Every year a group of lower sixth students from my school take a 2 week trip to Gambia, where they teach science lessons to Gambian children in 4 different schools as well as doing building work to improve school facilities and even finding time to see a bit of the country.
This year, completely out of the blue, I've been asked to go on the trip! When I was first approached I honestly thought it must be a case of mistaken identity. There's a chemistry teacher with a similar name to me and I assumed it was actually her that they wanted. However, I was wrong. For the first time they are taking a technician.
It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. At the moment the students are planning their 20 minute lessons which they will be teaching around 40 times over the course of the fortnight. In previous years it's not been that unusual for students to come knocking on the prep room door a couple of days before the trip asking to borrow equipment and it's not always been possible for me to supply what they want. Being involved for the planning stage means that I can give them advice about what will work and make sure that any extra equipment is ordered in plenty of time.
When we get to Gambia I'll be in technician mode every morning, as we are teaching from 8.30 until 1, making sure the students are getting on ok with their teaching and troubleshooting any equipment issues and then in the afternoon we are visiting local villages and markets as well as a reptile farm, spending time on the beach, having drumming lessons(!) and generally enjoying ourselves.
I'm still stunned to have been invited, but what an opportunity!
