Preperations are in full swing

Managed to wangle some work experience at a local primary school and as a result I spent all of last week either covered in poster paint, arm deep in the water tray or trying to convince thirty very excited five year olds to sit quietly and watch Charlie and Lola. It was such a lot of fun! The children were all winding down for the end of term so I didn't get to see an awful lot of teaching but I have a few discipline ideas (not that I think I'll need them in India!) and ideas about how to get the children's attention using clap signals, which will be useful when the class can't see me. Highlight of my week was definitely on the fourth day when I was put in charge of skipping during P.E. The boys decided that they couldn't skip and decided to sit in the shade in a huff rather than join in. The skipping ropes all had pedometers built into them so I told the children it was a competition to see who could do the most skips and true to form the boys instantly became ultra-competitive and ran over to the skipping with such enthusiasm they sent most of the girls flying! Little Lucas was now the only one sat under the tree, his little freckled face all screwed up and miserable. He told me he couldn't skip but he wanted to join in. So I got him to stand in front of me and jump when I told him to and after a couple of tries he was doing it and his little face just lit up. It just made his day! It was lovely especially when he dragged his mum other at home time, babbling about how he was a special skipper and it was all thanks to his friend Anna. I hope my class in India are as lovely! The other development which I found very exciting is that I now I have my rucksack for going away! Get to try it out next week when I head up to Coll again for training.

What do you think? It's very big and tough, needs to be for all the rammed buses and sleeper trains and loud, busy markets I plan to get stuck into!