Teaching in Sri Lanka - Paul and Penny Cannings

E-mail: paul.cannings2@btinternet.com

Teaching at Mawala School

A few thoughts for anyone thinking of volunteering as a couple or leaving their children behind in the UK. Just do it!! It was a big decision at the time and we had to find some very good friends for our two children to live with. But actually it was great for us and the children.

We emailed the children a couple of times a week and spoke to them on the phone at the weekends. They enjoyed hearing all about Sri Lanka and enjoyed the excitement of having to store up their news until the next email/call. Seb who is 11 has definitely become a more confident boy over the month we were away.

Penny and I really enjoyed doing this project together, it was a big help in the classroom to work as a pair and being together cut down on any hassle when catching tuk-tuks late at night etc. Penny and I taught (with Becky) at Mawala school in the mornings and played games with the children at Panadura relief camp in the afternoons. We brought a few ideas with us from the school where Penny works in the UK and from our own children's experiences. Ligaya asked if we could write about some of these ideas in the newsletter. So here goes....

We found that the teaching here is very much focussed on copying from the board, vocabulary, spelling, dictation and reading. However the level of spoken English and sentence construction is way behind this formal work. The real value-add that volunteers can bring as fluent speakers is - practice of pronunciation, conversational English and some simple sentence construction.

The teachers in Mawala were amazed when we brought pineapples, bananas, umbrellas, books and pens to school and asked if we could take over the library and turn it into a shop! This role play worked for all the age groups from 5 (who loved the "bus trip" around the school to get to the shop!) to 16 (OK we didn't do the bus trip with them). Interestingly, with the older ones, it helped them to overcome their embarrassment. As a 15 year old boy, if you are asked to stand up in class in front of your mates (and girls too!) and say something which you might get wrong it is pretty embarrassing - but if everyone is taking a part in a play and you have lines to speak it is much easier. The props really helped here as it turned the whole thing into a game. This was particularly the case with the weak students who could at least say "a pineapple please" while the more advanced ones said "I'm sorry I haven't got any, would you like anything else?"

A few other ideas which worked well were - serving and being served in a restaurant (a plastic tray with some plates and cups cost £1 from Panadura market!). With the younger classes - making and decorating weather charts then presenting the weather reports from around the world (a chair on a table makes a good makeshift TV). Asking for directions and travel info was also more fun when the children could dress up in my rucksack and Penny's sunglasses. And of course songs are always a hit - I can see a rainbow, Old MacDonald, twinkle twinkle, if you're happy and you know it, and wheels on the bus.

If you get the chance to work as a pair with another volunteer then do. It is great because you can demonstrate the role plays easier. This also helped when demonstrating "interview your friend and then tell the class 5 things about her".

All in all it was great fun and the children really responded well. Miss Silva the English teacher was particularly pleased that some of the weak students who had never spoken a word of English in class had participated in the school's English day when each class had to do a song, a role play, a poem or a speech. A special thanks to Becky (who is still teaching at Mawala) who single-handedly taught 5 classes their parts for English day and who allowed us 2 old gits to work alongside her for a few weeks.


Paul and Penny Cannings

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