Day 8- Nicole and Imogen

Hello everyone,

Today has been a slightly different experience for everyone. After having spent 2 days at the same school with the same children, everyone visited a different school. This was strange due to the fact that we have grown friendships with the children we have taught over the past few days, however we also had the chance to build new friendships and teach new children. Today the PE group did not have the assistance of Mr Taylor, so we were therefore completely independent, which was challenging at times but we were also really excited to do it. Today we were at an all girls school, and from our own experiences of PE, we decided football and cricket was not the best option. 

On arrival we were asked what age group we'd prefer, deciding on the youngest possible we set about games and any last minute changes were handled extremely well and smoothly. Splitting this huge class of fifty we decided that we'd set up stations with different activities parachute, always a crowd pleaser, then adding an abundance of plastic colourful balls that were thrown pretty much anywhere and everywhere. Then they'd retrieve the balls and you can imagine this was extremely popular with the children (even the older ones) this then followed by numerous parachute games.  Another station featured the famous 'duck duck goose' which went down brilliantly with now not just balls flying everywhere the children were zooming round the circle in a desperate attempt to catch the other. The third station was a lucky dip struggling to think of games on the spot Imogen decided to take matters into her own hands creating a dance which spread like wild fire. Soon the third station were teaching Nicole's group, making their way to the stage they then all taught Sameena's group who then after ten or so minutes decided to always proceed to the stage. It was remarkable how they could remember such a long routine that then had a tune as well as basic choreography. We were all so touched on how such small things can make them so happy with fifty smiling faces leaving our lesson we couldnt wait for the next group.

Every group was so different with different personalities the only thing that stayed the same was the huge groups of children and now our sore throats we led another lesson and another until around 12pm. Expecting one class that never showed we were left alone with a group of girls that we'd been introduced to on the first day and whom of which had been with us most of the day acting as translators (they were all 14 and spoke phenomenal English.) We spoke for around an hour and half before lunch about life in England and life in Sri Lanka, the cultural differences are extraordinary and a real eye opener. 

After all of the lessons had been completed we made our way back to the hotel and as per usual, we spent our free time at the amazing pool. After spending hours in the pool with each other, we made our way back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. Everyone is excited for tomorrow as it is sports day, when many schools get together and enjoy the day together with the money the team has raised. Lets hope its another great day at the schools!

Thank you,

Nicole, Imogen and Sameena.

Sameena cramming as many students as possible around a parachute.

Imogen taking charge of her group. 

Nicole with the students.