Week 11 - Inventive Learning
- Jan 19, 2018
- 4 min read
Oh my goodness – I cannot believe my tardiness of this blog post, but the weeks seem to be flying by and I am beginning to have a small amount of time to write and sort out this blog. Don’t get me wrong, I am THOROUGHLY enjoying the business, with my ESL lessons starting, organising my class, and beginning to whip the school into shape.
My class have been telling almost every person they come across about me and my rules for the classroom. I have firm rules, and clear boundary lines that cannot be crossed, but when they obey these, I also like to ensure they have fun. When all the work is completed, our afternoon lessons are all about new ways to learn and take in information. The students sit at ‘offices’, with three walls surrounding them, to ensure maximum concentration. For me, I cannot imagine trying to absorb information this way, remembering random bits of information about the USA gaining land, missionaries in China and Christian moral stories. For the children, the content of the subjects are great, but there is very little ‘active teaching’ involved for the class supervisors and monitors.
As I am in charge of two classes – Bethel and Olive, and these are the most senior students at the school, ages ranging from 11 to 15, this has allowed me to be slightly more imaginative with the afternoon lessons of Geography, English grammar, Art and my most favourite creative speaking. Getting the students up and about, and with their excellent English skills, means the possibilities are endless with inventive lessons and learning. This is something I feel so passionately about, as the excitement of a new type of lesson really engages the children and has already provided results in the school. Now to get all the other teachers on board with this idea!
Already after being at the school for only 2 weeks, we have had students completing between 3 and 6 PACE Tests, which shows they are way above target for the end of this term. I am hoping a year of me sorting out the older children, will instil in them an ethic of hard-work and determination to get through their schooling. The students of the same age in Wattala school are on books much higher and complex than the students here in Jaffna, and so with many aiming to finish school by age 18, they have a long and tiring road ahead.
The rest of the school this week has been a great adventure, with ice cream for the children (and most importantly, teachers too!), went down a treat, lots of maths PACE help, which is definitely beginning to refresh my memory, as well as my classroom falling apart even more!
With ESL lessons starting this week, I have had the majority of my time being used to assess and work out the level of understanding my students have. A major surprise for me, were the teachers at Paalam International School. Paalam is an English Medium school, meaning all lessons should be taught in English, all teachers should speak in English (even with each other), and the students should only communicate the whole school day in English. A few of the teachers on the team seem to struggle with this, and as a result has begun to impact on the younger children in the school. However, it came to my attention one teacher in particular, who never speaks in English, has a brilliant understanding, and pronunciation. It seems nerves or embarrassment get the better of her, and so my work will be focussing on reinforcing her knowledge, and boosting confidence.
This weekend has been a rather relaxing one, with me only getting up at midday on Saturday, as I think the first full week of school, ESL lessons and running around with small children in the heat took its toll on me. I didn’t mind the lay-in though as it gave me a great opportunity to fully recover and set me up well for the week ahead. Myself and Miss Reenashree headed into Jaffna to do a small bit of shopping, and then hung out at the church side of the village. With an evening prayer meeting, we had many visitors come to her house, and stop and talk to us which was really nice. I had a great time playing with Christina and Michaela, who together are a pair of monkeys!
Sunday was a very enjoyable day, with church (and learning new songs, including actions!), and I was then able to spend a good amount of time with Esther. A Canadian visitor invited me to have lunch with all the girls at the children’s home, which was a treat he had paid for them all. Having visited here in 2005, soon after the Tsunami in 2004, he saw the Children’s Home at its fullest, and since he has been supporting it, through project work, repairs and food parcels. We had a great afternoon, full of singing and performances from many of the girls on the keyboard. We played games and also thoroughly enjoyed playing on the slide and swings!
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