A teacher of the school passed away last Friday. She was one of two English teachers at the school. It unexpected so it really shook the school. There was no real school for neither Monday nor Tuesday. It was a small school - so the grief was expected. I did not get to teach five days a week like I wanted to, and it seems (for scheduling reasons - my father and I need to be in Colombo more often) I won't be able to teach five days a week in the future either. So for the future lessons I am going to just teach for one hour instead of just half-an-hour.
So by Wednesday, however, school began settling down again. I went in and taught fifth grade and then grades 6-9, and so on it goes. 
The school suffered a hard blow; I didn't expect students to be in their usual gun-ho mood but as per usual they kept their spirits up. 

I didn't get to teach the third graders;they had already been let out because it was the last day of school. I did however catch the fourth graders. I got to teach them two lessons: this week's as well as last week's (the one they missed because of exams). It went like normal - they are a very good bunch of kids so they participated well and did not cause me too much grief. 
The first lesson was on vehicles so they drew a street full of trucks, bicycles, airplanes, and even boats. There were some crazy looking roads. After this I went outside to wait for the third graders when I realized they were all gone. Yeah... It was as depressing as it sounds. The teacher had to go pick up her kids from the other school so she left early. The fourth graders came out and begged me to come back and teach some more so I happily agreed. The teacher was happy about it (she had some papers to grade). 
The second lesson was on "Parts of the Body" - it would be their last lesson so we took it easy. We wrote down the vocabulary  and then played Simon Says with it. 
​I've mentioned before the whole "people from abroad are legally obligated to bring everyone some sort of present" thing right? Okay I'm being hyperbolic with the whole legally obliged thing...but it's definitely an unsaid rule. I brought these kids some pencils -- mind you they are some pretty cute pencils. They went berserk over them. It was actually a bit too much excitement because they ended up getting a bit rowdy over them. 
"I want a red one! I hate orange!"
"I need one for my brother too! (sure you do...)"
"Mine is too rubbery!! (wut...)"

Like I said, I didn't end up getting to see the fifth graders neither Monday nor Tuesday. I taught Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I got a good chunk of the vocabulary done - not as much as I wanted but enough to be on track to finishing all the material before I leave for America. They are slowly getting the hang of treating each phrase as pieces put together. They don't just say "I don't know" anymore. They really put in effort into trying to make something out of each phrase. It's a bit mundane - we're just learning phrase after phrase - there's no 'fun' element to it. But learning can't always be fun... especially when the stakes are this high. 

THIS REPORT WAS WRITTEN WEDNESDAY - THE DAY OF THE CLASS. This class was a nightmare and a dream all in one. I had five students total: Amasha, Kaveesha, Dilmi, Kalhara, and Jayashan. The ladies were very good -- they were the dream part. They came in on time and we started right away and were eager (or at least willing) to do the skits. And they did a wonderful job participating. It showed in their scores. All three got a 100%. It was adorable! I have a picture to prove it :P. We had so much fun so when class ended we went around to their school garden and they showed me all the medical plants. They have some cool stuff - from Lime to Aloe Vera. 
Now to the nightmarish bit. My dearest Kalhara and sweet Jayashan... Were literally devils. I could not control them today. They refused to write or take notes and wouldn't listen to anything I say. And Jayashan kept singing some song about his mother or something. Kalhara kind of tried to work but no way could he - not with the new candidate for Sri Lanka's Got Talent next to him. Just kidding. But really. I love having them in my class and I love them both so much - but they're making it so that other students can't learn. That is more than a bit concern. I'm going to give both of them a chance tomorrow. Good luck to myself. 

