This week, there has been a lot sickness in the team. On Monday morning, it was decided that I was going to Vikumgama with Bharkavi and Rahdika because I didn’t feel particular comfortable with teaching by myself. We taught the letter A and B and the words: ant, apple, bat, book and ball. I thought the children were responsive and they enjoyed the making the letters with ripped up tissue paper. After-school, around 50 children came to the pre-school! We played Wink Murder, the language barrier was difficult, and it took us at least 20 minutes to explain the game. But it was worth it in the end; I think they really liked it. It was chaos when we brought out the parachute; they were going crazy with the parachute! I thought it was quite nice to get some air in.

Bharkavi and Rahdika were both ill on Tuesday morning. I had the choice of either go to Vikumgama or Kiralawela. I didn’t feel like we should cancel on the villages again so I decided to go Kiralawela by myself. I thought it was a good learning experience because I think I have become more confident in teaching and I felt sometimes, if an activity didn’t take as long as I thought it would, I took an initiative and thought of other activities.

I absolutely loved Hiththatiya, I can see the high standard of teaching there. I taught them the song Old MacDonald with actions, even though if they couldn’t join in with the singing, they joined in with the actions! We had the animal theme, and they children enjoyed making the Cat masks. The after-school activity was so much fun. Laura and I started off with an art activity, we asked the children to design the walls for our new pre-school in Vikumgama. I can definitely say that there were many talents among the group. The boys really enjoyed the dodgeball, it got a little scary when there were 2 balls I had to dodge from! The water balloon fight was amazing! Laura got hit quite a few times on the back! Wednesday was a really good day; I look forward to go back to Hiththatiya in the coming weeks.

Bharks and I went to Rassendeniya on Thursday, we carried on the letters and the animal theme but I don’t think the children quite understood us. I put the children in groups of 4 and tried to get them to repeat after me. I think they got the tune of Old MacDonald. After-school, I think they really enjoyed the music chairs! On Friday, we had a little trouble with the travel. The bus driver told us to get off the bus earlier than we suppose to. But luckily, opposite the bus stop, there was a tourist information centre. And the guy drove us in his car to the Palana pre-school. The children absolutely loved the bubbles; they were following Bharks around just so they can pop the bubbles!

This week has been good, but it definitely not without its challenges. I look forward coming back to the villages.