I had prepared all my stuff for the morning so went to take a shower. There is a constant feeling of 'grubbiness'. having trekked down road I was in need of a good scrub. The slight inconvenience of no hot water yesterday paled into insignificance. Today there was no water at all. I had a huge bottle of water in my room which I emptied into a bucket and had a very thorough 'body wash' and a shave. Any thoughts of wearing the same shirt as yesterday's were quickly dismissed as I looked at the collar in the light. It was bloody loopy. Dirty gypsy bastard...
It was a miserable day, absolutely pissing down with rain. I had two classes again. One with the real youngsters, and then a second with the older boys.
As I walked towards the first classroom I was hijacked by a young monk from the second class.
'sir, sir.... In here. In reasonable English he said the first class had a teacher.
I went in an started the class with a 'Simon says' warm up. Very quickly it became evident that my first class didn't have a teacher at all. The monk thought it was hugely Funny that I'd been had. The first class again was the 30 youngsters. 'good morning sir' they shouted as I went in. 'Video, ,video' they yelled.
'good lesson - then video' was my deal.
They ca Ss went well, reinforcing what we had done yesterday. Getting them to converse in English with me and then in English with their peers. The is a real breadth of skills. Some very competent and some not at all so. One of the older boys was obviously the 'leader' and I got him on side. He was OK at speaking and really helped with the controlling of the younger monks.
Great lesson again, completed with a song. They love the Do Re Mi... I feel like Julie Andrew in the sound of music.
We finished the lesson with 5 minutes of video. I am showing them the road trip across the lower Himalayas by Motorbike. Using the opportunity to pause it from time to time and ask questions. 'What is this.' the area we travelled had a lot of monasteries so it is good that they can see Buddhist culture in another adjoining country. I am planning to use this every lesson till we've seen it all and use it to increase their vocal and allow them to name a few of the Buddhist gods etc...
The second take of the second lesson was great too. Again, there are couple of bright cookies, but also those at the other end of the spectrum. I think I have identified those that need most help. The trick is to keep them all motivated
The context of the lesson was 'feelings' and the the form was 'present, past and future simple' with an irregular verb thrown in for good measure. Went very well. Need to think a little bit more as to how I can get everything in as the lessons are only 35 minutes and I like to get a bit of a game in. I will try starting with the first class earlier and try to squeeze 45 mins in each. We actually managed to get most of the stuff in and the. Finished with a game to test the learning. Some of them certainly got it, others not so much. I will think how we can broaden it out to capture everyone. Being new to this lark I'm not sure how to do this yet. I will seek some expert advice...
All through at 9:00 and it's still tipping down with rain. At least the transport strike is over. My plan is to head back into town for the night and get a hot shower and a bit of a lie in tomorrow. Saturday is my day off.. Back to tomorrow evening with lessons starting again at 6:30 on Sunday.
I'm having breakfast of boiled eggs and toast and milky coffee thinking when shall I make a move . I need to let the rain subside.
I've not taken any photos yet... The weather is too bad and I've been too busy but there will be some cracking opportunities .....
This is so enjoyable. And it's going to get better.....
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Location:Kimdol Rd,Kathmandu,Nepal
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