Strangers to Friends

Tuesday

Bright eyed and bushy tailed we sprinted into school for our final morning. When Mrs Tang announced in assembly that it was our final day there were gasps and tears, and that was just from the staff. We presented the school with some Thank you gifts - a signed York City shirt for the PE department and a large framed collage of photos from the exchange.

Then it was on to the Singapore Sports School which was out of this world. It is a secondary school with a specialism in sports, producing, training and educating the next generation of Olympic athletes. 

We were blown away by the facilities, which ranged from 2 50 metre swimming pools, a shooting range, sports science labs, physios and strength and conditioning gyms. On our tour of the school we were very lucky to bump into a London 2012 Olympic Athlete, you may recognise her from the hurdles final. She was putting in extra training, Mr Jones corrected her technique and gave her some pointers. 

The school prides itself on creating champions with character, with the highest level of academic education alongside. The students were extremely driven as were their coaches. 

The school's facilities are also used by Singapore's national teams, we had chance to watch the Singapore Badminton team in training. Unfortunately however, we had forgotten our rackets and couldn't show them our Rob Wilks badminton skills. 

Mrs Tang and Valerie then took us for our final meal of Chicken Rice before returning to school for our final goodbyes. All the staff gathered for a final photo and to wish us well on our way. We couldn't have wished for a better host school and feel privileged to have experienced this international educational exchange. Thank you Mr Ludlow, we can't wait to come back next year...

Some of the girls also came to bid us farewell. 

"We arrived as strangers but are leaving with many new friends and a bank of enriched educational knowledge." Jones and Davids 2014. 

We were lucky enough to spend our final afternoon on this man made paradise island - Santosa. This picture doesn't do it justice at all... But we don't want to make anyone too jealous so we'll leave it there. 

We are now sat in the airport, after a teary goodbye with our lead host Daphne and her family, which we now feel a part of. 

Farewell Singapore - we take away many experiences. Many of which we will be happy to share with you...and some we will not! 

Thank you for reading, 

Miss Davids and Mr Jones 

International Teachers of Mystery

 

Someone say, Duck?

Monday

This morning we met with the school council to talk about the school. Before we knew it, Miss Davids was asked for here autograph by the children as they said "you are like a celebrity to us". As Mr jones reached for his pen! he realised Miss D the celeb had finished the autograph session and the girls has vanished off to lessons. Never mind Mr Jones. WE then threw ourselves into our last lessons. Miss Davids taught Year 5 some literacy games, whilst Mr Jones got stuck into a bit of cheerleading and netball. He will be holding cheerleading auditions for the next football game.

Just as Mr Jones had put his pom poms down, it was time to visit Canberra Secondary school. The school had almost 1,400 pupils and was a modern, fresh building with a great team of staff who explained their values and gave us a tour. 

Mrs Tang used to be the head teacher here and was so proud of all the developments made since she left for primary school. There was a zen garden with over 50 coy carps to relax the environment, how about giving our pond a 'zen' make over Mrs Pilgrim? They were also lucky to have a mirrored dance studio and fully equipped gym, which a majority of the staff used. Mr Jones pondered how many of our staff would use a facility like this? Mr Ludlow....the next Bannantyne? 

As Miss Davids had not even seen a duck in Singapore, never mind eaten one, Mrs Tang kindly fulfilled her wishes taking us to the best Pecking Duck restaurant in Singapore. Absolute heaven. What a treat for all our hard work. We took this time to reflect upon our schools' similarities and differences, drawing upon each other's strengths and planning exciting ventures for the future. 

From then, Mrs Tang had another treat in store for us as she made a speedy pit stop on the Singapore F1 track dropping us off in pole position! 

We're not sure who was most excited to walk around the pit stops and track. 

We'd seen a lot of Singapore in just a week and felt it was only right to see the concrete jungle from the top of the country's highest skyscraper - the MBS. Yes, we climbed our way onto that big boat on the top! The views were breathtaking and we rewarded ourselves with an ice cool lemonade. 

