This is for you and your beautiful village, Candy!

I have found my favourite spot in Georgetown. I went down to the sea wall again on Friday after school. I ran along a deserted beach from one end of an empty bay to a yellow house at the other. The sun was piercingly hot but there were gusts of warm tropical sea breezes. I felt (or told myself) that this must be what doing Marathon Des Sables is like. Half way, I made a slight detour to check out a huge dead catfish that had washed ashore. The run back was just as serene; I followed my lonely footsteps all the way home, tracking them along the sand. I still can’t believe it has taken me so long to appreciate the sea wall.

On the way home, I bumped into Kala and we had a chat about the volunteers. They are giving her some stress at the moment so we got planning a trip to Orealla (one of their projects) with the British Ambassador. Hopefully we’ll be going in the next couple of weeks.

September is Amerindian (the native people of Guyana) Heritage Month and a few years back I made friends with some people from St Cuthberts, which is a beautiful Amerindian village quite close to Georgetown. One of these friends, Candy, had invited me over this weekend to celebrate with their village. I arrived at midday on Saturday to a massive gathering of people. We drove for an hour down the sand track to their village that opened out onto 20 stalls selling local food and drinks and a huge benab (traditional marquee). In the benab, they had speakers, singers and dancers, all kitted out in grass skirts and headdresses. The dancing was fantastic. They had different dances for different animals and even one for how to make cassava bread. The singing was typically Amerindian and if you know what I mean, you will be laughing right now.

Candy linked me up with a Peace Corps volunteer who invited me in and immediately offered his spare key, filtered water and a bed for the night. This was only the start of St Cuthbert’s ridiculous hospitality. We mooched around the stalls and sat in the back of stationary pick-ups into the night. For the second time in my life, I ate bush cow (tapir) pepperpot and drank black potato wine. For the first time in my life I ate a tacumo worm (the inch-long grub of a beetle). You bite off its head then get chewing. I wasn’t overly keen but people were eating bowls of the stuff.

At dinner time I headed to the creek to bathe. There were a few people sat around in cars, blasting music out into the jungle and liming away. I ran straight in and dived through the inky black water. I popped my head out, lay back and looked up. I felt like the sky had been painted. The stars were so clear and crystally. There was a feint shimmering band of light running all the way across the sky, marking the other side of the universe. Ultimately it is the cheesiest thing ever but it has made one of the best moments of my life.

By nightfall the place was getting crazy. St Cuthberts is foot-deep in white sand all over the village and this mixed with discos and hundreds of people made it feel like the closest thing I will get to a full-moon party in Thailand. Just with a shake of Caribbean style- all over the dance floor, people were wining away; pretty surreal if you’re not used to it.

If Saturday night was crazy, Sunday morning was carnage. This beautiful village that I so fondly remembered was covered in litter, bottles and broken glass. We trudged our way through it all towards the creek and the blaring music that had been missing from the last three hours! At the creek, the party seemed to be continuing from the night before. Hundreds of people were liming with red cups in one hand and their rum/vodka/whiskey in the other. The Amerindian kids were running around, jumping off the banks, throwing sand at each other and all with their big cheesy grins on their faces. I went in to the water to swim again but nothing could match up to the stars from the night before. At one point I was chatting to a guy who was taking his caiman for a swim. Yes, that actually happened. The caiman was a baby and he would let it go in the water then pick it up when it strayed too far. I don’t know what he will do when he realises that they grow longer than the size of your forearm (it will definitely taste good though). I was feeling pretty hungry so tried to buy some food from what looked like a stall. The lady said she wasn’t selling it but just at that moment, her husband came up and offered me a plate of roti and chicken curry- perfect. The offers continued and in five minutes, I was tucking into my food, sat on a chair that had been bought down to the beach for me with a coke in one hand and incessant offers of vodka shots in my ear.

St Cuthberts, I adore you. Thanks so much for everything this weekend.

Do you want to go to the seeeeeeaaaaaside?!

So I think I mentioned the sheer disruption that sports day causes in Guyana. I thought it was less so in Georgetown than when I used to be in Region 1. I also thought it would be even less so in an academically-driven private school run by two Scottishes. But no, here I am on a Friday afternoon, sat in the staff room whilst the school is empty of students.

