I arrived at Michiru to find half of the teachers are at at training course all week, including both of the Standard 7 teachers I am working with! No supply cover here. The other staff members take it in turns to take the class so I was able to work with a great variety of teachers. I continued use of no hands up & we used think, pair, share to brainstorm water pollution. With this time to think & develop ideas the learners came up with some excellent ideas more independently and recorded these as a class rather than the more traditional method of copying down from a text. Much more active & motivating. I have begun organising the class libraries, including 'laminated' book lists to help keep track of the texts. There are few to go around so it is essential they are look after properly & used effectively. I will train some learners to be librarians this week and take responsibility for these. To finish the day I shared a story from the selection of books & focused on questioning. I then attempted to teach 'If you're happy & you know it' which with my singing is some task! Still need to work on the words but the actions are coming along nicely! On the way home we visited Mandala House, the oldest house in Malawi. Lots of happy faces having found Diet Coke! Now back at the lodge with yet another power cut so planning & preparing by torch light! It's chilly & drizzly so Ferhat & I are sporting a new foot wear style!
