This first day involved the MLC girls taking various teacher training classes and working through some ideas for lessons covering topics such as social studies, Australian wildlife, prisms (maths), and the importance of education in developing countries. The girls were extremely well prepared and the teachers at Riviera really enjoyed sharing their thoughts and ideas for how the classes could be constructed to combine more creative methods of teaching. This was a logical progression from the teacher training we had already been providing to these teachers.
Of course when you take all of a school’s teachers out of their classrooms it is imperative that you find some way to occupy the students. Fortunately a number of the girls as well as teachers from MLC had this covered. Firstly Karen Carey, music teacher from MLC, gathered a small posse of the MLC girls, teachers and parents, and took charge of entertaining all the kids in classes 1 through 6 by teaching them some typical Australian songs. The Nepali kids returned the favour by sharing some local songs and traditional dance moves. Before long the sounds of music came bursting from the music room and it was clear that everyone was having a fantastic time.
Two of the MLC girls took the brave challenge of entertaining the little ones in the kindergarten section. These kids range in age from 3 to 6 years old and so their English skills are not that well developed and they have pretty short attention spans. Nonetheless the girls tasked with minding them had them singing “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes, knees and toes” including actions before too long. Once the singing started the kids were on a roll and they launched into a full volume rendition of what I think may have been the Nepali national anthem, the volume and acoustics of the small room making it difficult to know for sure!
Another particularly brave student from MLC accepted the task of keeping the students from class 9 and 10 occupied by having a discussion with them on a number of current topics including the recent election in Nepal, the prospects for the future of Nepal under a Maoist government, the impact on Nepal of instability in Tibet etc. These were pretty heavy things to be discussing but they were peppered with talk of favourite sports in each school, sporting heroes and other pop culture items. I’m sure this sharing of thoughts and ideas was a very rewarding experience for both sides and I think each of those involved came away with some interesting and diverse points of view to digest – a true cultural exchange!
The ring of the school bell was accompanied with the welcome news that cold drinks were ready for everyone in the main school building. As we sat and cooled down it was amazing to hear the number of questions being fired across the room between each of the MLC girls and their teachers, and the teachers from the model school. It was clear from these questions that the afternoon had opened many doors to new and exciting ways that the schools may be able to collaborate more closely in the future as both sides realised they could learn so much from the other. And on that note, another successful day draws to a close.
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