The lesson was actually really fun. The activities were great - I let the students guide me from one part of the room to another using phrases like "go straight" "go back" and "turn left "turn right". It was funny to show them their errors by pretending to walk into a wall. They did eventually get the hang of it and could guide me from the blackboard to the door (which sounds easy but the pathway water littered with obstacles). The other activity was equally enjoyable. I drew a simplified map and let the students guide an imaginary person from basic places like "beach" to "fish market" to "school" using those same phrases mentioned above. These activities were not only fun but really good practice for the material I was teaching - when you visually see something your chances of remembering are much higher. I learned this from my Spanish teacher who used to teach us using one hand motion per word. I still remember the word duchar then picture someone waving their fingers above their head (duchar = to shower). Maybe my students will remember turn left and picture me walking into a wall or something :P. 
The scores ended up really good, I graded and from what I see there are a LOT of 100%s. I will put the overall averages in the lesson plan reflection that I will link below! I was especially worried because a lot of students that didn't come the day before showed up on the second day. I plan my lessons on being two-day affairs but some forget or can only make it one day. I think the lesson might have been just a tad too much though because I felt really rushed at the end to teach all of the material. Then again I usually don't have to teach two days worth of material in one either. But overall I think it was all pretty worth it because the material is essential stuff.  
The students themselves were chocolate hungry as usual. No chocolate this week. I gave out mechanical pencils on Friday. They loved them because they came in a lot of colors. I just wish they would stop demanding so many things from me. They want chocolates and toys and the works. I don't mind complying a little. It would be straight up mean if I don't give them anything. I have gummy fruits for next week and then chocolate planned for my last week. But their constant whining puts me in a troubled mood. For example, my student, Jayashan, literally came late just in time to miss his class but with enough time to grab a pencil. I offered him to stay in the later class but he said he didn't want to. This is not unlike this boy he's been like this for almost every class. It was just kind of annoying and discouraging. I can't blame all of the students just because one or two act this way. There is some real potential here and I hope I can encourage as many students as I can. The principal's goal or me was to help at least one kid. I don't work like that. My goal is all of my kids...but I know some goals can't always be met. 

The tenth graders have been surprisingly consistent in coming to class. I was had the lowest expectations for these girls because last year I had so few of them coming. But I am so happy to be surprised like this! I have a total of five students coming in i.e. the whole entire 11th grade class. Yep. It's a total of five people. They all like coming and from what I see they learn a lot. Teaching these girls is a tad awkward but pleasant too. It's awkward because I am their age - actually younger. In Sri Lanka even if someone is a few weeks older than you they are your elder. It's weird to balance respect and telling them what to do / catching them when they make mistakes; I sometimes come off as disrespectful but I think as time goes on we see each other as friends more and more so it gets less awkward. It's pleasant because they are mature. They don't demand chocolate - they come and learn and happily accept presents when given. 
This weeks lesson was really good -- almost all of them got 100%s - three of the five (one was out for a funeral). 

So the kids were just let out on their term break. They get a month off. I am hosting classes for two more weeks. The principal is still letting me use the school. Here's the schedule for the next two weeks:

THURSDAY:
1:00 - 2:00 GRADE 5
2:00 - 3:00 GRADES 6-9
3:00 - 4:00 GRADES 6-9
4:00 - 5:00 GRADES 10-11
​
FRIDAY:
1:00 - 2:00 GRADE 5
2:00 - 3:00 GRADES 6-9
3:00 - 4:00 GRADES 6-9
4:00 - 5:00 GRADES 10-11

The Wednesday classES (notice the plurality) for grades 6-9 went well. Yes I did it again. I once again accidentally got myself another class. A student begged to come at 2 o’clock instead of 3 o’clock so I added another class at 3 so I could accommodate more students. I teach the same exact class 2 times for grades 6-9 -- as I do for them on Thursday and Friday as well. It’s not so bad...it’s just double the yelling, screaming, and internal crying. And fun of coarse :) .
This week I had smaller classes so they were strangely MORE rowdy. They were students I knew really well so I guess they were feeling a bit too comfortable. I will be sure to make them uncomfortable next time (I’m not sure how to do that yet).
This week we did the lightened version of last week’s dialog on “Shopkeeper and Customer”. It was good timing because we had learned about “Shopping” last week. It was fun, the kids were enthusiastic enough to come forward and perform the dialog for the class. Some were a bit shy so I also let the whole class take one role while I was the other and switched that up so everyone got to practice saying the whole dialog. ​

So I had about half the kids show up to the after school classes this last week. They all go home early to study. At least I hope that's what they are doing... the boys really like to hang around playing cricket and stuff and the principal always complains about how they spend their time :P. 

