education

the school i visited was interesting...
i had been there a couple of times in 2007 but since then it moved to a smaller but more developed location across the road. It basically consists of dirt floor teaching rooms with no walls, a giant shed the size of a typical school gym with concrete floors (where the boys sleep) and a couple of huts where the girls sleep.
We arrived to them having dinner so waited outside before walking in and being introduced to about 50 faces all smiling expectantly at us and chanting in unison

Hello Teacher

Hi Dan

Welcome Dan

etc

They are all interested in what i have studied. Several have done their masters, many are doing community focused development roles, providing they have the support they need this country will be in good hands in the future. They value education very highly and listen even when they have already heard it.

Teaching seems to be best done by turning everything into a bit of a joke. They are very quick to smile and see the humour in just about everything.
Getting used to working through a translator is pretty hard. Saying short sentences is not really my thing. It's funny because i found myself trying to explain a concept and talking really fast at the end as if to squash it all in before it was time for them to translate. Of course making their job even harder.
Also when telling a story you keep loosing your climatic impact because you have to stop before the punch line, sometimes the translator goes for three or four times as long as you have leaving you wondering whether you have to re-explain the context again before the punchline.
You need to keep reminding yourself that although they speak in limited English they understand much more so it's always a tricky balance between using words they wouldn't understand and being too basic.
Anyway, i'm off to buy a phone(a local phone that is cheap so i'm not flashing around an expensive pda), some thongs(so i can slip my shoes off at every place i visit) and some food before going to a school to teach English and explain what Australia is all about.

I've come prepared.

I've taken a didgeridoo over here (plastic and light)and already have come to appreciate how it crosses language barriers so easily.