22nd - 24th January 2007

Monday 22nd January

This morning I was at Suri Sumana School, and I did an exercise based on the past tense, in which I asked the pupils what they did at the weekend. It was the induction day for the new first years today, and the principle invited me into the main hall for a while to take a few pictures of the proceedings.

In the middle of the day, Nalinda and I visited Devapathiraja College, and Rathgama Library, delivering some books donated from the UK.

This afternoon I gave the students at Nirasha an exercise based on the Galle trip on Saturday. I had prepared worksheets for them to fill in the gaps.

Tuesday 23rd January

I was at Ranapanediniya School this morning. I assisted the English teacher, K. Premasiri, with a telephone dialogue exercise with grade 7, and I finished the lesson with a Word Chain, asking each student in turn to come up with the next word (last letter – first letter, that sort of thing).

With grade 6 I sang a song I’ve written to be sung in a round, like Frere Jacque. It’s about fruit, and I’ve cunningly called it The Fruit Song.

With Grade 11 we did a past, present and future exercise. K. Premasiri actually has a more in depth knowledge of English grammar than I do. I know, and can explain to the children, how and when to use different verb forms. But he knows all the group names, like the infinitive, and present perfect better than I do. He told me it’s 3 years since any pupil passed their English O-level. That’s really sad. A few of the children in each class seem to be really enthusiastic to learn from me, so hopefully this run will come to an end this December.

I had a chat with the principle at Ranapanediniya School, to find out what they were planning to do with Help Lanka’s £100 donation. Apparently they’re on the lookout for a TV to use with their video, and they want an internet connection.

This afternoon was my first proper teaching visit to Baranasooriya Boys’ Orphanage. With a couple of exeptions, the level of English among the boys is lower than elsewhere. So I spent quite a while on learning just the English numbers with a few boys. I also did a few basic, “My name is…”, and “My favourite…is…” etc.. I spend quite a bit of time on the phonetics of English words and I had an interesting pronunciation challenge with one boy when working on the numbers. He couldn’t say “six” (“sig”), but could say “sixteen”. And he couldn’t say “fifteen”. I spent a long time with him on this. First I got him to break down the word to “f-i-f-teen”, but when putting it all together it would come out as “sibteen” or even, “sixteen”. After much patient encouragement, he almost got it right, so I don’t think he’ll be scarred for life by the experience.

Tonight I went to a baby’s first birthday party with Indiga. I took a teddy and some soap for the birthday girl, who today would get her first taste of rice. It was also a first for me – this party was the first time I’d seen men and women at the same social gathering, but after a while I was whisked off into the men’s room (one of the children’s bedrooms, it seems) where we had nibbles, and drank arrack (think coconut whisky).

The lack of English speakers at the party didn’t bother me, but what did make me feel uncomfortable was the men, as they started to get drunk talking at me, apparently forgetting I couldn’t understand. I didn’t feel intimidated, but it did become a bit of a strain, maintaining a false smile.

I felt more comfortable after a while when I left the room and went and watched television with the women and kids. The men had curry and rice at about 10 pm. It was one of the best dhals I’ve had.

I read in an English language newspaper today that certain types of polythene bag have been made illegal. This is quite encouraging, to see environmentally conscious policies being implemented here in Sri Lanka. Despite this law, it’s a shame so many eateries serve food on a plate covered with cling-film to save on the washing up. It’s also a pity people don’t have more of a sense of what to do with litter. A lot is just dropped, wherever and whenever. I’ve been really saddened to find that the rubbish I have collected is just on the patch of land at the back of Mrs. Mendis’s garden.

Wednesday 24th January

The English teacher at Siri Sumana School had asked me to bring along some exercises about friends today so I duly did. I prepared an exercise describing both male and female friends, what they like and where they live etc.

This afternoon’s class at Nirasha was a washout because there were so many absentees. Instead I used my time to prepare some OHP sheets for Time exercises with Siri Sumana School on Friday.