Keith in Sri Lanka

I had a rather late start this morning, which was lovely, as I got a few things done in the apartment. My first appointment today was a meeting in my 'cabin' (they call offices 'cabins' here) with Lalanga, where we particularly looked at the use of behaviour charts (similar to a 'report card') for students whose behaviour was becoming increasingly unmanageable. I believe what I shared with Lalanga could have a big impact at the school. My next appointment was with a new senior member of staff at the school, where I had a 1.5 hour training session with him on 'Effective classroom control and mastering effective classroom management', which was a wonderful use of my leadership and management skills, which have developed over the past 45 years, since I first completed my Postgraduate Certificate in Education in July 1981 at The College of Ripon and York St. John. I absolutely loved the 1.5-hour training session, and I have two more lined up with the same ne...

It was a sweltering hot day today, as I began my final working week at the Royal International School in Kurunegala. I started with a session on behaviour management with Lalanga, the Section Head for Grades 7 and 8, and it was a very practical session as we dealt with an incident involving a group of students (inevitably boys) in Grade 7 - the mystery of the chewing gum on the teacher's chair that we didn't quite manage to get to the bottom of! I was frustrated last week at being unable to meet with the Managing Director to provide him with feedback about my work, so he kindly scheduled regular slots for me to chat with him this week. The first one of these was due to take place from 11:00 - 12:00 this morning in his office, but it was cancelled due to him having another meeting, the irony of which was probably not lost on him, and certainly wasn't lost on me, as I have such little time left here now. I had a good discussion with Priyani today about the key issues that she...

I had breakfast at 09:00 again. The weather has been very unpredictable, although it is looking far more likely that you can predict rain, so I decided to head back this morning.  It suited both Nilanga and me to drive back to Kurunegala at 10:30, and we got back at almost exactly 12:00. It had been lovely to see Nilanga and Radha again, and I was very touched that Radha had been up during the night producing some beautiful hand-made flowers and a lovely poem for me. I decided to go into Kurunegala for a final shop - mainly to buy a couple of gifts for people, so I took a tuk-tuk to one of the major stores - Thilakawardhana - where I found a few T-shirts for my granddaughters and other friends, then I decided to see if Selyn was open, so I messaged Sandra, before making my way back into the centre of the city to shop at Sriyani, where I purchased another couple of items before Sandra drove out to meet me. Sandra was visiting a close Buddhist monk friend who is in his 90s and has re...

I got up fairly late today and had breakfast at 09:00. I was supposed to climb the Lion Rock this morning, but it was very cloudy and due to rain, so my plan got scuppered, but the alternative was still delightful. I went to Dambulla with Bawan by tuk-tuk and visited the Dambulla Cave Temple, which is a World Heritage Site, and well worth the huge number of steps that you have to climb to get to the entrance to the caves, as they really are rather spectacular. It was a wise decision not to try to climb Lion Rock this morning, as the heavens did open and we would have been drenched! It remains something on my Sri Lankan bucket list for the future - maybe even next year if the weather is better! After our visit to the caves, the tuk-tuk driver took us to a lovely place to eat, where we enjoyed a buffet lunch. We then tried to visit a few shops but quickly abandoned that idea and just went back to Nilanga and Radha's place. I rested for a very short while before walking into Sigiriya ...

There was no great rush today, as my first lesson observation wasn't until 09:30, so I had a late breakfast, then made my way to the sports field to take a few photographs of the Grades 5 and 6 Sports Meet, which looked to be going well. Madam Sandra was addressing the parents as I arrived. Events at the Royal International School seem to be extremely well done, and they go to much greater lengths than we would for our Sports Days in UK schools. It felt like a very relaxed day today, as my commitments in school were very light, with just a couple of lesson observations in Grades 5 and 6, where the classes were small because of students involved in the Sports Meet. I then had a couple more lesson observations in Grades 7 and 8, although the second one of those got cancelled, as Nilanga arrived rather early to take me away for the weekend, and it was an ICT lesson that wasn't a high priority for me. Nilanga arrived, and Radha, his wife, was with him, as she is from Kurunegala, so...

It was just another day at the office for me today, although I have rarely actually been in the office that was allocated to me here, as I have mainly been in lesson observations, Priyani's office, or Lalanga's office. A few more lesson observations again today, followed by a meeting with Lalanga and his two Grade 7 and Grade 8 Coordinators with Madam Sandra and Managing Director Ravi in his office. Only a few key tasks left for me out here now. I went back to the apartment this afternoon to find that I had no electricity at all, so my immediate assumption was that there had been a power cut. I checked in with Chandika, and there didn't seem to be a power cut, so eventually, after spending more than an hour melting in the heat, a couple of maintenance guys came round to check, only to discover that the trip switch in the main fuse box had blown, and simply needed to be switched back on again! It was both frustrating, and a little embarrassing, to find that the solution to m...