Today is field events day so the students go to a field to throw stuff and jump things. Only the ones who are taking part are supposed to be there but even the ones not taking part have decided not to come to school today. We have two more days of this next week!

I did get to teach the A-level students this morning though. My AS class were doing a titration practical, which was great fun. Just the simple acid-base neutralisation one but it took us 2 hours to complete. Most of them haven’t used any lab equipment before which makes everything quite fun but they have a practical exam to do this year and it can be on ANYTHING.

I sat with my form class yesterday for their ICT lesson as their teacher was absent. They are such a great bunch of kids. My expectations of students are ridiculously low after two years in South London. It’s such a shame as there were lovely kids there too but I never got to teach them! One of them must be a massive science get to have a flash drive that does this:

After school yesterday, I went to the sea wall. I have been to the sea wall once before about 5 years ago but it was dark then and I only walked along the pavement. At the beginning of the year, the sea wall got topped. There is a scary video on youtube of the situation; made even scarier by the fact that Georgetown is already a few metres under water. Yesterday I walk along the beach, in the sea and bare-foot. It was amazing. The water was so warm (slightly brown but still warm), I saw 4-eyed fish and a skimmer-bird (the one that skims its bottom bill along the surface to catch fish as it flies). And not just a rare glimpse of these things, hundreds of them! I want to go back tonight for a run.

School sports is back again!

Yesterday was the start of a yearly Guyanese tradition that I remember with such bitter-sweet memories. School sports happens every year around September/October. Depending on how your school leadership feels, you can spend weeks practicing and throwing inter-everywhere competitions. Yesterday was our first day of practice so all the students met at the Guyana Defence Force grounds and spent the day running, jumping and parading in their house groups. I imagine they did that anyway. I stayed at school did some planning, tried to set up a titration then taught the sixth formers who don’t do sports.

I met up with Mael for lunch and got a spare set of keys so moved all my stuff from Javan’s into the new flat. I found that I have a walk-in-wardrobe yesterday! Living with a Frenchie has so many bonuses. One is their fondness for making crepes. For dinner I had sausage crepe then followed it up with a sweet one drenched in Nutella.

I am getting really tempted to hike up Mount Roraima this Christmas. It is the tallest mountain in Guyana and also the triple point where Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana border each other. To get there would be a bit long-winded but I have heard that being on top is like finding a lost world.

For New Years, a few of us have decided on Canada. So I’ll be flying into Toronto, catching a bus down to Ottawa for an ice hockey game then heading back up to Toronto for New years- throwing the CN Tower Sky Walk and Niagara Falls in somewhere. I have heard the temperature ranges from -40 to -20 degrees at that time of year so it will have a crazy 50 degree difference to what I have been getting used to!

First Guyanese School Trip!

So I sadly reached my first proper behaviour issue in Guyana yesterday. A girl from America has just been sent to live over here with a relative because of a family issue back home. I didn’t know any of this and handled the fact that she wasn’t working with very little tact. She erupted in screams and arguments and I have been left chasing up the leadership team to find out the full story.

It made me think of the positive behaviour management sessions we have run for the past two years with teachers in Uganda and Nepal. I don’t have my own classroom here and that makes routines a lot harder. There is also no behaviour tracking, no system of rewards and no sanctions. This set-up is very similar to the teachers we were training in Nepal and Uganda.

I’m not completely sure what is going to happen with the situation with the girl. I won’t teach her until I have a reconciliation meeting with her. I am then going to create a star chart for that class to reward positive behaviour and finally I am going to make sure the next lesson is planned and prepared perfectly. This is exactly how I coped and improved in London.

Last Friday, the United Nations invited the Form 4 heroes to International peace day at parliament building. The event was to be held the following day so I called a meeting after school for anyone in form 4 who wanted to go. Thankfully there were no endless sheets of paper work or 10 weeks notice that I remember having to trawl through last year. I gave them my number in case their parents had any questions and we were set!

The Peace Day event was very strange. A few people (including the prime minister) made a speech and one speech from Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was read out, there were some awards and finally refreshments. I made my way of to the Speaker of parliament and asked if he would take us round the chambers. Thankfully he did and we were in!

