Leigh in Azerbaijan

What lovely feedback I had from the Grade 4 parents, particularly from my home class of 4C where I go each morning for just a few minutes and sing Austalian songs. I think walking into a Turkish classroom with a guitar is akin to Santa Claus walking into an Australian classroom.

Parents let me know how much their children liked me and how much they like singing songs. Apparently many of the children sing the songs to their parents and know all the words. I’m not sure they’d convince me of that when we sing together but I do think they have almost memorised The Court of King Caractacus. “Now if you want to take a picture of the fascinating witches…..” The next song I’m teaching is John Williamson’s Rip Rip Woodchip for an environmental club wanting to present something at Science Fair on Wednesday next week.

Zeynep who is the new secretary taking over from Hulya and with impeccable English, was my translator this evening. Most parents however did not need interpretation as their English was very very good. It reminds me again of how unfortunate the bulk of us Aussies are to only have one language. Zeynep decided that I should be staying at the school from what the parents were saying about me. Warm fuzzies don’t hurt now and again. We would start conversations inbetween parents - the only trouble was that they lasted about 6 seconds before we needed to greet the next one.

When there’s special occasions like this the school really does look after teachers and parents well. The catering staff spend some time moving tables and setting up tables in different parts of the building for light refreshments.