Well, I would have been back home now if I had not changed my flights- I am SO GLAD I stayed longer (even though I had to pull a few strings with the doctors note!)
Today I taught at the Nest as usual then did my second drama workshop at LCC in the afternoon. This time we had Ryan with us, who was a very melodramatic character anyway which enhanced our teaching :). It was ace! This time we prepared laminated pictures of animals- Gorrilla, Giraffe, Lion, Crocodile, Ostrich (all the anilmals we were inspired by from the safari!). We knew the children would be able to relate to these animals better than a cat or dog, which highlights a contrast in teaching resources already. The children found the visual stimuli intriguing and enhanced their imagination. We therefore got a lot of good quality drama out of them! Ryan also helped to be a male role model for the boys in the group, which I think worked well. It was a shame that the children from the first workshop weren't there today but they were out helping to pick potatoes in the fields, so only the younger one's were available. So we had to repeat some of the activities from the last session but this did not go to waste as it got everyone warmed up. We then got the children into groups and asked them to mime their animals and the rest of the group had to guess them. We also had pictures of different facial expressions which we used to enhance our teaching and also create numerous of games out of- the children continued to pull these faces all afternoon, even when the drama workshop had finished!
What really caught my heart was one boy, must have been around the age of 9 or 10, who translated between us and the chidlren. He did this with confidence and fluidity which intrigued me as to where he learned such good english. However when I asked him he went ever so shy and did not answer so I pushed no further. He was such a little star and I will remember him for a long time. There was another little boy called Gerrard- who was such a BRILLIANT little actor! His facial expression and gesture was spot on- if only his talent could be put to some use.
Reflecting upon my afternoon with Brian, he mentioned how children with such talents are the ones to sponsor. This made me really think about where these children may be in ten, fifteen or even twenty years time. Who knows!
It was touching to see the children continue to act throughout the afternoon. We had the girls pretending to faint and lie on the floor and pretend to be dead (which Sarah and I chose to use the opportunity to play with the children and tickle them!!). I felt that buzz I get when I teach when I knew that the children were capable of taking the drama workshop further and use drama in their play. I wish so much that I could have started this drama workshop much earlier to see the chidlrens' true potential and to spend more quality time with them. Realising this made me really sad to have to go home on Saturday. However, I see it that two mini drama workshops were better than no drama workshops at all!!