Form 4 Aces the Exam!

Sadly there were fewer frogs and more lattice enthalpies in my day today. At least the lattice enthalpies were done in air conditioning.

In geography with year 11 I have set up a cheeky little debate for tomorrow’s lesson. It made me think back to a debate I set up in London that miserably failed and turned into a full-blown, screaming argument spanning the whole lunch time after the lesson. I’ll have to wait to see how excited/angry Guyanese kids get about underpopulation in Australia.

The anxiety of teaching the A-Levels needn’t have been there but I still felt a wave of relief and confidence sweep over me as I realised I had completed a full A-level lesson on lattice enthalpies. The lovely part is that these lessons aren’t limited resource-style. The sixth form classrooms have air conditioning, white boards and you can borrow top-spec projectors to let Khan Academy (Youtube tutorials) take over for a bit. I reflected on the lesson (yes, I did do Teach First) and realised that smashing out the content then letting the students take over to give each other example questions was really effective.

Bit of resource irony

I have planned for the students to teach the start of a lesson each. I actually taught them why that is a good idea and they looked kind of excited by it. I know; you all think I should be an education lecturer.

Grade 10 (my tutor group) stormed their end of unit test. I wrote the test up on the board just like we used to do in Region One; who needs a photocopier? 13 As and A*s out of 24 kids. This took me ages to get to with classes in London. Sadly they were more happy to get stars on the star chart than their A*s but then again, we are going on a tour of the President’s house when we get 150. I only hope I can repeat this with the A-levels.

 I stayed at school until 6 to plan for tomorrow. I never thought I would feel confident about teaching Born-Haber cycles to A-level but let’s see how it goes down tomorrow.

P.s jaguars acutally eat crocodiles

Dead Frogs and lattice enthalpies- a crazy day

Yesterday evening we got an invite from Terrence to go to dinner at a churascaria (all-you-can-eat Brazillian). These places are incredible. Firstly you load up your plate with a stupid amount of salad, carbs and meat stews then you go to the meat counter and they bring out kebab stick after kebab stick, each with a leg’s length of roasted meats on it. I never used to be sure when to stop eating and would have to spend hours horizontal in a hammock coaxing away the meat sweats. I am so happy to have finally reached the day when I can say “no” to all-you-can eats!

Instead I opted for the one-time, fill-your-plate and weigh your food. It was like a pick ‘n’ mix for a greedy, carnivorous guzzle-gut.

I am always jealous of my head of department getting to teach all the biology when I’m sat here thrashing out the chemistry. She is a great teacher though. My form class came to me this morning with pots containing large frogs. Guyana is crazy but I soon caught on that they were using them for dissection later and needed to store them in the lab. Two hours and five dead frogs later I was sat in the lab excitedly waiting to see the dissection lesson. One group still had a live frog so I was tasked with gassing it to death with formaldehyde. I felt bad and this was made worse when the stupid frog refused to die and it took at least 10 minutes until I won. The kids loved it. They immediately got stuck in and kept asking if I was queasy as they incised and de-gutted their reptiles.

One group put their frog back together after, proper Frankenstein-style. Some students were saying that this group will become surgeons soon. I think psychos is closer.

I had my first AS level class today. There is 28 of them. I didn’t mess around and gave them a big test paper, whilst spending the whole lesson explaining just how difficult the course is going to be and how hard they are going to have to work. After school I planned their lessons for the next day. AS is fine and we are going to do about relative molecular masses. A Level is another story. They are starting with Lattice Enthalpies, Atomisation Enthalpies and Electron Affiliation. Anyone?!

Blog 10! Munching down cheez stikz with a Big Red

This weekend was filled with carbs, pure carbs. I find it hard to vary my diet. Meat is normally fine to get but I keep missing veg out and opting for Big Reds and Cheez Stikz. Big red looks and tastes so strongly of red, it’s wrong.

Waking up this morning was pretty awesome. There’s a lovely view from Mael’s balcony and it is always breezy; a great place for a BBQ and to watch the sunset.