From the top we spotted a stadium... A floating stadium. When we had hot footed it down from the MBS, Miss Davids imagined watching Bradford City playing on the pitch and got rarer carried away. 

We took in the sights, and found one sight which we knew Mrs Adams would have snapped up. Thee may be a present Mrs A! 

Walking home on our weary feet, Miss D had another brilliant idea - pedicures. As she was relaxing, out of the corner of her eye she noticed Mr Jones, also having a pedicure. He said it was down to all the PE he had done this week in the heat making his feet hurt. Anyone believe him?

Just one more morning left in school but 2 more days left in Singapore which we intend to make the most of after saying some sad goodbyes to our new friends at school. 

Gateway to Asia

It's the weeeeeeeekend kids! 

Hope your half term weekend has started as well as ours. After a cheeky lie in, it was only right that we made the most of the morning sun on our favourite secluded roof top terrace. Hello morning swim, and yes, Miss Davids caught up with her reading. Meanwhile, Mr Jones braved the heat of the glass walled gym with a morning workout. Gold stars all round. 

We couldn't just bathe in the sun all day though could we, we had a city to see. 

First destination: Little India. 

Tour guides: Diva and Regina 

After the hard morning in the sun, it was time to try the traditional coconut drink. 

We shopped until we couldn't shop anymore, when totally out of character and whilst being egged on by the entire party, Miss Davids braved it with a Henna Tattoo. 

All this excitement meant only one thing, it was time to face India's hottest curry. 

We searched for a knife and fork, we searched for chopsticks. But no. It was hands only, good job our manicures weren't booked in until Monday. We loved eating with our hands, and think it may catch on in the dinner hall. Mrs Boothroyd will love the mess. 

Second Destination: Arab Street

Tour Guides: Rai and Roodie

No sooner had we swallowed the last of the naan, but Rai and Roodie arrived to whisk us off to Arabia. Rai and her husband took us to the Mosque, where we had to slip into our floor length robes and out of the flip flops. (It's respectful to cover your shoulders) 

Then, more shopping, where we found a great little toy shop, Mr Jones even treated us all to a rendition of his favourite Oasis song (which Mr Evans' son taught him). 

Third Destination: China Town

Tour Guide: Daphne 

Daphne soon found us as we were soaking up the local culture in a traditional little cafe named, Star-bucks...the muffins were delightful. 

After our first experience on the MRT (Singapores underground tube), we found ourselves in China town where we dashed through the streets, only to find we were heading for another meal! 

Daphne wanted us to experience a traditional Chinese meal called Dim Sun. Unfortunately by this time we were feeling just a little full, however Mr Jones powered through and polished off as much as he could. 

Waddling from the meal, we headed around the markets in China Town where a few more gifts were bought. We had a brilliant idea, we headed for a traditional Chinese massage. How relaxing, we thought. Just what would be the perfect end to the day, we thought. 

But no. 40 horrendous minutes later, Miss Davids emerged with bruises and Mr Jones would have rather played a Rugby Game on a concrete pitch. Tears streamed down our faces as we hobbled and waddled back to the hotel. 

Licking our wounds, we decided to head out into Clarke Quay and take advantage of the beautiful evening skyline next to the river. 

Such a refreshing evening, we particularly enjoyed looking at the boats. 

After our action packed Saturday, Sunday can only be described as minimal, but well needed. However we did meet a lovely lady called 'Nan' from England who reminded us of home comforts, especially a nice Sunday roast. 

Singing off now as we have lots of networking to do in the morning. Bye! 

End of Chinese New Year

Friday, 

After a great nights sleep, we ventured to school to join the year 1s and 6s on a school trip to the River Safari. This is a new attraction in Singapore, and to Miss Davids' delight, they have got two Pandas on lone from China. 

He's on the same diet as us at the moment as he eats over 20kg of bamboo everyday! We're starting to be the same shape as him too. Miss Davids loved being re-united with Panda. 

