Keith in Sri Lanka

Sunday 22nd September 2019 I slept in a bit today and when I woke up it was a beautiful morning. However, by the time I had had a shower, made some breakfast and caught up on some emails, it was raining quite hard. I stayed at home for a bit longer, but it was obvious that the rain wasn't going to clear and I was determined not to stay in all day, so I ventured out in the rain in my wet weather gear and it just poured down all day! I spent quite a long time familiarising myself with Nuwara Eliya. Two girls running some sort of sweet shop chatted to me and I got them to take my photo and I took a lovely photo of them (see below). I know I look like a massive blue whale in my wet weather gear, so there is no need to comment! I cannot believe coincidences sometimes. I was looking round the little stores in the upstairs shopping area in the centre and who should I find having his hair cut but Musthaq, one of the teachers from school! Not only that, but the barber introduced himse...

Saturday 21st September 2019 As I reached my first weekend here in Sri Lanka, having only arrived last Sunday, it felt like I had been here for such a long time and I was astonished how much I have done already, made me all the more grateful to have the weekend off. I caught up on some much-needed sleep this morning and then spent the whole day sorting things out. I went out to The Indian Restaurant at The Grand Hotel with Rachelle in the evening, which seemed the height of luxury! We certainly enjoyed a delicious meal. There is only one photograph today, but it is a very important one, as it shows you the Vision and Mission Statements for the Tea Leaf Trust and all I am doing out here in Sri Lanka is trying to play my own very small personal part in helping them to achieve their vision. It has been an absolute privilege and pleasure so far to be out here and everything that I have experienced over this past week has confirmed for me that I am in the right place at the right time...

Friday 20th September 2019 I think today was my favourite day at school so far.  Having watched each of them teach earlier on this week, I spent a whole lesson  with each of the teachers today helping them with their preparation for the Teacher Knowledge Test, which is a test of the skills you need to be successful in teaching English to speakers of other languages. There are 3 Core Modules that test theoretical knowledge of language teaching. It feels like an extremely advanced version of the Spelling and Grammar (SPAG) Test that Year 6 pupils have to take in the UK. The 3 experienced teachers are well through Module 2 and the other 4 Trainee Teachers are just about to start Module 1. It was a pleasure to see each of the teachers individually and to get to know them a bit better. As part of each session, I took a photo of each teacher outside of the entrance to the school. Their names are (in the order of the pictures below): Malarvily, Musthaq, Ladushan, Donald, Madona, Ka...

Thursday 19th September 2019 It was another day of lesson observations in school today. I observed three more teachers, then gave feedback to them, as well as giving feedback to three of the teachers I saw yesterday. These are very young teachers with little or no training who are teaching with very limited resources and the standard of their teaching is impressive. There is a lovely team of staff at the school and it was a pleasure to spend the day with them. Today's pictures provide you with some more snapshots of the school in action.

Wednesday 18th September 2019 My main focus today was to do some lesson observations. As a Headteacher, I always felt it was a privilege to watch my teachers teach, and now that I am no longer a Headteacher it is even more of a privilege. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the lessons and today's photos are action shots from the classrooms I visited (sadly this means one or two of them are a little blurry, but at least you will get an impression of what the school is like).

Tuesday 17th September 2019 I started off my voluntary work today by going into the school in Nuwara Eliya this morning, where I met the Principal, Tharika Perera, and popped in to see a couple of classes, before being driven back across town by Ramesh in the school's tuk-tuk for a meeting with Yadharshi Selvaraj (Yad), the Director of The Tea Leaf Trust. I had an excellent meeting with Yad and her Management Team, which clarified the school's vision for the Rotary International Project, how they felt they could take it forward and what my role would be in it. I was then driven back across town to the school by Ramesh in the school's tuk-tuk in order to join the staff for lunch. I spent the afternoon observing a couple of the lessons and I will observe more teachers tomorrow. There is only one picture today - of Ramesh standing by the school's tuk-tuk. I will be sending more pictures showing the work of the school in due course.

Monday 16th September 2019 Hasantha drove me to the train station at Veyangoda, picking up his 86-year-old father-in-law Lionel on the way, as he stayed with me until the train came and helped me board the train with all my luggage. I was amused to find that I had been allocated a seat with a sign above it saying: 'RESERVED FOR CLERGY'. It was a long, slow, but very beautiful ride up to Nanuoya and would have been even more beautiful if not for the low cloud and heavy rain which marred the views. We were an hour late at Nanuoya, but Reggie had waited for me and I rode in his tuk-tuk to my accommodation in Nuwara Eliya. I was met at the doorstep by Rachelle who will be sharing the accommodation with me for a few weeks. She gave me a great induction to the apartment and the immediate environment and I then had my first Sri Lankan meal at a restaurant called Ambals, where I ate with my fingers for the first time.