 I only had a 10 minute walk to work so wasn’t sweaty at all. I worked until the start of school then went down for assembly and registration. I have the best form in the school so it is a delight to start the day with them. They are a group of year 10s who have been streamed to do science so they are super-keen and all want to be doctors, dentists and pharmacists. An awesome change from having a few psycho year 7s as a tutor group last year.

I taught two members of my department about how we used to do break in Region 1, Guyana. Every break we used to get channa (chick peas) and polourie (chick pea flour deep fried in balls) and cover it in sour (chutney) and hot pepper sauce. Today, I won so many brownie points with their surprise at how much pepper sauce I could eat. “You people don’t normally like things hot, right?”

They were probably just appreciating the slight reduction in my sweat-rate since that first week.

Year 11 chemistry had a test today. We haven’t quite finished marking it but I can’t wait to see the results. It is just shocking the amount of effort and intervention I had to put in last year to feel similarly confident about my classes.

This evening I picked up my driving permit for Guyana. It is brilliant.

I have been sat watching the basketball court until the sun set tonight. Living the dream!

Current weather- 30 degrees, not a cloud in the sky

Next week, I start teaching A-level and AS-level chemistry. It is the first time I have taught this so I spent most of Friday worrying about it and hunting round for resources. I had the morning free so by lunch I had spoken to loads of people and filled my desk with chemistry books and CDs full of resources.

In the morning, I met the Head teacher who is a lovely Scottish guy and has lived in Guyana for 20-30 years. I got some advice from him about teaching A-levels but my main source was my head of department. After the chat with her I felt a lot more relaxed about it and came up with a rough plan of action for the year. I don’t know if this is normal but I only have 23 weeks to teach these A-level courses!

My lessons in the afternoon were just another continuation of the dream. We did transition metals in grade 11 then had a lab session for grade 10. I had told grade 10 that the torrential rain this week had caused a serious flood in the Diamond mineral water factory and that we had to test the purity of the water for them (not sure if they brought it, I enjoyed it in my head). Somehow they had never used Bunsen burners before so we had a bit of a safety chat to avoid gassing ourselves to death.

I arrived home to find it was my turn to cook that evening. Javan taught me how to cook rice and how to pressure cook beef (brilliant invention) then I whizzed up a pretty tasty beef curry, made even tastier by the MSG that everyone adds to their meals in Guyana. Even Javan said it was really good; possibly my proudest moment of the week.

After dinner we headed over to Mael’s house and played a competitive bottle cap game followed by a hilarious game of fight club. The only rule of our fight club was no punches in the face. I lost every round and managed to get a bruise on my stomach! I had a Skype conversation with Morag today and when I told her this story she thought it was weird so for some reason I have blogged it. “You had to be there man!”

This week I have decided to stay at Mael’s place. It is a 2 minute walk from my school so it will save a lot of time, especially as the A-levels are starting this week. I’m trying to pre-empt the hard slog that this is going to be!

Shaaart Pants!

Today started off with air conditioning, a hot shower, a filter coffee and pastries. I feel like a king. Don’t worry, I haven’t moved to French Guiana and started working for the space agency (it happens), I stayed over at Mael’s last night and he lives in a gorgeous apartment above Oasis café.

School was like a dream yesterday. I taught circuits to form 3 (the “dreaded” year nines) and  I think it was their first time using the equipment: I forgot their books so told them that the group with the most bulbs lit up by the time I got back would win. By the time I got back NONE of them had managed to get one bulb lit but they were hilariously engrossed in the gadgets in front of them. By the end of the lesson we were conducting electricity through their pencils and throwing paper balls (aka. Electrons) to each other.

Last lesson was with my fifth form (year 11) geographers and went so easily. They presented, fed-back, had group discussions then wrote exam questions; I felt like I didn’t even teach them. Their exam answers were brilliant again. I got the students to mark them, then peer-mark them, then I marked them to check. I wasn’t sure how the students felt about the lack of teacher talk in the lessons because normally students complain if there is too much student-centred learning, they think they are not learning and would prefer didactic chalk and talk. So this morning in assembly I asked one of the fifth formers how they felt and they replied by saying how happy they were with the depth of study; just to reiterate, I haven’t taught these guys anything about Niger or Russia!

