Lazy Sunday Afternoon.....

My favourite cafe is shut on Sunday's.. And there is yet another bloody strike which means no transport. While it's only 4pm into town it's so hot today and when it's hot, it's dusty plus the walk is past all the tips and it stinks. If ever there was a place where you need a face mask it's here!!!
There is another cafe that serves good coffee and a nice omelette so I've parked myself here for a few hours.
The lessons went well. 'how many' and 'how much' . The first class of the day is a real challenge to keep their attention. The second two are a joy to teach. Attentive and well behaved. I've brought some stuff to the cafe and will spend some time planning the lessons.
There is a little courtyard 'well it's more of a front yard' with some seats. At the moment four of the family are washing the blankets. The father explained to me that they pump their water from the ground and it is coming to the end if the rainy season. Soon they will have to buy water from the water truck so they are taking advantage of the fine weather and the free water and cleaning all the blankets. This involves spreading them out in the yard. Taking a bar of soap and getting on their hands and knees. For a change the men are getting involved too, nice to see a bit of equality going on.

The omelette I had was good and only 40p. There is a huge difference in prices between here and town...

I have spent hours so far thinking up games to warm classes up in the morning. Last night I came up with a whizzo idea. All the students stand, make a circle. Question are asked 1 by one. If they get it right they stay standing. If they get it wrong they sit down. Last one standing wins the prize. ( a new pen or pencil) it worked a treat. I'm now recognising the good ones so question on what we've already done. The less capable get slightly easier questions and the very incapable get a ' pick what hand it's in' sort of question. It worked well. Time constraints ( the lessons are only 30 mins) mean the lesson us somewhat condensed but I always finish with 7 mins of video. It's a great motivator. Good lesson, video. Bad lesson, no video. While I was playing the video I looked through one of the Monks' exercise books. They appear at first sight quite advanced but the methodology is repeating and drilling. There are no concept checking or context checking and therefore no comprehension testing. I'm pretty sure only a few of them know what they are writing..









Ha ha. Now the blanket washing is done the bloke is washing his wifes hair on the table next to mine. Classy joint....

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Location:Ring Rd,Kathmandu,Nepal