Busy Body

The last week in Lifeskills was the same as usual - learning the days of the weeks, months of the year and numbers. In between the work we managed to find time to teach the children new skills, like how to cook a very delicious chicken dish that I'm going to steal and use back home... We taught them how to fry and seal the chicken pieces and then put them in the oven, they all really seemed to like the finished result!

We've also started working on the end of year Christmas performance. It might seem extremely early but the more time these kids have to practice, the better. As you can imagine it takes them longer to learn dance moves so by starting now, they'll be perfect! It's a shame that we're not going to be here to see the finished result, but I'm sure next year's gaps will do a great job of rounding it up. 

One of the songs is from a film in which Whoopi Goldberg plays a teacher (I think). The song is from a scene where all the children are singing a gospel song in the playground. I - for some odd reason - was put in charge of the dance moves for this particular track, I spent most of the afternoon standing in front of the class going through each move slowly until they got it. I'm proud to think that in December the children will be showing off my sidesteps.

On Thursday we had an excursion to a small waterpark, that turned out to be empty apart from us! We laid out the picnic rugs and had some lunch, followed by some spinning time on the roundabout - a couple of kids had to lie down after that, I think they spun themselves a bit too fast. When recovery time was over we helped the children get changed and took them into the pool. The water was freezing and it was hilarious watching some of the expressions as they got in, especially the non verbal children - they're faces said more than words could, twisting in confused horror at the temperature of the water. Once they got used to the cold they started to enjoy themselves, some even attempting the small flume! It was a great day and lovely to get the kids out of the school environment to experience something new.

I've started taking an extra homework class for the Grade 7s (S2) after work on Wednesdays which I'm enjoying so far. They all behaved very well last week so I bought some sweets to bring in this Wednesday. It's a catch up class for children in the Mainstream school who haven't handed in homework more than five times in a row, so you get a few trouble makers. But I find that positive reinforcement (e.g sweets) seems to work better than negative, it gives them a goal to work towards... Finished homework doesn't seem to be much of a priority for them, but if they learn that when they do finish their homework they're rewarded, something might click. I hope!

This weekend's been very relaxed, I'm reading a terrifying thriller at the moment called Dead Man Walking and I've had to sleep with the bathroom light on for the past few nights. I did my laundry this morning but apart from that nothing much happens at the weekend, which is nice because the week's so hectic.