After school and marking, I decided to head to Mael’s so I went to Gift Land (a shop that resemble the board game, Mouse Trap) to buy some shorts. The Guyanese accent is so unique. It is fairly easy to understand and I think I understand most conversations now but the trouble comes when you are the one talking. I went into a shop on the way to Gift Land and asked the guy, “Do you sell shorts?” Now this didn’t work at all. He screwed up his face and looked at me as if I was a piece of modern art. So I realised that I needed to turn it slightly Guyanese, “Yuh sell shaaart pants?” And he immediately replied, “Oh, oh, oh, male shaaart pant? Nah, we na gat.” So I left.Today started off with air conditioning, a hot shower, a filter coffee and pastries. I feel like a king. Don’t worry, I haven’t moved to French Guiana and started working for the space agency (it happens), I stayed over at Mael’s last night and he lives in a gorgeous apartment above Oasis café.

School was like a dream yesterday. I taught circuits to form 3 (the “dreaded” year nines) and  I think it was their first time using the equipment: I forgot their books so told them that the group with the most bulbs lit up by the time I got back would win. By the time I got back NONE of them had managed to get one bulb lit but they were hilariously engrossed in the gadgets in front of them. By the end of the lesson we were conducting electricity through their pencils and throwing paper balls (aka. Electrons) to each other.

Last lesson was with my fifth form (year 11) geographers and went so easily. They presented, fed-back, had group discussions then wrote exam questions; I felt like I didn’t even teach them. Their exam answers were brilliant again. I got the students to mark them, then peer-mark them, then I marked them to check. I wasn’t sure how the students felt about the lack of teacher talk in the lessons because normally students complain if there is too much student-centred learning, they think they are not learning and would prefer didactic chalk and talk. So this morning in assembly I asked one of the fifth formers how they felt and they replied by saying how happy they were with the depth of study; just to reiterate, I haven’t taught these guys anything about Niger or Russia!

After school and marking, I decided to head to Mael’s so I went to Gift Land (a shop that resemble the board game, Mouse Trap) to buy some shorts. The Guyanese accent is so unique. It is fairly easy to understand and I think I understand most conversations now but the trouble comes when you are the one talking. I went into a shop on the way to Gift Land and asked the guy, “Do you sell shorts?” Now this didn’t work at all. He screwed up his face and looked at me as if I was a piece of modern art. So I realised that I needed to turn it slightly Guyanese, “Yuh sell shaaart pants?” And he immediately replied, “Oh, oh, oh, male shaaart pant? Nah, we na gat.” So I left.

ps. it is 'casual' Fridays and I am wearing a t-shirt to school for the first time in 2 years. I wasn't told of by the Head this morning and it's freaking awesome!

OMG, I’m meeting Kala

Wednesday morning started off brilliantly. I’m finally getting into a routine of things here; I’m not laughing as I walk to the bus stop because I don’t believe I’m actually here, I’m smoothly getting onto the bus instead of lumbering on with my bag and taking twice as long as everyone else and I’m not feeling like I’m an alien walking round school as everyone stares at me because I’m new.

Strangely, at school today I was offered to take two more responsibilities. The first was having to choreograph and lead a ‘carnival dance’ for my house at sports day (I have no idea why they asked me; I definitely cannot dance). The second was being offered to teach another A-level class: environmental management. I haven’t even got my head around iGCSE chemistry yet, let alone started teaching A-level chemistry!

I turned down the second but somehow didn’t say “no” to the first, so it looks like Makushi House will be dancing up a storm come sports day!

Form 5 geography did their presentations today. They did a brilliant job on the research and one guy led an economic debate on the future of Niger- hero. I’m doing full-page lesson plans for every lesson at the moment. It is taking time (30 mins per lesson) but I think it is really helping; making up for my lack of syllabus knowledge and testing the kids out to see how they work best.

I started my paper register today. These things are an absolute nightmare or bureaucrat’s dream. All the exact shape marks, correct pen type, adding up the ticks and balancing the numbers. Last time in Guyana (I was 18), I tried to battle against all of this stuff. This time I feel different, it is similar to how things are done at schools in the UK and I am just going to immerse myself in it and see how I get on! Maturity sucks eh?!

