Week two marked the start of teaching proper at the school.

Following a busy weekend of planning lessons, Giulia delivered the first week of English language lessons to grades three, four and five. The week was exceptionally challenging, with the existing very basic grasp of English demanding somewhat of a revision of the lesson plans. That said, exposure to proficient English language speakers can only be positive. Subsequent lessons focused much more upon unstructured and fun activities that were accessible to the children.

On the IT side, week three was spend checking the equipment and bringing the IT suite up to a standard acceptable for teaching. Amongst the challenges were introducing a simplified, standard configuration for each PC, as well as planning the lessons themselves. Unfortunately, the network was inoperable due to hardware failure, as well as there being three computers that were similarly defective. Despite these issues, IT lessons began in earnest from week four.

Teaching also commenced on Thursday and Friday afternoons in the second school, Sangaragatta, with classes assuming an informal structure, very much directed by the children. Indeed, the classes themselves have identified their own learning needs and our lessons being guided by these.

The weeks have not been all work, as we have enjoyed daily swimming in the ocean, often against the backdrop of a beautiful sunset. We have also visited the historic fort city of Galle (a UNESCO World Heritage site) and toured a turtle farm on the coast. The boundaries between work and play have often been blurred, especially when travelling to Weligama to help out our Durham colleagues in community work with local children. At the end of week four, we spent the weekend in the Hill Country, taking in beautiful tea estates and sampling a range of tea. The trip was rounded off with hiking in Horton Plains National Park, where we took in the sights of Worlds End and Baker Falls.