Happy Dasian!!

This week we have managed to squeeze in two teacher training sessions. The first this week was the head teachers meeting on the 11^th followed by the early years training session on the 12^th. Barbara and I wanted to do as much as we could before Dasian started. Dasian is a 9 day festival, we tried to get to the bottom of what happens on each day but we could only figure out that something happens on only 3 of the 9 days.

During the head teachers meeting Barbara started with a detailed explanation of what Manisha UK do and why we are here- as in our previous training session it was highlighted that some teachers did not know the exact purpose of our work- so we wanted to clear that up as soon as possible.

Barbra and I then went on to cover a lot of new approaches with the head teachers including the use of lesson plans and lesson observations being used to identify good practice within their classrooms. The head teachers were keen to use the observations to help their teacher’s progress and to also see more of what teaching is going on in their classrooms. We also found that the head teachers are keen to do more with their twinned schools and we are collecting names and addresses for teachers who have Facebook and email so we can make communication between the schools more instant and hopefully increase the amount of communication.

The next day Barbara and I held another teacher training session in one of the Montessori schools in Tansen. Sargar, a close friend of Manisha UK, works and helps in the Montessori school a lot so he was able to organise the day for us. The main idea behind taking the early years teachers to the Montessori school, was to show them that the children were learning through play. A concept which is alien to most Nepali teachers. We wanted to show the most the children could get out of limited resources and how some resources that we have provided, can be used.

The early years teachers started by shadowing the Montessori teachers so they could see the different approaches that were being used. They were able to see the children play, sing and dance. Barbara and I then asked the teachers to feedback to each other in groups about the good practice they saw and identify 3 things that they would like to incorporate into their own classrooms. The teachers then came up with a time table for each day in their classrooms with lots of short activities as well as structured and unstructured play.

After the 2 training days Dasian began, so things for Barbara and I slowed down rapidly. We couldn’t visit any of the schools or run any more training sessions as the schools were closed. We soon started a bit of a factory in the office and homestay as I was designing and making posters and games on my laptop while Barbara was creating masks and puppets. We also spent time in the office doing a lot of laminating and I sorted through all the books that we bought in Kathmandu and was able to assign them to age appropriate schools. We were also busy making pots of fairness for schools and counting out the lolly sticks.

We were also lucky enough to get called outside to see a part of a Hindu wedding we saw the bride and groom recieve Tika and were then going to spend some time at the Bride's house before the main wedding party the next day. 

Tomorrow is the main day for Dasian and the Bashyal family have invited us to Dhani’s home village for the day where we celebrate the festival and return back to Tansen in the late afternoon. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some more visits once Dasian is over. 

CHUCKED IN AT THE DEEP END!!

After a couple of days settling into Tansen and making the office more homely, by adding some much needed curtains, Barbara and I were ready to start what we came here to do.

On the 4^th Barbara and I were able to visit Mahachap with an engineer and Saran (our Nepali coordinator), to assess the damage that was left by the earthquake. The government had already come to assess the damage and had said that the whole building was unusable. We are awaiting the engineers report to confirm this. Even with the governments guidance the school building it still being used. The government were able to supply two bamboo classrooms but as you can imagine that is far from enough, no matter how big the school. On the way back from Mahachap we were planning on popping into Bagnas, however, with it being exam time across the school and it being late afternoon- there were no children or teachers there, so we gave it a miss.

On Tuesday the 5^th Barbara and I were able to visit two schools in one day. We started with a visit to Dumre, again with the engineer to assess the damage. As Dumre’s school buildings were already in bad form it was of no surprise that there are two classrooms left unusable. The government here have given money to build two new classrooms but the Head teacher is looking to build another five on top of that as a lot of the school is in very poor condition. From there we got the jeep to Bhalebas and to a warm welcome from the Head teacher and deputy. We spoke at length with the teachers about their ICT resources and how best to utilise them and what educational programmes we could get to encourage computer use in day to day learning.

We were invited to stay at one of the teacher’s houses and once we had unloaded our bags and had a cup of tea we were off to meet Saran’s wife and son with again… more tea. Saran’s house was devastatingly damaged in the earthquake and is having to rebuild so we were able to see the foundations that had been laid and he was awaiting concrete to finish them. After playing with his son (Sohan) and drinking our tea we were off again to go and see the Head teacher’s house and wife just a ten minute walk from Saran’s house. Mr Singh (the Head teacher) and his wife welcomed us both warmly with home grown coffee, which I must say, was delicious! Unfortunately, the second story of Mr Singh’s house is unusable, the roof was then lowered and he is planning on extending his house on the ground floor to make up for the lost space.