After school I was lucky enough to arrange dinner with Kala. She looked after us when we were volunteering in Guyana five years ago and still looks after the volunteers now. We went to a gorgeous establishment called ‘OMG,’ complete with tinted windows and seedy bar stools but thankfully, air conditioning. We talked about a training course I am hoping to run with the current volunteers at Christmas and also about visiting their projects to mentor them with their teaching troubles. I am really excited that this might involve a trip to the highly acclaimed village of Orealla (apparently the most beautiful Project in the world).

“How de fish lookin? It thaw out? Ent?” Javan, September 2013

School seemed like carnage this morning! The thunderstorm and rains that hit last night continued into the first lesson. I got to school early but everything was locked- the printing room stayed locked until 9am, science lab until 9am (both of which I planned on using at 8.40am for first lesson). Even the assembly hall was locked and we went straight to our first lessons. I texted my dad about the trauma, to which he replied, “Look on the bright side.” So I looked out of the window and my colleague chimed in, “It’s a white out!” You couldn’t see the ground from our third floor staff room through all the rain.

Lessons were great today. I ran a chromatography lab and the kids behaviour in the practical was amazing. They were so engaged, nobody screamed, ran around the lab or threw chemicals on another student (ahhh, London, I don’t miss you!). I taught year 11 geography after lunch and we learnt about Niger and Russia. Geography is a great subject to teach, not as good as science but still interesting. We have these big, industrial-looking fans in the classes; great for sweat-minimisation but I had to keep turning them off to talk to the class. I asked them to research their countries at the end then present back to the class tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes.

In London I learnt a conduction practical: put Vaseline on a metal rod then stick a pin in the Vaseline. As you heat the rod, the Vaseline should melt and the pin drops off. If anyone is thinking of trying it in Guyana, don’t. Vaseline has already melted before it comes out the pot here and I ended up burning my finger on the metal rod!

I tend to leave school as soon as the bell goes here. I used to stay in until at least 4pm in London but, in Stabroek Market, the buses get really busy by that time and I would feel really sorry for people sat with my sweaty self in one of those buses.

I’m sat here with Javan watching our American television stations. It is truly horrendous, an experience made even worse when Javan says you resemble Ellen Degeneres. Wow. The only intermissions are the Guyanese adverts, which are still brilliant. Especially when you see people in the adverts that you met last weekend.

Thunder storm last night- thought world was ending!

This experience in Georgetown is completely different to my last visits to Guyana. Everyone in England had warned me that it would be and I have prepared myself for not feeling completely elated ALL the time! Georgetown is like a country in itself compared to the interior of Guyana. Yesterday I went swimming again in the hotel pool with Javan and free Wifi. Then on the way home we bought wholemeal bread and I took cheese and mayo sandwiches into school with me! I ate cheese and mayo sandwiches every day at school in London- I just can’t escape them.

The weekend just passed was really good. I went to a couple of parties for a friend’s birthday and Mael put on a great BBQ at his veranda. I got a bit too excited about someone’s Bluetooth speakers that you could remotely control with your phone. Rum is ridiculously cheap here and we got proof of the point when we woke up on Sunday after the BBQ to find over 4 Litres that people had brought and not drank.

After our liming session by the pool on Sunday, we walked to Javan’s mum’s house in Bagotstown. The village/town is part of Georgetown and it reminded me of Rhianna’s “Shot a man down” video- dusty streets, wooden houses on stilts, kids playing cricket etc. Also because as we walked into the village, Javan joked, “This is where all the robberies and murders happen.” (He was joking mum)

I spent some time talking to Javan’s mum, who has been a teacher here for a long time and also taught at the same school as I did when I was here in 2008. It was crazy to hear that she had the same moans, about inclusion agendas and government policies screwing up state schools, that I heard in the UK.

I was about a 4 out of 10 on the Sweat-o-meter at school today but I did feel dehydrated and tired for most of the day. Does anyone know if you can safely drink ORS instead of water? I’m thinking it might allow me to drink less but keep hydrated... I had the standard Homework Collecting experience in my last lesson today. Half of the class had done some lovely work, some had gone all Wikipedia over it and some had not done (yes teachers, detentions and calls home did happen). I think I might be teaching one of the Prime Ministers grand kids.