I was kind of sad I didn't have many of my regular students. I really missed them.

On location: I had a super hard time teaching this week. I didn't have my usual classroom because for exam weeks the students move ALL the desks into the big main hall.

I go where the desks are!

So I taught in the main hall. This meant I didn't have a good blackboard and no whiteboard at all. That really added to the stress. 

Grade 3 went well. Hectic as usual for sure. This weeks lesson on fruits was really fun. They liked the drawing component I add to the lesson last week so I kept it in. 
a) drawing is fun
b) it allows for more time to be spent on each word
c) I like drawing too :P
The kids had fun and they always LOVE getting their little star stickers for a job well done. 
Behavior wise: I controlled them again this week until the teacher came in from her break. I will admit that I was so relieved when she came back though!

Basically the same as grade 3 except these guys got to have an extra fun lesson. This class is way smaller so I took the risk and let kids come up to the board and draw. I tried this last year with second graders and the whole class went berserks. 
Thankfully, the fourth graders handled it well and we got to see some pretty dope art. By dope I mean kinda hilarious. Okay, that's mean, but it's true; I really wish I took pictures of them!

Omgomgomg big news. I am teaching this class 5 days a week!!!
The teacher really likes me; she nicknamed me Dony...I don't know why...she just likes calling me that...
SO I went in Tuesday with the plan of teaching those past exam questions (like she asked me to the week before). HOWEVER. She had just given a practice exam and the class did pretty awfully on the English portion. So when she told me that, I took the chance to actually tell her my feelings on how the kids are learning English. I shared my thoughts on how I thought the full material should be covered well first then suggested we make the past test questions into a mini exam. 
She liked it!!!!
So she wants me back 5 days a week to teach the material from a teacher's guide book :). 
On Friday I started that plan and I started teaching the phrases. 
I had a great dawning right smack dab in the middle of a lesson. 
We had been spending this whole time teaching kids the meaning of each phrase:
ex: I can pluck flowers 
We were treating each phrase like it's own piece. When it's not one piece! It's four!! I, can, pluck, and flowers. They know what I, can, and flowers are. If you asked these kids what "I can pluck flowers" means, they wouldn't know. Or at least they THINK they don't know. In reality, they know 3/4 of the phrase. 
I told them to think of each phrase and four pieces put together. We did more phrases like that. When I finished that day I felt like I really did something USEFUL. And I think the kids loved this idea. Before I left they all ran to bow to me. I had a swarm of kids at my feet (It was a warm and fuzzy feeling). 

For both classes (2 o'clock and 3 o'clock) I had very few students. I'm going to take it as a positive thing -- fewer students mean I can spend more time one and one and ensure every student understands the lesson. I think the vocabulary might have been on the easier side but the phrases DEFINITELY made up for that. It took a long time to work on the questions and phrases which ate up time that I had left. 
Personally I think this was one of the more fun lessons I have had. I let students pretend they were shop keepers!
At the end I gave these kids chocolate because I had promised them some -- a sweet treat to end the lesson. Unfortunately, they left lessons on the school lawn and I had to pick them up :(. 

