As Lauren moved onto Mpata, Marie came and joined the Lipunga team and was given a typical Lipunga welcome. The staff continue to help us perfect our Chichewa greetings and Francis gives a helping hand as we travel in the bus!
Jane and Louise moved classes this week to Standard 4 and 5 and Marie has worked with Standard 7 so this means we have spent time with all of the teachers and learners in the older classes.
Louise has continued to work with staff and children in the library, reading stories and teaching library skills. The Standard 8 children brought in the most amazing Galimottos after a story session. Last year Lorraine and Marie put up a Scottish and Malawi flag in the library. This week the Lipunga staff have also started their own Malawi display to go next to our Scottish one. This is going to include pupils art work and Malawian objects brought in from home. Labels are being added and we hope to see the final display before we go. It's lovely to see changes happening and enthusiasm is never ending.
The Standard 5 pupils have written some beautiful letters to take home to Riverside and start an exchange with our pupils there. It was great to see the teachers Judith and Clara from Standard 5 working together during these lessons.
In Standard 4 we have been trying out some activities to practise our mental maths skills as well as using the illustrations to help our understanding of stories. In this class most of the learning and teaching is done in Chichewa but this has enhanced the experience for all.
Today after a few delays we finally got to do a CPD session with the staff which was really successful and a lot of fun. We covered all of the teaching for effective learning strategies using them with the teachers who all mucked in and worked hard together. It was really good to work with such enthusiastic teachers and enjoy real professional dialogue. It ended in much hilarity with clapping games and songs.
We are attaching a selection of pictures showing the Lipunga children on world porridge day on Tuesday and some pictures of the Standard 7 drama acting out the arrival of missionaries and their impact on the slave trade.
It's hard to believe that our time is nearly over. We are trying to make the most of our last few days while anticipating having to leave this wonderful school community. It's been a huge privilege.