My walk home today was hilarious. I was walking behind a large, sauntering lady who was singing (badly) very loudly. She would have been getting in the way but I adjusted my walk to not seem so English. Everyone saunters here. She broke from her song to shout, “What the hell broking up in this place?!” in a loud Guyanese accent. Just ahead of her was a flood covering the pavement and most of the road and we had to treacherously inch along a plank to avoid wet feet.

In a cheeky bit of Downton Abbey watching tonight via some dubious satellite connection, Javan exclaimed, “Bare action, bai.” Surely this is the first time that has ever been said about Downton!

Shakira blasting through the sound system at the Amerindian culture show

I just can’t find a solution to this sweaty commute! Yesterday started off quite cool. I was up at 6am and out the house before the Sun came out from behind the clouds. I made it to Stabroek without perspiring a drop and was so happy with myself that I grabbed a breakfast dahl puri. I started walking up to school when the heavens opened and a deluge of rain fell on my head. Yet again, I turned up in the science staff room soaking wet.

My first lesson was with year 9s. I had started to get a niggle that this class was going to cause me trouble so I started the lesson by making groups of 4 out of their desks and moving this talkative lad (he went on to have a really good lesson). I used the home and expert groups that someone presented to the teachers in Nepal this year. It didn’t work as well as I had imagined but I think that will come with practice.

At the moment, I have 12 lessons per week. We are waiting for the ominous arrival of the A level students and I’m told that after that, I will have only three hours free. This meant that I had a long lunch so I went for a walk to Oasis café- a little dream box that sells proper coffee, paninis and great pastries. I met up with a couple of friends from non-teaching jobs (Mael and Terrence) so it was a good escape.

I had a dream lesson with year 11 geography after lunch that ended with them doing a test on the Demographic Transition Model. They couldn’t wait to get started and the atmosphere was feverish as they were scribbling away. The whole class (28 students) answered every question. I almost passed out.

That evening was my turn to cook so I started on a beef and eddo curry. Javan and Ricardo came home and we decided to hit the Amerindian Heritage celebrations at Sapphire. This was really cool. There were stalls selling pepperpot, cassava bread (soft and hard) and little trinkets. The main attraction were the performances on stage of traditional dances, songs and funny skits full of culturally insensitive jokes. We stood around occasionally talking and slowly drinking a drink (aka liming).

Guyanese newspapers are fantastic, this is an article I read yesterday:

The day my form class asked for air conditioning as I was sweating too much!

After three days of planning and teaching grades 9, 10 and 11, I am exhausted!

There’s a few reasons for this. One is that I have never taught geography or chemistry GCSE before so I am learning the syllabus and how it relates to assessment as well as coming up with learning objectives and activities for each lesson. The schemes of work I have to go on are very skeletal- they have no detail on each lesson, just a general overview of each week.

The second is the new school. I am learning so much each day about how things work and have not been able to get into a good routine yet.

The last reasons relate to all the teachers I have worked with in Uganda and Nepal on Limited Resource Teacher Training courses over the past two years. I already had a lot of respect for them but after these three days, I am starting to respect them a whole lot more! The actual lessons themselves are great. The excitement of being alone in a classroom with no computer or powerpoint is a great adrenaline buzz. The hardest thing is the planning. It takes so much longer to plan for limited resource teaching. I can’t rely on a set slide with differentiated questions or word blanks. I can’t really use those techniques in class at all considering the time it would take to write them on the black board!

Falling back on someone else’s powerpoint or worksheets from TES is not an option either. We do have printing facilities but it is very long-winded. We also have an option to use a projector but these are tiny and don’t reach to the front of the class, as well as the room itself being too bright. Even though I am struggling to keep up at the moment, it is nowhere near as challenging as my first year on Teach First!

I came home today and found that I have brought another skill with me to Guyana- how to forget your keys and get locked out. I waited around for a while playing Candy Crush and drinking Icee in the tropical sun, then the mosquitos came out! Thankfully Ricardo (other housemate) turned up, let me in and it was his turn to cook!

I can’t wait to get back into the classroom tomorrow. Hopefully I keep saying this for a while!

Limited resource teaching is HARD!!

The first day back at school was truly fantastic!