If there is one thing I have learned it is this: students lose their love for learning as they grow older. My young students beg me to come everyday, but the older students barely like having one class per week. 
On Friday I had two girls walk in. They said two other girls were here but down by the gate hanging out with some friends (boys...duh). I kind of wish it wasn't a co-ed school; here is why:  When I asked how many people were in their class the 11th graders said just five. I asked why there were so few. Apparently the rest dropped out to go get married. 
I was thinking...actually I wasn't thinking I was pretty shocked. These girls are 16! I'm just barely 16 and I would have been in their class. Married at my age? I'm shocked, slightly jealous, and utterly disappointed.
The second grade has 30+ students. Does that mean they are going to drop down to 5 by 11th grade? 
Aside from that, the lesson went great. They are pretty reluctant to learn but I'm preeetty hard set on teaching them and I usually get my way. I'm happy to say that they really learned something! De-beefing the dialogs made it easier for them to process and get it into their heads.

Overall it was a total winner of a class. It was fun I had a tooooon of participation. Results need to be looked at yet but they look promising. Super duper excited to continue these lessons - dialogs are always fun!

So first of all - remember those evaluators?
(If you don't -- every school and government facility in the country submitted a report/book and out of all of them 1,000 were chosen. This school was one of the 1,000! I know that number sounds like a lot - but Sri Lanka, for being tiny, has a lot of schools. So now to narrow down that list evaluators from Colombo are visiting to see the place and award a certain # of points.)
They finally showed up on Thursday. Up until then the whole entire school had been nervous. I was teaching that day - it was a Thursday after all. I even had the pleasure of meeting them! It all happened by accident really. The classroom I teach in had been locked so I sneaked up to the office to get the key. I was making a pretty smooth exit when the principal called me back. He took me into the lounge and introduced me to the evaluators (who were currently enjoying their lunch). I was really nervous but it went way better than I could have imagined. A nice lady told me she had been wanting to meet me (I assume this is the head evaluator). She said she had read the letter I had written about my project and complimented my handwriting :). She shared that she thought my project was generous and that I was "a very good Buddhist". (Sri Lanka's majority population is Buddhist - I am as well.). She said she was really impressed and some other nice things. It was all amazingly encouraging. I left feeling super pumped. I was really really happy - I think it's just that it feels good hearing such things from someone important. 

Okay - the real big news here is that the evaluators really liked the project. The next day the principal told me they had given ADDITIONAL POINTS to the school because my project was taking place. Yay!!! The school worked so hard for this evaluation and I am so happy to have been able to contribute. Hopefully they will get high enough points to be selected!

Now to the really important stuff: the classes. 

I have this class right after the school interval (breakfast break). The teachers all go to the lounge for tea and a snack (snack is a total understatement). Anyway, I came into class and the teacher was not there! I was panicking a bit. I can only teach grades 4 and below if there is at teacher present. I alone am not enough - they are extremely scared of their teachers but they aren't scared of me. In Sri Lanka teachers can hit students - it's nothing awful - maybe a couple whacks with a thin stick. I just refuse to do so - I think it's mean. Don't get me wrong; sometimes I really want to (jk). They are so hard to handle though! But that Friday - I DID IT. I made them sit down and start working!! Sure it took a LOT of screaming and waving of arms. But they finally settled down a bit. The teacher came in ten minutes later, thank goodness, I didn't know how much longer my control would last. 
In other news,  the lesson was really fun!  We all drew pictures. I hate to make a lesson just learning. There has to be FUN to it. I know these kids love to draw - I did this last year too. They love to show off their drawings even more :). So this weeks we learned about Nature. They got to draw fun things like rainbows and lightning. We didn't get all the way through with the vocabulary but I'm not really worried. I'm doing this so that they have some exposure to Scholarship Exam material. Look to the left to see pics of their drawings and their adorably proud faces. 

This class went really smooth. Last week they were a tad rowdy, but this week they were better. There is less to say here. I will note that they were familiar with the Nature vocabulary a tad bit more than the third graders. They didn't know everything -- so I still feel that the lesson was worthwhile. They liked drawing almost more than the third graders; I guess they don't draw as much in third grade. Their enthusiasm made the lesson really, really fun. It was adorable to watch them show off their drawings to one another. Their faces light up with the smallest of compliments - I dish them out in English - "pretty!"s and "wow"s are favorites.
The drawings seemed to engage them more. I mentioned that last week not everyone was quite interested in the lesson. This week they all participated and (hopefully) had fun and learned too. 
Here, again, I ended the lesson with stickers. Who doesn't love a nice sticker, right?

