It’s a warm day here again in Kolkata. Did you find out about the air quality here?
It is currently 232 which indicates poor air quality.

When you blow your nose the tissue is normally black from all the pollutants in air. 
 

The day started with a prayer meeting again followed by a very tasty breakfast. It was omelette and spicy baked beans which I put on my gluten free bread I have brought from home. 

We then gathered our things and headed off to CRS to meet the drivers who were taking us to the school.

We have been moved to the St Paul’s private junior school. It was strange to walk into the space and find a smart board. All the lessons are preloaded on the board for the teachers in the private school to use. This just shows the difference between private education and Scott Lane Slum School. 

Today we made shakers using the rice, pasta, lentils and beans I had bought at the market. The children loved making them and playing along to the welcome and number songs we had been learning. 

I have focused on the story ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ today. We learnt key vocabulary from the story using very simple pictures. Once the children had mastered this we started to use them in a sentence. I gave an instruction of where the bear was for example, ‘the bear is in the river’. The children then moved their bear and put it in the river. I repeated this several times to help the children learn how to structure a simple sentence in English and say it as a group on their table.

Today we also played lots of physical maths games counting and using our shakers outside. 
 

Tiffin today was a banana and two slices of thick sweet bread - just like brioche.

Afterwards I took the children outside to use the play equipment and two of the inflatable footballs I had brought from home. The boys were very excited to play.

We finished the day with some songs and a group of three girls kept asking me if they could show me their dancing. They were brilliant!

It was soon time for the driver to take me back to Bishops Inn.

Later in the afternoon we visited the pottery quarter and saw the goddess of education statues being built. The festival is in February so preparations are well underway. 

As a class can you find out 2 facts about the goddess of education in Kolkata?
 

On our way back we stopped at the Mother House. It was a privilege to walk up the stairs and see Mother Teresa’s tiny, simple room again. It is a very special place of prayer and reflection. You are not allowed to talk as you walk around and as a sign of respect you must take off your shoes.

I spent some time silently sitting in quiet reflection thinking and praying for you all back at school and for my friends and family. 

It was a wonderful way to finish the day before heading back to get changed as tonight we are being taken out for tea…which will probably be…curry!

After our tea, which was a delicious curry, we hired tuktuks. 
As a class research tuktuks. Also make a list of all the different types of transport you see in my daily blogs.