Day 6 on our Overseas Teacher Training Trip

Today was…interesting.

 
I was with Nicola and Katelyn in group 2 (where all the drama happens) and our day started off with a journey of over 2 hours to our first school, a trip which usually only takes 30 minutes. Our driver didn’t speak a word of English, nor could he read it and we got totally lost in the Delhi traffic. We also slightly crashed in to a tuk tuk and he kept getting out of the car to ask for directions, in the middle of the road at least once every minute at one stage.
 
Finally we made it to the school after a little bit of frustration. Obviously we didn’t have long at the school after our eventful journey but I sat in with Nicola and her teacher before going on with both of them to see a teacher she and Katelyn were observing together. 
Our time was rushed along a little bit as the Principal of BR Modern where we were, offered to show us to the next school due to our driver’s lack of directional knowledge. So off we set in the car following him on his impressive motorbike but even with that our driver struggled to make it to the next destination. 
 
At the second school, Little Star, we saw some impressive work. I sat in with Nicola where we saw a teacher implement almost all the skills she had learnt in the days so far which was fantastic!!
Each day that they are observed they get a mark by their mentor out of 5 which is evaluated through the skills which they demonstrate. By the end of the week they must include a learning objective, a starter, a main activity and a plenary in their lesson plan. The Impact Teachers have also been trying to demonstrate and provide them with different ideas to use in their classroom in order to get the students engaged and actively learning.
 
After visiting the school we got back in the car and our day went from interesting to slightly traumatic. The driver started off as we were putting our stuff away and we heard very loud yelping. He had run over a dog. We sat very still for a few moments all of us in complete shock not knowing what to do and then he just drove off!!! The car ride was very silent until he pulled over in order to get his tyres pumped but didn’t have any money so Nicola had to pay as she was the only one with small change.
 
We were very happy once we finally got to the training centre ready for the afternoon seminar. It was Katelyn and Angela presenting on conclusions or plenary’s and as always the teachers loved the activities. We made the session a little shorter today in order for the teachers to have more time in their mentor groups to give feedback ready for the final assessment tomorrow. 
I sat in with John King’s mentoring with the head teachers which was very interesting. He showed them a triangle with 5 components to demonstrate weaknesses and how one will affect the next. For example if there is no trust within a leadership team there is fear of conflict which then brings on lack of commitment then lack of accountability and finally self interest. 
 
At the end of the day we were all treated to a nice drink in a beautiful place called ‘Loti Gardens’ and I think we all needed it. Lucky for us it was happy hour so we were able to have a couple of cocktails each. We headed back to the hotel for dinner and then all crashed out for the night pretty soon after.
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