I hung out with some girls from my grades 6-9 class during their interval on Friday. It was a blast! I didn't bring my own breakfast this time. Sri Lanka has a very generous culture. When one student does not have food she borrows a lid of a food container box and goes around and everyone gives them some of their food. It's a heartwarming sight. I didn't want to take any of their breakfast because I'd go home soon for lunch anyway. I promised I'd bring my own breakfast next week. <3

The teacher told me to teach the kids questions from the past Scholarship Exam English section. There are like 4-6 English questions per year. On the surface it sounds like a good idea - past questions can make reappearances. I just don't think it's such a great use of time. Their exam is like a month away but they have SO MUCH English material to cover. It's just that the past questions are good and fine but they are included in the material book (it's a teacher's reference book that covers the English material for the exam). I feel like if all that material was taught in the systematic and orderly way the book shows - their chances of knowing it is higher. The past questions are just kind of random and all over the place - there is no categorizing method at all.
On top of that the way she wants me to teach it is super unhelpful. The students and I have the same book. I write the phrase on the board and they don't even look at it - they just read out the translation printed right next to the English phrase. 
Okay how do you know I'm not just paranoid? They sometimes scream out the wrong translation. They haven't even looked at the phrase I am talking about! 
I just don't think it's useful....................................
I am planning to make some use out of it though. I am going to make flashcards for EVERYTHING. I'll teach them the material first then go back and practice with flash cards so they don't just read out of the book. 
Agh. I just don't think it's that good :/
but I'm going to give the teacher the benefit of the doubt. 

Attendance was sketchier than usual. But that's probably because term tests are coming up for them and they need to study for those too. My regulars came and Friday definitely had more people than Thursday. It was peaceful. Haha that was a joke. It was as hectic as usual. They are less rowdy than third graders but I wouldn't call them angels for sure. Especially this boy named Ravimal. He brought a match box… and tried to burn his paper… and succeeded…. Geez kids these days. Other than almost burning the classroom down nothing major happened. The lesson was, well, let's just say it was okay. This week we learned about activities and I found out that the activity verbs I had chosen were too easy. Luckily I teach two days. For the second day I found four "new" words and added that into the second day's lesson. I really didn't think the verbs I chose were that easy. Then again, I have a lot of students from last year in this class and I taught this lesson last year too. I guess I just have to keep it fresh! Everything else went well. I think they grasped everything. Luckily the questions and phrases were new to them so the first day really wasn't a waste. What kills me every time is that students sometimes only come for the second day. So then I have to quickly reteach the lesson from the day before. I don't want to discourage anyone from coming - so I guess I'll just have to bear with it. 

This class really wanted to do dialogs and their wish was granted. I showed them a conversation between two people who haven't seen each other in a while. I thought it would go well. Key word there is thought. The difficulty in my opinion is appropriate. However, understanding each phrase takes a while and two days wasn't enough to learn 15ish lines. I think I need to cut down the size of the dialog so that they can digest it easier. I was also disappointed that they were SO shy! I thought they would like to come up and act out the dialog - I was mistaken. I think making it shorter will make it less intimidating too and maybe then I will have more participants. Wish me luck on that. 
​
More on the dialog I used: I say the difficulty was appropriate because they could understand some of the words. They just couldn't put together the meaning. That said I am not so worried that it was very difficult.  

I am adding a new class! Wednesdays 1:30 to 2:30. For grades 6-9 to learn some dialogs. No pretests or posttests -- just for fun! 

I am lying on my bed.. my feet are literally throbbbbbinngggggggg (throbbing).

Okay. Let's get down to business. 

