Today was my first day teaching music back at school, it was a great feeling walking into two different classes both wanting and willing to learn and both excited that you were there to teach it to them. They are musical kids; they love dancing, learning lyrics and are a joy to teach. My lesson plans today were based around the Lion King. After various warm up and starter activities I asked them to close their eyes and listen to the piece of music which I played off of my very slow computer (the humidity isn't doing it any favours); during this I asked them to see if they can hear what instruments are playing and what it makes them feel. The piece I played was 'I just can't wait to be king'. They loved it! A lot were tapping and moving along to it too which was lovely to see. Once the track had finished I asked them to feedback their thoughts. I then asked them to, in the outline of the shape of Africa, draw and colour in pictures of these thoughts. I played the lion king sound track which we bopped along to whilst they achieved the task in hand. The outcome was more than I could have imagined for! In the next lesson I plan to teach them the lyrics to the song and then write the lyrics around the edge of the Africa outline. These can then be hung around the classrooms.

In the afternoon I took a trip to the local (and I mean local) dentist with a little girl in excruciating pain, this is all thanks to the new 'dentist programme' being set up at school. I had never been to the dentist over here before but most of the children had never been to the dentist ever in their life until this new programme was introduced last year. It roughly costs $18 per child for a check-up, however initially it was way over this as most needed serious work doing, some even false teeth. I walked into the 'house like' looking building, child in hand; I removed my shoes and placed my feet on the stone floor. I walked inside to see a sofa, a small table, and a small boxed glass room which was clearly the dentists' room. After politely greeting the dentist by bowing with hands clasped together in a prayer like action I made some gestures and the child was taken into the room. It wasn't long until she re-appeared with a big smile on her face, she needed two fillings and had been given tablets too for the week. We walked back to school, conscious of getting mauled by stray dogs, but I re-assured myself that I could kick pretty hard if that were to happen...

x