First day of School!

After a really bad night sleep the alarm sounded at 5.30am (yes that's right, not seen that time in a very long while) and I woke feeling really sick, I'm not sure if it was something I ate or nerves or just a combination of everything, I got myself ready and the school driver, Mr Toto, picked us up around 6.15am.I arrived at school, still feeling rubbish but put a brave face on, as was looking forward to meeting my class.Ms Lysbet was working till the Wednesday so had time to observe, ask questions and get to know my class a little, this was brilliant as normally it's straight in and get on with it, so it was nice to see who the characters were and who needs a little extra help!!

The school hours are VERY different to England, the children arrive at school at 7am everyday but the finishing times are different, Monday - Thursday the children finish at 1pm and on Friday it is 11.30am.That's good school hours I feel, just not so sure about the early mornings, but I suppose I will get used to them.

I am teaching Primary 1 (6-7yr olds) so think it is equivalent to yr1 at home, my class is South America, but I also teach the parallel class (North America ~ Ms Indah) too.I have 16 children in South America and 17 in North America, so very nice number, think I will get used to this and struggle when I return home.

I teach English, Science, Social Studies and Computers for my class and English to the other class and then Ms Indah teaches Maths, Bahasa and Art & Craft, then there are different teachers for Mandarin, Character (PSHCE), PE and Music.

As the morning went on I started to feel really bad and was not sure I would even last the whole day, I even had to leave the room as I was going to be sick, but luckily as the day passed I gradually started to feel better and could enjoy getting to know the children.

Everything is so different here that it is hard to know where to start!The day is divided into half hour slots and the lessons are divided between them, so most days I will teach 90mins of English to both classes, then other lessons are 30mins and some slightly longer, it is a little confusing, but will slowly get my head around it!Every day you tend to get free time, sometimes 30mins and other times slightly longer, but as you do not get breaks as you would in the UK, this is the time for photocopying, quick drink etc.The children get two 30min breaks, the first is snack time at 9am and then the next is called break (but really it is lunch) at 11.30am.The food is so different that they bring, for snack if can range from crisps, cake, biscuits to rice or noodles, then lunch is the same, many have a rice or noodle dish they bring, which feels very bizarre, as all I'm used to seeing children eat is sandwiches from pack lunch!!

In terms of resources and technology at the school it is quite basic, there is only 1 interactive white board, which is timetabled,so definitely going to take some adaptingto get used to having to write on a white board again (count yourself lucky my teacher friends at home).The internet is very temperamental, so one minute it is working and the next it has died, so can make teaching quite difficult, when trying to plan and get organise, you don't realise how much you become to rely on the internet until you don't have it.The photocopier is exactly the same as at home, breaks down, jams up and then there is a queue for it, so nothing changes there!!

After what seem to be like any normal day in England, as far as work went, it was time for the children to go home and for us teachers to get lunch, Ms Indah, Ms Lysbet and myself when up the road to a street stall and had a really nice lunch, was not sure whether it was a good idea with my tummy, but was feeling much better so gave it a go!The rest of the afternoon was spent planning and organising for the next day, this included home work, which is given EVERYDAY, still not sure about this for yr1, but I suppose it is good for them.

At the end of the day Ms Regina asked if I had any plans for dinner, as I hadn't even attempted the cooking at home thing, I said no and she asked me to join her and her family for dinner (that would never happen at home!!), Mr Deny (her husband) is the director of the school, so they both work together, we left school and picked both her children up, Jason and Tasha, and head to a pizza restaurant (can not remember the name, but will find out), as my tummy was feeling a little jippy still, I opted for the safe option of a cheese pizza, it was sweeter than normal at home, but still very yummy.

After being dropped home, did a quick check of emails and Facebook and had a really early night, as the early mornings are a killer.

Will write again once I have done my first day teaching, but until then enjoy!!

xxxx