This week went surprisingly well...
Let's start with my new classes:

They were super loud and excited - although not as poorly behaved as the 4th graders (more on that later). They were the MOST excited of all the student groups I have had. I love love love teaching excited students because they make the whole experience fun.
We learned about animals and colours. The lesson plan is linked below. I used vocabulary from the 5th grade Scholarship Exam (It's a HUGE standardized exam all fifth graders take). If they pass it's a huge boost. So I thought, the heck, you're never too early to start on this material. The lesson went well - there was significant parts of the material that was new to them so that was good (otherwise I'd be wasting their time)
As a note: The rowdiness was manageable because the teacher was in the class with me - otherwise I would be in serous trouble. 

Grade four was SUPER antsy. I do think they were like this last year too :P. So nothing new there I suppose. Once again, the teacher was present during this class which means there was less rowdiness than usual.
I will note, there were two kids who were SUPER into the lesson, They were so enthusiastic it made my heart swell a bit. 
Moving on to the actual lesson: it was the same lesson as the one I gave to the 3rd graders. I can't really go wrong with teaching Scholarship Exam material. It's just such a big deal in this country. Passing would be huge for these kids. 
The 4th graders knew less of the lesson compared to 3rd graders. I suspect it's because animals and colors are something students learn in 3rd grade - thus by 4th grade it's all forgotten. On the bright side, I am positive they learned a lot.

I figured, with the Scholarship Exam coming up, these kids must be super stressed. I couldn't really tell any major stress from the surface, but I'm sure they're pretty worn out now. For them I figured out that vocabulary is a bit too easy. So I took it a step up and taught them simple commands instead. The list is linked below. I got the list form the principal as a part of the English material for the Exam. I taught these commands with examples and games such as Simon Says. I thought it was pretty fun. 
Maybe too fun - they got pretty rowdy towards the end. There was no teacher so keeping them under control was a nightmare. But we made it all the way until two o'clock. 
On the bright side, they seemed pretty enthusiastic. They did know some of the phrases beforehand - but majority were new or unfamiliar. 

Most of these kids are extremely familiar faces because I spent a lot of time with them last year. At the same time, there are a few totally new faces; the 5th graders from last year that I never taught are now 6th graders in my class!
This class was really fun. The attendance was a bit patchy on the two days, but then again, it usually is pretty inconsistent. 
The lesson this week was "Talking About People". We learned adjectives and names of family members. The names of family members were almost too easy - but it was good review anyway. The adjectives were so new! I got worried when students grade 6+ did not know what "bad" meant... But hey, they know now!
The flashcards were super useful (I use large notecards as large flashcards). I can quiz the whole class as a whole or go and target students I know are having trouble. Don't worry - I am sneaky - I don't attract attention when I am targeting questions. 
So overall - preeeeetty good. 

Favourite quote:
Me: What are you like?
Student: I am petty (He wanted to say pretty, but he said it without the r sound so it sounded like pity. "Pity" sounds like the word for "powdered milk" in Sinhalese). 
Me: PRetty not pity!
Student: Haha I am pity! I am Nestamalt! (Nestamalt = a famous type of powdered milk in Sri Lanka). 

That took A LOT of explaining... but it was so funny that the whole class laughed so hard that they couldn't stop.

This is the final class I have each day so I am preeeettty beat by this time. None the less, it's still one of my favorite classes. 
Attendance is patchy (no surprise) but I have regulars. For example, my friend Sithma never misses a class. 
This week we learned the future tense and reviewed the past and present tense as well. 
The lesson was useful - I looked through their textbook and this is definitely material that they touch on. Tenses will be good for their term tests and exams. BUT. There is a big BUT. They don't want to learn more verbs. They want me to teach dialogs. 
By dialogs they mean:
Conversation between waiter and customer. 
Waiter: What would you like to order?
Customer: I would like... 
Etc...

This is a flexible class and I am more than comfortable with letting them have control. 
It just means that I have some work to do now :P. 

That's all for now,
Samalya <3