Week 4 teaching english...

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This week has gone surprisingly fast. Out of a total of 5 lessons with each class, we spent 2 lessons with each class in the computer room as it is by far the best way to get them engaged! We have also done more stuff like listening to instructions and drawing, creative stories, and getting the girls to come up with their own ideas as much as possible.

We've also still been playing games in the evening of course. When playing table tennis with the girls we end up running about a lot to try to keep the ball in play even when it was hit miles off the table. Unfortunately doing that led to me taking a bad fall slipping between the tiles and the carpet on the floor and hurting my foot, so I was limping around for about a day. All ok now though. Good job as when Jacqui went to ask for ice and told the office I'd had an accident they weren't bothered!! It meant I've stuck mostly to board games since then, and I've managed to teach a couple of new people to play chess this week which is cool.

It has also been a week where we have started to notice more things about some of the individual girls and in some cases learn a bit more about their personal backgrounds. It can be pretty heart-breaking!

There is one very shy girl in one of our classes who speaks very little English, but in the last few days I've made a bit of a connection with her. She has come to the games room a couple of times - one night she came on her own and was the only girl there but stayed and played with me anyway which was great. She was very upset on Friday about some stuff - really crying her eyes out in the dining hall at lunch and apparently didn't turn up to her afternoon class. But we were delighted when she turned up to the evening games as she obviously saw it as a bit of a refuge - she was hiding behind the table tennis tables when we got there and only came out when we walked in! She was the last to leave and sat drawing and talking with me at the end. Moments like that are really touching and make it feel worthwhile!

This weekend Jacqui and I have been wandering around KL - a bit more Chinatown shopping, and visits to the arts market and to my favourite shopping centre KLCC! We treated ourselves to Saturday night dinner in a rather posh Lebanese restaurant in one of the top hotels, which was recommended by one of Jacqui's friends, and was absolutely fabulous. We also went to the cinema again on Friday night and saw the film Awake with Jessica Alba - frankly one of the worst films I've seen in some time, so don't rush to see it!

At the end of next week Jacqui leaves here and I'm planning to have a week off the project and get a few days at the beach on the east coast, until the next volunteer (i.e. my next room-mate!) arrives.

Hope everything is well at home. It's now only 3 1/2 weeks until my return to the UK, I'm looking forward to coming back, hopefully to some nice spring weather!!!

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