Final training on Coll

My training group including all of the India volunteers!

My final training is complete and my tickets are booked. I visited the Isle of Coll for the second time last week for my training course, so that I could improve my teaching skills, learn more about my project, and meet my partner for the year, Abi; I can now breathe a sigh of relief, because she is absolutely lovely and coincidentally from an area I know well from visiting my Grandad.

Before the Ceilidh with Johnny (my desk officer) and Abi (my partner)

The training course was very intense but extremely insightful; I feel so much more prepared for my year abroad. The sessions varied from advice about Health and Security to discussing Global Citizenship. We also had to teach two English lessons in conditions simulating those of our project. This dramatically increased my confidence in teaching  as I now know that I have the skills to teach children whose native language is completely new to me. I am particularly looking forward to planning my lessons and exploring different teaching methods - fingers crossed Abi won't tire of giving me daily help with drawing my flashcards!

Thanks to information from the volunteers working on my project this year, I have found out that resources are very limited and conditions very basic. Very few classrooms have tables and chairs, and the children write on blackboards during lessons. This in itself will be a challenge which I am keen to embrace. However, it is also important that I bring with me resources to aid my teaching. Reward stickers, coloured chalks, children's books, posters and pictures will be particularly important and I would really appreciate some help and support with the provision of these. Whether its one pack of post-it notes, a map of the world, or some packets of blutack, I would be extremely grateful for any donations and I am sure my students will be too!

In terms of fundraising, I am only a couple of hundred pounds short of my £5100 target, so thank you everyone for your generosity. The training course gave me a few more ideas for a final push to raise the last little bit of funding and I currently have two Artist Screen Prints courtesy of Artizans Editions in Brighton in my possession, so keep your eyes peeled for more information on these!

The final night was celebrated with a special dinner and a traditional Ceilidh - an amazing end to a fantastic week!

Well fed by the Project Trust cook!