Monday 24th February 2025

It was an interesting day today, as I continued to do some Maths teaching and observe the quality of English in various lessons. My Maths lesson today was dealing with paired numbers in addition sums e.g. X + 12 = 25, 11 + X = 18 etc. which is, of course, very basic algebra. They were Grade 2 students (Year 3 in the UK) and some of them found this quite challenging, so we had to think of different ways to explain how to arrive at the correct solutions for these.

One of the lessons I observed to look at the levels of English was a Meditation lesson - nothing to do with Buddhism, just thinking about using meditation as a way to relax our bodies, so some breathing techniques were involved. I found this fascinating and extremely useful for the children. Another lesson I observed today was a Social Studies lesson, where they were looking at the role of friendships in our lives - again a very useful thing to be discussing with them.

I spent a long session with three Co-Teachers from Grade 1, looking at how to develop their English, as they would all like to move on to being Class Teachers when the opportunity arises. They seemed rather shy and reticent to begin with, but they came out of their shells and surprised me with their levels of English. We discussed various strategies for trying to improve their English, and I believe all three teachers are very motivated to improve as quickly as they can.

I popped into a Senior School Mixed Language Singing Competition after school and helped to present some certificates. Later this afternoon, I had a long chat with Daya, who is currently working in Batticaloa, and it was good to catch up with him, even though I didn't have any easy solutions for a couple of the dilemmas that he currently finds himself in. By chance, his brother, Ragu, who works in Colombo, came to stay this evening, so it was great to catch up with him as well.

Today's photos show the Meditation lesson, the Senior School Mixed Language Singing Competition, and a couple from my evening out with Ragu.







Comments

  1. CharlesFebruary 24, 2025 at 11:36 PM

    I suppose the children hold their heads as a means of concentrating on the mental business of steadying their thought processes. Perhaps we adults should use the same technique?
    Incidentally, what other language(s) apart from English is(are) used for teaching in the school?

    ReplyDelete
  2. JanFebruary 25, 2025 at 1:19 AM

    Basic Algebra? Year 1! I suppose you'll tell us that it is in preparation for next week's introduction to Calculus.

    ReplyDelete

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