Thursday 11th January 2024

It wasn't the greatest of starts to the day, as my alarm woke me up at 07:30, but I went straight back to sleep, and I was horrified to then wake up at 08:10, knowing that Anushan was picking me up at 08:30. Worse still, Anushan was very early, and was already waiting for me. This is the same Anushan who had to drop my money bag off at The Grand Hotel on his way home yesterday, so it was embarrassing to get caught out twice within 24 hours!

Fortunately, I got ready at lightning speed, and I was ready to leave at 08:35. It is a very pleasant journey from Blackpool to Nanu Oya, apart from the last bit, when you turn off the main road, and go up the steep hill to the Edinburgh Tea Factory, which is along a quite appalling bit of track. The Edinburgh Tea Factory itself is an impressive sight, and it is always a relief to arrive there, although there are then four flights of stairs before you reach the Tea Leaf Centre.

I worked on my own this morning with the Teacher Training students, and had a very good session with them, where we covered a number of topics. They had to go to do some more promotional work to attract the new intake of students at 11:00, as they are well short of their target at the moment, although I suspect it will creep upwards, particularly in February, when there is always an upturn in the number of students once the 'A'; Level results come in.

After lunch, Isabelle joined me for the afternoon session, which lasted 2 hours, from 14:00 to 16:00. It involved them working in pairs to deliver parts of a lesson on recognising the names in English for different family members. They all made a very good attempt at this activity, although it was obvious what a challenge it is for them to attempt to teach a lesson of English, when their own levels of English are still not that advanced.

Today's photos show the front of the Edinburgh Tea Factory building, and the afternoon Teacher Training session, with a couple in the staff room at the end of the day.