Wednesday 23 May 2012


Creativity and drama was our theme at the New Elementary school today. The children in my year 3 (Uk yr4) love acting and drama, so the activity was a success. Firstly, we recapped the body parts in English and they passed this in flying colours. Their English is amazing at this school, not only because they have amazing English
teachers but the kids here are really interested in languages. Spanish, French and English are amongst the languages that are taught here.



We then moved onto imagining our own monsters; how many heads would the monster have? What would its main qualities be? What would it look like? These were some of the main questions that the children had to tackle. Once we'd perfectly imagined this we put our ideas onto paper. Below are some of the brilliance the children came up with.


Once we were focused on our monsters and what type of monsters we wanted to be, the remainder of our day consisted of acting out our monsters in different scenarios. We (including myself) really got involved, 
rolling on the floor, eating one another, we were so into it that we were told to keep it down for
distubing other classes. Oops!

Some of the children's ideas of 'monster' was slightly different to the mainstream..





Sunday 20 May 2012

My year 5 (UK year 6) class at Abu Dis Elementary went home tired today. The weather was perfect; the sun was out but it was not too hot, so we thought we would have a P.E session outside. The children showed me many of their own games, ball games, tag, some of the boys  gave me a run for my money on the hula hoop. We then had a series of ball games, which got slightly competitive, but nevertheless entertained and exhausted us all! I'm sure the children were happy to hear the end of the day bell and with the last talk from the class teacher we were all able to go home..and rest!



Wednesday 16 May 2012


As always, the Elementary school: one of Abu Dis' main primary schools, was buzzing this morning! Like everywhere in the world, playtime is hectic with boys and girls running about either kicking a football or playing a game of tag. Every time I appear, many run over and speak to me in Arabic (initially thinking that I can speak Arabic, but quickly switching to English after one of my students smugly corrects them that I am not Arab).

The children at this school are always a pleasure to work and be with. Firstly, they are extremely enthusiastic and are keen to talk, expressing themselves often in English. They are also very hard working; as can be seen below, a Grade  3 (UK year 5) class busy learning vocabulary for which they will be tested on later.



Not only are the children great, but the teachers at this school are amazing too. The staff room is always alive with the stories and laughter of the women. They always try and incorporate me into the conversation, as I sit there trying to decipher what is going. Nadia, an Arabic teacher recites poetry for me. Like nearly all the teachers in the school she is a mother of 5 and like most, finished her training whilst raising her children.

She is a determined and passionate individual. They all are. Despite the hardship that the occupation has brought both on her career and her role as a mother, she still smiles and excitedly moves onto explaining her weekend with the in laws.  I sit there in awe of these women.

Sunday 13 May 2012

For the last few weeks, working with children at the New Generation primary school in Abu Dis has both been interesting and so much fun! 


I have a fruitful time with my year 6 class who enjoy drama and English. They're acting skills most definitely surpass mine! They always have the ability to make me laugh, mixing their stories and acting with comedy. Teaching the children games that I played at school when I was younger has taken me back to those years, and is probably one of the reasons why I always (despite my age) join in and (unashamedly) compete against even my Year 5's. 


The children are very creative, often adding their own twist to the games. Playing ''What's the time Mr Wolf?'' is never going to be the same again..


  He decided to go solo, whilst his teammates look on..


 The walls of the school are covered with the alphabet and numbers, from French 
       to English to Spanish, and cartoons. This one makes me happy..