Eton Villiage High School Visit

 The high school is on the same site as the primary school, and the educational facility is large enough to have several classrooms and teachers, although the grades are often a composite class.  The children are primarily taught in English, and also learn French.  This is pretty amazing in itself, as they actually speak a third language for homelife.

As you can tell from the classroom our luxuries of interactive whiteboards and airconditioning are not a universal one.

After touring through the classroom, we were sent around to the performance area for the kids to put on a show for us.  Remember that there is only Maddison, myself and Carl!

As we enter the yard a group of young men came racing out to us with spears raised and yelling at the top of their voices.  Maddison was leading the way and instantly froze.  I quickly caught up to her and gave her a reassuring hug from behind.  The principal then advised that it was customary to only enter when invited, and we were now permitted to enter.

 The entire class then regrouped and sang several songs for us.  Religion is a big part of their culture and featured in the songs.  I did feel a bit sorry for them actually, as you could tell that several of the kids were sooo not into the performance, but remembering their age group and how our teenagers are, I gave a wry smile.

There was also a lesson in history about magic and the devil with a small narrative.  A young child was in the bush playing a musical instrument [read the bloody recorder sounds dreadful in any culture when played]. 

The devil then made an appearance talking to the boy, and ultimately running off with the highly coveted instrument.  The men folk of the villiage then produced a hunting party to chase the devil.

There is also a gift that is passed between the generations around sand drawing.  So we got to see a young man create a sand drawing as part of the show.

It was a great experience to be invited into the school and to have the VIP experience.  Although there was clearly some synthetic grass skirts happening, it was an educational experience for Maddison to see how schooling in another country was in comparison to her own life.