We then left early on the 6^th, after a wonderful breakfast of eggy bread at Saran’s, to get back to Tansen to do a day of planning for the next day’s teacher training session.

Wednesday the 7^th brought a day of many new challenges for me. It was the first teacher training day. Barbra and I had planned a detailed programme for the day which included: discussing best practice, an activity interpreting a textbook activity and how it can be taught in different ways, an analysis of Manisha UK’s work so far and if they are feeling happy with our delivery, how these teachers can support other teachers specifically the early years teachers and then closing with an evaluation.

We found that as the discussion about Manisha was facilitated by Danni from Horizon Homestay the teachers were able to express their honest opinions in Nepali and then did not feel that there would be any emotional impact as Barbra and I left the room to allow this to happen freely. Barbara and I both felt that the day went particularly well and there teachers that attended were enthusiastic about the activities that we were doing and the points that we were making.

Barbara and I allowed ourselves a rest day on the 8^th as we were both so tired from a few busy days previously. Friday the 9^th we were back in the office to plan both the Head teachers meeting and the Early years teachers going to the local Montessori school (which I shall cover in the next blog so stay tuned).

 Danni, Andy (an Australian guy staying at Horizon) and I got up at 5.15am on Saturday to march up the hill to the look out where we were hoping to watch the sunrise and have a good view of the Himalayas. However, this didn’t go exactly to plan. As we got to the top there was no sign of the sun nor the mountains as it was very cloudy and foggy. So after catching our breath we started walking back down the hill. Then the sun made an appearance and we just caught the sunrise through a clearing in the trees with the sound of people doing laughing yoga echoing through the valley which soon had us going. 

WE MADE IT!! 

Barbra and I arrived on Monday the 28^th after a long journey from Birmingham to a not so busy Kathmandu. Previously, when I have arrived in Kathmandu there have been hordes of taxi drivers wanting my custom but the taxi rank was unusually quiet. According to our taxi driver there is a fuel shortage caused by the minority (who are not happy with Nepal’s constitution) blocking the boarder to India and therefore stopping the importing of fuel and some foods.

After checking into Stupa guest house and meeting Jack (the resident pug) we were able to cool off and then go out to explore Thamel and get some food.

On Tuesday the 29^th we were able to visit two big book shops and start collecting resources ready to be delivered into the schools. Ektor books had a large collection of both English and Nepali books and some with both Nepali and English translations. We then visited ECEC and were able to buy a big collection of toys and other, more tactile, resources; including a small tent, blow up balls, Lego and many other things.

On Wednesday the 30^th Barbra, Ruth (a lady we met staying in Stupa house) and I went to visit Durbar Square in the morning. After most of the city looking intact from the earthquake apart from the odd house or wall having severe damage it was really brought home in Durbar Square the destruction that the earthquake caused. As can be seen in the pictures many of the temples have been completely destroyed and piles of rubble are left in their place. After some food and a cold drink we all headed back into the sun to go to the Garden of Dreams. As always the gardens were stunning with a whole variety of different plants and flowers. The main building for the Kiser café had been shut due to earthquake damage, which again was a constant reminder or the destruction that it had caused. We thought that going to explore the Kiser library was another good option however, that was also closed due to earthquake damage which was a real shame.

The morning of the 1^st we got ready for the 10 hour bus journey out of Kathmandu valley and across the country to Tansen, Palpa. Up to midday the journey was okay as the air wasn’t too hot, but as soon as we got onto the Tari the heat was unforgiving and the bus driver was constantly stopping trying to get more fuel. We were about half an hour out of Tansen when we found a petrol station that allowed us to have 2L of fuel, even though we weren’t regular customers, which was a relief. The views along the way were absolutely stunning which did make putting up with the heat a lot more bearable. Once off of the bus we were greeted, with Tika of course, by Saran (our coordinator) and Sargaar (a friend of Manisha UK) who helped us carry some of our things up to the office and then get a taxi up the steep hill to Horizon Homestay. Once we had arrived there we were then greeted again by the Bashyal family, more Tika and lots of photographs. We then had our first proper Nepali meal of rice and curried vegetables which were just as delicious as I remembered.

We allowed ourselves a lie in after our traitorous journey the previous day. We had a small breakfast at Horizon and then we started to make our way down the town to have a second breakfast with Saran’s parents. Along the way Barbra was able to say hello and greet people that she has already met previously. Do a little bit of shopping for the office for things that we needed then arrive back at the homestay to send emails back home.