The first two weeks of our work at the University was mainly without students because many were on holiday or were finishing exams. We started work immediately with the English department developing a new curriculum. Their current resources are considerably out of date so we produced a whole semester of lesson plans based on various contemporary and hopefully more relevant topics.

Each member of the group put together three lessons including a reading comprehension, a listening exercise, a written task and a speaking exercise. Contributing to the speaking and listening resources is where we can be particularly useful within the English and other departments and we are trying to introduce conversation classes for various faculties.

We also work with the careers department and run three-hour open forums twice a week where we discuss interview skills, future job prospects and in particular try to improve the spoken fluency of the students. In the last open forum we set up a debate between two groups of students on the pros and cons of globalization in Sri Lanka which they really enjoyed.

We have also got involved in sport here at the University and we are trying desperately to get our hands on Ruhuna stash to take home. A netball match was organized last week against the university team, we were greeted by a large crown at the gymnasium and our opposition looked very professional in matching kit. We played well although none of us can shoot and we lost 14-5.

This week a volley-ball match was organised against a faculty team. It is interesting how the faculties are quite similar to the colleges in Durham. Members of certain faculties live together in hostels and university sports matches are inter-faculty competitions. Only one person had ever played volley-ball before so we were completely thrashed but we had a great time, everyone is always on a high after playing together.

Other departments have started approaching us and the history department has asked us each to give a 20 minute lecture on a subject of our choice so we are currently researching our area of interest both in the University Library and on the Internet.

Furthermore we are trying to set up a girls football team here, we have found that the girls especially are lacking confidence and it would be a fantastic way of building self-esteem. We are also attempting to set up an SCA (Student Community Action)group with Dr Ali from the geography department. We have the support of the Vice Chancellor and have organized a meeting next week to try and encourage students to volunteer.

Some students have taken part in student trips and workshops and we are made to feel welcome by everyone here. It has been really interesting to see how further education works in a completely different part of the world. Students are a lot more politically minded in Sri Lanka and are all extremely friendly and interested to find out about us.

We have many projects to try and complete in the remainder of our time here and we are working as much as possible to prepare the ground for future groups of Durham students.