Departure lounge

On my way home now after a fantastic week in Beirut. Such an amazing opportunity and I need to thank the British Council in London and Beirut for making it possible.

Talking about the UK to Grade 6

After spending time with the Kindergarten classes I was asked if I would speak to the Grade 6 children about the UK and my school. Again, like the children earlier, they were so eager and interested to learn about other cultures and were bursting with interesting questions.

Makassed Ali Bin Abi Taleb College

After leaving Mohammad Shamel School we went to the private school Makassed Ali Bin Abi Taleb College. This was a great contrast to our state school partner, they have lots of ICT for the children to the use in the classroom. While I was there I got to spent some time in their Kindergarten classes and I felt like one of the, learning Arabic with them.

Grade 6 session 2.

During the second session we discussed the concept of peace and what it meant to the children in Lebanon, the same as Miss Itani & Miss Manal did when they visited us. We then discussed the symbols that we could use for peace. The children then came up with the concept that peace is in their hands so all their designs were drawn inside the outline of their hands. The final piece of work, which will be displayed in my school in the U.K, was fantastic and it was clear that this was a subject that meant a lot to them. 

Last day at Mohammad Shamel School,

Today was my last day at Mohammad Shamel School and I am very sad to be leaving after a very busy and interesting week. 

This morning I went into two Grade 6 lessons, during the first session I held a question and answer about my school and the U.K. in general. The children were all able to come up with some fantastic questions and were interested in learning more about the education system in the England and the general culture of the country. 

British Council Training- An Introduction To Core Skills For Teachers.

Today I attended teacher training run by the British Council, the aim of the programme is to provide a practical introduction to core skills and how to increase the quality of teaching and learning through fostering such skills in the classroom.

It was interesting that many of these 'core skills' are the same as those we are working on in the U.K. The core skills identified are-

Citizenship

Collaboration and communication

Creativity and imagination

Critical thinking and problem solving

Digital literacy

Leadership and personal development.

First we considered- What is deep learning? This was very interesting as it focused a lot on questioning and I got to share the work that we have been doing in the U.K about using high order questions to extend children's understanding.

We (Miss Itani and myself) found the digital literacy section interesting as this is something our partnership has been working hard on through our video conferencing sessions and allowed us to reflect on future practice.

The Mountains over Beirut

After school today we drove  into the mountains overlooking Beirut with Miss Itani and Miss Manal.  The views over Beirut bay as the sun was setting were just stunning. 

The bright lights of Beirut on our way down. 

Physical Education

Finally for today, at school, I went into a Physical Education lesson. Like in the UK, with KS1, this focused on multi skills. 

Grade 2 English

After that I went into a couple of Grade 2 English sessions this was looking at pronouns and replacing nouns in sentences for pronouns. Again the children were excellent at applying their knowledge and enjoyed the creative approach of the teacher. 

Grade 6 Science

Next I went into a Grade 6 science lesson about reproduction of insects. The children all displayed a fantastic scientific understanding, but what made it even more impressive was that the lesson was taught completely in English. Can you imagine teaching all our lessons in another language and the children grasping the concepts as easy?

Day 3 Mohammad Shamel School

First session today was Miss Itani's Grade 6 English class looking at coordinating and subordinating conjunctions forming compound or complex sentences. The children displayed a fantastic understanding on the application of English grammar and I was very impressed by the work produced.

The Beiruti Eye

This evening I met up with Miss Itani and Miss Manal, and we went on Beiruts version of the London Eye although no way near as tall the views from the top were stunning, looking over the diverse Beirut landscape and bright lights. 

Maths in Arabic

Next I went to maths with Miss Manal this was completely in Arabic, the children were learning how to tell the time on an analogue clock. Although I understood very little I did recognise some of the numbers from when Miss Manal visited us in the UK and taught us the names of the numbers in Arabic. 

FaceTime session with my UK school

Today we held a FaceTime session with my school in the UK. This was a fantastic opportunity for the children to interact face to face with each other and the children in Lebanon definitely get a lot from using their excellent English on a real life audience. The focus of the session was looking at recent celebrations in both countries in the UK the children talked about bonfire night and the history behind it and the children in Lebanon talked about their Independance Day celebrations. The particular highlight for me was the Lebanese children singing the national anthem. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnov7DWmzWI

Miss Itani's English session

Next I went to Miss Itani's Grade 6 English session, this was following on from yesterday's lesson the children had to analyse their work for verbs then had to self and peer correct their work. The children were all very motivated to produce their best work and worked hard on polishing it. 

Day Two at Mohammad Shamel School

First session I went into a Grade 2 English lesson looking at constructing complete sentences, this was focusing on including who, what, where, when and when. All the children did brilliantly and produced some simple sentences independently.

Mathematics

After the English sessions I went to Grade 6 Mathematics for the rest of the school day, this is taught completely in English and the children all do amazingly well to understand the Concepts. Today the children were learning about lines dissecting circles, the children all worked independently and managed to achieve the goals set for them. 

English Sessions

Once back at Mohammad Shamel School I attended Miss Itani's Grade 6 English lesson, the children were writing a non chronological report about their visit to the Independence Day celebrations. Considering English is not their first language the children did very well getting their ideas down. 

First Day in School

Today I visited our partner, Mohammad Shamel School, during the first session we went to the Makassed Omar Bin Al Khattab with Grades 4 & 6 for a joint Independence Day celebrations. The children had prepared poems, songs, dances and drama showing the background to the special day. It is fantastic to see how passionate and proud of their country the children are even at this young age.

I would have hated to have to write a risk assessment for the walk to the other school.