I probably got up a bit too late and this made catching a bus into town a bit tricky as most were full. In the end I got to Stabroek market at 0745. Wandering through that place every morning is definitely going to wake me up. It is such a brilliant part of Georgetown; so lively with vendors and bus conductors all screaming at you for their business and the occasional shout of “White Boy!”

I got to school by 0800, which was right on time but not when it is your first day in a new school. I met lots of other teachers before the bell went for assembly who were all excited to meet me amid the hustle and bustle of the new term. Assembly was a classic Guyanese affair. The Head of secondary led the students in a prayer, National motto and school motto. I just put my hand on my heart, looked down and made that sage, respectful face you make at times like this.

Afterwards, I came forward and read out the names in my form class- Form 4S. We walked together up to our form room and I made a big speech: introductions, expectations etc. I was going to talk about behaviour and I might have to come back to it in a few weeks but for now let me just say that ALL of these kids are absolute angels! The three lessons I taught today, grade 10, grade 11 and grade 9, were like a dream. They say you shouldn’t smile on your first day. I challenge anyone to come to this school and not smile in their first lesson.

I left school at about 4pm (after decorating my form class with students from my form!) and the smile stayed on my face as I walked out into tropical sunshine all the way to the market to buy meat and veg.

Day two was just as exciting, sweaty and full of new experiences. My journey to work is incredible! I sit on this Toyota Hiace bus that zooms through the streets, blaring Caribbean music all the way to school. You occasionally have to jump out and re-shuffle if someone at the back wants to get out. All this excitement for $60 GYD (20p)! One old experience was collecting homework; it turns out dogs eat homework in Guyana too.

To overcome the horrendous sweating I’ve been doing over the past two days, I stopped at Stabroek market to buy a sweat towel- now my number one companion. Javan cooked up a storm back at the house; fried rice with veg salad and speedy pork pepperpot (a sort of tender pork stew). We then had a mini-home economics class where he taught me how to cook it all.

Back to Guyana- 3rd time lucky!

Landing in Georgetown, Guyana, that cheesy grin spread across my face as I smelt the humid, night-time air and released I was home. If I actually took time to think about the move, it should have been one of the scariest moments of my life but having a hectic summer of travelling didn’t allow me to get nervous. I never really felt comfortable in London and always saw it as a step between jobs. Nepal was similar; I had a fantastic experience there and worked with and met so many incredible teachers but I always knew it was just for the summer.

After the nightmare of getting an Indian Visa this summer, it was really surprising to be stamped and set free into Guyana without any questions asked. Baggage reclaim wasn’t so bad and then I wondered through to be greeting by another cheesy grin on the face of Javan! I hadn’t seen him since his visit to London last year and it was so good to see him again. His (and mine now) housemate drove us into Georgetown to the house- a big yellow construction, brand new and very spacious.

On Saturday, I visited my new school and met with the principal’s wife. She showed me round with an awesome blend of thick Scottish (her home-country) and Guyanese. The classrooms of the secondary school are quite big and the students get their own desks. Surprisingly, there were blackboards instead of whiteboards but these were really big and in a good condition. I met a few members of admin staff and it was nice to see the other teachers weren’t in school on a Saturday! I think if I had stayed at my Harris school in London, all the teachers would be in on the weekend before term starts!

Sadly the school doesn’t have a swimming pool but there is a big gymnasium with a basketball court and a few of the classrooms, that are used for teaching the college and university students, have air conditioning and big leather office chairs!

Javan and I spent Sunday planning lessons and eating roti and curry. It’s a shame that all this planning had to be done at the poolside of Georgetown’s swankiest hotel with booming reggaeton in the background.

Now I am here on the last evening before the great slog that is autumn term but I don’t feel scared. The feeling is really strange to me but I think it is just content. I’m really excited to meet the students and start teaching them. I have planned a lesson on non-academic skills as my first lesson with each class. Jack, who I was in Nepal with, really inspired me to think about these in my students so we have decided to teach it to them and compare how it goes. I think I will film some of the students talking about it and send the clips to him.

If any teachers from other countries can think of good partner-school ideas then please get in contact: tom.greenwood @ teachfirst.org.uk.

Ciao for now!