Ah where do I begin to start to even explain the pure enjoyment of going to Woolton Primary School today?! It was such a great experience and I can't wait to return in a couple weeks to spend three whole weeks with my students!
The beginning of the day did not start off to well when I realized I had left my criminal history check back home in the States. I rushed to the Library during breakfast to complete one quickly before we left because we had to give the office them when we arrived. Once I got that all taken care of I met the rest of the group in the cafeteria where I rushed through breakfast, grabbed my sack lunch with the others, and then walked to the bus stop. Once we arrived at the school we received our room assignments and then went to the office to check in. My teacher happened to be down in the office when we arrived so she showed Andrea (the other girl teaching with) and I her room and where to keep our stuff. After we were all settled in we headed outside with Ms McCahn (our teacher) to round up the students. It was very strange for me to see the students first meet outside before entering the school. In the States students go to there classes first thing where they are met by their teacher. As we walked back to the classroom Ms McCahn explained to us that the students will call us either Miss or Miss Huber and Miss Selking. The students are not allowed to refer to their teachers by their first names let alone even know their first names. Therefore teachers also address each other by last names so the students don't find out their first name.
The first thing done after the students had all taken their seats was attendance and lunch count. During lunch count students would tell Ms McCahn what they where eating for lunch and each would say "please" at the end. I was amazed at how polite the students where not only then but throughout the entire day. I noticed that the teachers really tried to ingrain respect in their students which I thought was great. All the students went out of their way to make sure we felt welcome in the school; they showed us around, opened up doors for us, and politely informed us if we said something that did not hold the same meaning in the England. Throughout the day we discovered numerous words that meant something totally different to them than they did to us. For example we discovered that a period in a sentence is a point stop, recess is called break or play time, an eraser is a rubber, and that when they spell out words they seem to spell them phonetically, which was really strange to hear. They also use a lot of words such as lovely, fabulous, and brilliant. Another word I was surprised to hear students use quite frequently is "hell". We where kind of shocked when we heard the students use it so we asked Headmaster Nolan (the principle) if it was okay and he said it wasn't a problem. That was a little strange to me because if a student said that at a school back home they would most likely be punished. Apparently, however, the children love watching shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons and Headmaster Nolan told us that whatever Bart Simpson can say is alright for the children to say (haha). I guess that's good enough logic.
Since I'm on the topic of Headmaster Nolan I want to briefly just describe how amazing this guy is! He absolutely loves his job and makes it a priority to know each of his 300 students by name. He is not one of those principles that just sits in his office all day but is continuously walking around the school and jumping into each of the classrooms throughout the day. He is so involved in everything the students do and I could tell immediately that the students and teachers just adored him. He even took time to get to know all of the teachers from Ball State, taking interest in the places we would be traveling throughout our stay and offering advice of places to see.
We had come to the school right before the students where about to leave for a couple weeks of holiday. Because of this Ms. McCahn explained that they had already completed all of their curriculum work so we didn't really get to experience a typical school day. All day the students where working on a project that consisted of putting together a Liverpool Handbook. Today they were writing a business plan and support letters in hopes to get published. Last year, Ms. McCahn informed us that the the students created a recipe book that got published. They created their own company and everything! I was so amazed at what these 11 year olds where doing. They where creating spread sheets and writing extremely professional letters that I don't think I was even doing until high school. I feel like they are so much advanced in their education and much more mature than students of the same age in the States.
Another exciting part of the day was "assembly"which was right before lunch. During this time the students got a chance to all gather together and sing. It was so cute to watch and at one time they broke out in Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'. We all just loved this and joined in with them since we were all familiar with the song. Soon after "assembly" the students went on their break which consisted of an hour. During this time they ate lunch and got the chance to go outside and play. This was kind of crazy with children running around everywhere. There was not really a jungle gym like you would see here in the States but other games like four corners, hopscotch, and some other games I was not familiar with. The most popular activity during break especially for the boys was soccer, which they call football. There seemed to be like 10 games going on all at once but they simply love the sport and many are fairly good at it. The students went on and on about their player Fernando Torres and how great he is. Torres also apparently lives somewhere in Liverpool. I think almost every little boy in Liverpool aspires to grow up to be just like him.
After school let out a few other girls and I decided to walk back to campus instead of taking the bus. It was a little rainy and cold but we didn't want to pay another pound and a half to take the bus. It was a long 50 minute walk but it was kind of nice just to take our time getting back and discussing our experiences in the school. After we got back we had dinner and then I went on a nice little run with a couple other girls. Part of the way we ran through a forested area that was simply beautiful! It's moments like that in which I am just completely consumed by God's glory and can't help but thank him for everything he has blessed me with. And this trip has truly been a blessing! It has been so nice to just get away from all the distractions at home. I've had a lot of time to just be alone with the Lord and really evaluate and strengthen my relationship with him, which has been very refreshing and needed.
I continue to thank you for all you're prayers and I'll try blogging at least once again before I leave for London on Monday.
Cheerio!
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