BACK TO SCHOOL

On Friday we visited Roy. He and his wife are teachers and they run after-school classes for children in their community. They have four different groups of children they work with - on Tuesday afternoon, Wednesday afternoon, Friday afternoon and Saturday. The parents of these children are uneducated and are unable to help their children with their homework, so Roy, his wife and two other teachers help the children with their homework and give them extra lessons for free.

When we visited, the two teachers who usually help were at a meeting, so Roy and his wife were taking the class on their own. The class had about 20 children ranging in age from 3 to 15, as well as Roy's young son who must have been about a year old. First the children practised their English by introducing themselves, telling us their school and their age. Then the children took out their homework. Some were practising English and others maths. We helped by checking the children's work and then giving some new words to learn or some new sums to practise. In the mean time, Brenton and Jaymon chased the little chicks outside. Whenever they caught one they would scoop it up in their t-shirt and bring it in to show me. The Sri Lankan children found this very amusing.

I helped one girl to learn the names of colours in English. Another boy was practising the days of the week and then we started the months of the year. I would write the word at the top of the page and they would copy the word down the page and then come to me for a new word. I would then quiz them to see if they remembered the words we had practised before giving them a new word. Teaching maths was a little more difficult because I have a very limited use of the Sinhala language. I can count to 10 but beyond that I was lost. I also had no resources to try communicating the concepts with. So I tried my best to teach double digit subtraction with carrying to a young girl who had no idea what I was saying, but I don't think she got it!
Still she kept trying. As my grasp of the language grows it should get easier, but it would be great if we had some simple resources to help teach concrete mathematic concepts.

One little boy really stood out. He must have been one of the youngest in the group and he did not seem to have any work to practise. Still, he had a book and he saw the others bringing their books up to me and he did not want to miss out on the fun. So he brought his book up to show me the pictures he had drawn. I admired them and then he would go away and scribble in his book and then bring it back for me to admire again. This went on for the time that we were there. A bit of attention went a long way, not just for him but for all the children.

The more studious children worked the whole time, continually returning to me for a new bit of

work. Other children were amused by Brenton and Jaymon. Darren bought the boys a soccer ball (no AFL footballs were available!) so that they could play with local children wherever we go without language being a barrier. Children who finished their work joined the boys in a game of ball outside. At one stage the ball ended up in the well and had to be fished out by bucket. It really was an enjoyable afternoon and it was difficult to leave. I really look forward to the next time we are able to help out with these classes and meet up with these children again.