CLASS IS IN

One of the things we are trying to do while we are here is to give people who can not attend English classes (either because they can't afford them or because of distance) greater opportunity to develop English skills. We want to train and assist volunteers with reasonable English skills to be able to share these skills with others, with the aim of having English programs running in impoverished or rural areas. This will open more career opportunities for the students than what is available to those without any skills in English.

After a year of developing a program for volunteers to use, we have finally been able to begin training our first group of volunteers. We have three volunteers who have been meeting on Saturdays to learn how to share English skills with others in creative ways. They are also learning teaching/classroom techniques. Although this is a small start, we are hoping that it will grow into big things. They have only a few Saturdays left of their training program and then we will assist them in getting their own classes started. The classes will be started as a result of generous donations, but a manageable (read 'small') student fee will allow these classes to continue in a self sufficient manner.

From little things, big things grow.

GIGGLES

Those of you who know us well will know how much we both like a good laugh. We both tend to see the funny side of things (maybe because of the way that we look at them). So, today I thought I might share a couple of things that have caused some giggles.

:) I asked one of my students to translate the sentence, "Ohu kakul mace miladi garnava" (He is buying socks) into English. As she worked through trying to form this into an English sentence (tricky work when you consider that English and Sinhala have very different sentence structures), the word 'chicken' kept coming up. We were all a little confused and then it dawned on us all at once. 'Kakul mace' are socks and 'Kukul mas' is chicken meat. A good giggle for the class. One thing's for sure, I will not be sending her to buy me socks! I'm just relieved that it's not just me who says silly things with Sinhala.

:D English class is a great place for a giggle. The students can always be counted on to say something amusing. If your day needs brightening, just show them a picture and ask, "What is this?" My favourite terminology to date includes the 'teafork' (an implement that makes putting sugar in your tea a difficult task) and 'shoe noodles' (for the pasta fanatic who needs to tie their shoes).

:P At lunch recently, one of our students opened his lunch parcel and exclaimed happily, "I told my wife to put minnows in and she did. She is such a good wife; she listens to what I say." In walks another of our students and she says, "You've got my lunch!" So he gives it back, looks in his actual lunch parcel and says, "She didn't give me any minnows. She gave me prawns. I told her I don't like prawns." I guess it's an easy mistake when you all bring your lunch wrapped in a banana leaf.

:} We spent last weekend in Colombo, with many appointments to keep. When we arrived back home on Sunday afternoon we were all ready for a nap. How can you tell? Because instead of telling Brenton to "Get the gate", Darren instructed his son to "Eat the goat".

Have a happy day!