Teaching Day 1

As the four of us are located at three different sites, we will individually recount our experiences of day 3:

Matthew + Hanna (Pipera):

After a large and filling breakfast made by Mrs Lumi, one of the school's dinner ladies, we were introduced to Nana (English Teacher) , who was going to spent the day with us. Matthew was especially delighted to hear that the Lego Exhibition was part of the day's events. Following this Nana and Hanna decided to have a leisurely and civilized rest playing pool, while Matthew and his host brother David opted for Laser Tag...which Matthew promptly lost! A rematch was demanded...

After a traditional Romanian lunch, Hanna was fortunate enough to lead an English activity with the infants, discussing pets, hobbies and favourite Disney Heroes, Matthew however was thrown to the sharks, as a lively group of Romanian ten year olds demanded to be taught how to play cricket. The term "wicket" still confuses them...
Following this there was a not so frantic catch up and swim with Eleanor and Niall, when the latter decided to jump into a child's swim ring... (See photo below, he seems to be stuck)

Niall: Davilla

After a a brief tour, Niall was blessed with a native English speaker - an Australian-Romanian by the name of Mr Armont (Armond? (the possibility for spelling in Romanian is endless)). Soon Niall was introduced to the kids, the youngest being one and a half and the oldest being 6-ish. Then after a hectic exchange of about twenty handshakes with about 10 different kids they were acquainted. From this day on Niall was now either ´Neil´or ´Mister Niall´, depending on the child's ability in English. Then came the first activity, to create a compass to navigate ourselves through the dark and mysterious waters surrounding Neverland. Niall was dedicated the role of Captain Hook (Niall is from Whitby, where Captain Cook and many other great men have hailed). Soon Niall was joining in with some excellent young Romanian banter...

Ellie: Floreasca

The first day in Floreasca for Ellie began with being introduced to many of the teachers, many of whose names escape her now. Breakfast was a hectic time with over twenty 2-6 year olds to feed and subsequently clean up. After this followed games outside with Mr Byron, a teacher from Chile who recently joined the school. The kids throughly enjoyed themselves and the games acted as a good ice breaker for Ellie allowing her to get involved straight from the start. Once the games were finished assistance was needed once again with the feeding and cleaning up of the kids as it was time for a snack. Next was French lesson with the four and five year olds, who knew how to introduce themselves, count to ten and sing songs such as 'Sur le point d'avignon', which really impressed Ellie as the majority of them also speak good basic English. The cooks at the school provided a great lunch for the kids and especially for Ellie as they cooked her a no meat meal. Naps were then taken by the youngest kids while Ellie was put to shame in her Lego building skills by the six year olds.