getting to university because a good few have the ability. However, if they can’t pay then that’s it, they can’t go and all for the sake of about £400 admission fee and then £200 a year for tuition. Peanuts really. Something else to think about….. The Nepalese ambassador to Russia visited the school today and spent some time in my English lesson with Y10, which was interesting. He was very impressed with the standard of their writing. Now I just have about 150 pieces of work to mark – many of them at least one side of A4, so must stop and get down to it!