school

I went into Valdovino school again late this afternoon to chat with some of the pupils, I am trying to find how the educations system out here works. The children were nervous I was nervous but we found some common ground and some words we all understood, I took my djembe and talking drum in and they were good ice breakers as well as illustrating different ways of communicating and the importance of the song/ rhythm of language. They talked and I played back their tones and rhythm I think it made sense. Coincidentally they had been talking about mobile phones and the drums I took were the mobile phones of Africa so that sort of worked out too. I was the first vegetarian they had met, that was interesting for me and for them we all agreed that vegetarian living and Galicia were not easy room mates. It is hard to see a way forward as yet - there is one interactive whiteboard and the staff are wary of it as it is not maintained well / they have little training in its use so it lets them down. The computer room is a mixed bag of mostly old machines running Linux. There is a spoken enthusiasm for technology but not a lot of visible momentum. Some great work being done by a few teachers with very little in the way of resources or technical support. They are enthusiastic to make links/ set up exchange visits with teachers and trainee teachers and pupils in UK schools; I hope we can make some progress on that front over the coming year.

até breve
(see you soon)

That's two Galician phrases I now know; the other being very important 'Que choiva' what rain.