Day 150: 30/5/13
I got a call at around 7 this morning to go to a boys grammar school, ie a private school. They started at 8:30 so I had to leave fairly quickly. It wasn't far on the train, but there was a 25 minute walk from the station. I ended up at the secondary school campus first though and had to ask where the primary schoo was. I wasn't too late so it was grand.
It was an all boys school which I've never been in before and they all had their blazers and ties on. I'd a year 5 class. First thing in the morning we had to go to singing practice as there is church on Friday that they needed to practice for. They were really good singers- there were no loud ones talking rather than singing, which I usually have!! We had to do spelling in their workbooks then and afterwards they had to read a comprehension and answer the questions. That was all grand, although they were pretty chatty, but it left me with a load of work to correct at break-time! My class had pe and library then so I went to two different year 6 classes. In the first one they were working on their writing so they were all on their laptops. The school provides them with a laptop- they all had the same one. Their typing skills were excellent so obviously they use them all the time. Definitely were way behind on computer skills!! After that I went back to my own class for Maths where they had to draw a map given some clues about the streets. It was kind of stupid as there could have been a lot of correct answers so I let them just do it whatever way they wanted!! At lunch it started raining but I was in the classroom anyway finishing off the correcting. I didn't know where the staff room was anyway!! After lunch all the grade 5 classes were working together on a play. It was a rewrite of Willie Wonka where the factory made books for the school instead of sweets. It was pretty good! We had to go to another building to practice it which involved crossing the road and walking another 100m or so- I don't know how big their campus actually is!! I just had to prompt them so the other teachers could see what they looked like on the stage. The play seemed really good although there was very little organisation as to how they would go on and off the stage!!
The day was grand anyway- the boys were pretty chatty but not bold or anything. They seemed way more innocent than other boys in year 5 and 6- they even looked younger- I wonder if it makes a difference being around girls?!? Also the kids in this school were predominately white, which isn't the norm over here in the public schools- there's usually way more children with an Asian background then any other.
After school I walked back to the station in the rain- that's always entertaining! Then I had some food and went to the coffee shop near the hostel to get some warm tea and use the free wifi!! Somehow the wifi there is faster than most.
I went back to the hostel then and paid the last of the money for my stay- I think they've gotten about 11 weeks from me!!
I got a text while I was at school today for work tomorrow and luckily I'm going back to the school that's easy to get to and I've been to a lot, so I can relax in the morning!!