Working with the children is a highlight

We hopped on to our trusty bikes and arrived at Say Ta Nar weighed down by calculators and books we planned to use. We were met by a distressed looking Pho Cho who told us that his baby son had been taken to hospital after a clinic visit. Neesha was already staying with him and Pho Cho was anxious to join his family. He apologised profusely about leaving us but we fully understood and urged him to go. We were now in charge of grades 4,5,6,7 and 8 for the day! Claire and Nastasha were well planned for the morning as we knew this was an allocated teaching slot. All day teaching on day one was more of a challenge than we had expected as we had only brought some of our resources. However Pirniehall teachers think on their feet and the whole day was soon organised. Claire and Natasha were keen to engage children in active learning and working in pairs and groups rather than whole class teaching.


The children loved the calculators

As the day progressed the children received their calculators and enjoyed some challenging activities and of course they were delighted to take the calculators home. They played with them excitedly at lunch break.They learned two great songs that are Pirniehall favourites and were soon singing with gusto lead by Claire.


Trying something new - group discussions.

They went on to a listening and talking task in pairs, modelled by the teachers and in groups discussed and asked questions about Pirniehall booklets prepared by Natasha and Claire with their own classes . They wrote letters based on these discussions and produced lovely related art work. Phew! A lot of teaching for one day. Thank goodness we had our interpreter who was invaluable and a great grade 8 pupil who translated well for us. The children were marvellous and were so interested and creative. They showed their love of learning and were clearly loving the novelty of having their Scottish teachers all day!


Children are fascinated reading and discussing life at Pirniehall.

Lunch was interesting without Pho Cho and Neesha but I decided to help out serving the rice for 120 children and took the job seriously as I was worried about my big portions and running out but all was well. Not such a quiet lunch room today!


Head Teacher serves lunch! A special moment with his Scottish teacher

The children left at 3.00pm with their usual 'see you tomorrow teacher' and I decided to go on the bus taking the children home. It was wonderful to see where the children lived and get a sense of their community.The children and parents were at all times so happy and smiling and the children clearly looking forward to school tomorrow.


Children returning home


Mum collects child from the bus 'See you tomorrow teacher!'

Claire and Natasha and I jumped on to our bikes feeling exhausted but with a real sense of achievement. We think we will be in charge of these grades again tomorrow so are off to our favourite internet cafe to debrief and plan. We will not talk about Natasha's pedal falling off her bike...twice!