Next, we bravely entered the squirrel monkey encloser - Mr Jones was rather concerned for our safety as he kept shouting "run, it's going to jump on me!" In a high pitched tone.

Having escaped unscratched we headed for the River Safari boat trip. 

For the second time that day Mr Jones' voice became rather high pitched as we sailed slowly past this sign and he feared for our life. We saw lots of Amazonian animals: Jaguars, Flamingos, Parrots, Boars, Anteaters, Red Pandas, Manatees, Anacondas (which sparked the third and final high pitched shriek from Mr 'brave' Jones), A POLAR BEAR and a sloth. The Flamingos reminded us of Mr Carrigan with their extra long legs. 

The fun and games, however, were now out the way, as we were taken for TWO DINNERS in just 1 hour before visiting the ELIS (English Language Institute of Singapore). We learned about their staff development strategies and new research into teaching pedagogies. At the break, we were offered our third dinner of the day. Luckily, we then went on a grand tour of the Institute to work the dinners off. 

After sharing our teaching styles and resources with the leaders, it was time for the final part of our day. One of the teachers, Annabelle, invited us to her home to celebrate the very end of Chinese New Year with her family. Annabelle has done this for each exchange pair for the past three years. Mrs Williamson, Mrs Hayes-Smith, Mr Card and Miss Brown, look how much Janelle's grown... And that's not only in size, she is now a very confident, talkative and intelligent little girl who kept us all entertained.

As we are now Lo Hei Professionals, we led the tossing of the food in our third and final New Year celebration of the week. We also carried out the tradition of giving mandarins and wishing our elders a happy new year. 

Our fourth dinner of the day was a Steamboat which Annabelle's parents cooked for us. Miss Davids is still struggling to use trainer chopsticks, whilst Mr Jones is catching flies. The steamboat, which was not what we were expecting, was a mix of steamed veg in a stock -we could add to the stock as the meal went on to cook more.

As you can probably tell, we are looking forward to a lie in tomorrow, before experiencing China Town, Little India and Arab Street. We can't wait for a foot massage, finding some gifts and trying out a traditional Henna Tattoo. 

We have seen the weather back home on the news and hope you are all safe - we had our first storm today which lasted around 10 minutes, hope that's the last one as the pool has become our daily relaxing luxury. 

PS, Happy Valentines Day everyone, what an unforgettable one we've had and happy end of term. Keep reading to see if we decide to come home or if you'll have new teachers next term! 

Superintendents, science and green crepes

Thursday...

Each morning at CHIJ begins with raising the flag whilst singing the national anthem. However, today was not just any day, we were officially introduced to the whole school in assembly by Mrs Tang. 

It reminded us a lot of our school with all the children packed into the hall, the only differences - there were double the amount of little faces staring back and Mr Jones was wearing a shirt! 

After our quick introduction we were whisked off with the Year 3s on a school trip to the National Science Centre - Mrs Davies, you would have been in heaven. 

Stange things happened in the Science Centre:

1) Miss Davids pondered over her second job offer in two days. 

2) Mr Jones began attaching springs to ears...

... The craze caught on...

Can you guess what we're learning about?

3) We had to begin using cups as phones

Again the craze caught on...

4) Miss Davids became an international DJ - watch out Mrs Mould! 

The fun couldn't last long though, as it was time to get ready for a very important presentation to a group of 30 Superintendents (head teachers) and the Board Members of the W8 Cluster. Do you think we scrubbed up well? Can you see the nerves.... Oh no of course you can't we were as cool as Mrs Lobb with an office full of poorly Y2s! 

The board members wanted to hear about our school and academy group, our schools direct link and how our Singapore link is benefitting both schools. They were treated with a short video from Mr Ludlow, who they thought was a natural in front of the camera. What an act to follow. We thought the only way to tackle this would be to turn off our strong West Yorkshire accents and replace them with the Queen's English. 

Phew... The Superintendents were impressed and yet again, over dinner, job offers from all over Singapore came flooding in - Mr Ludlow you really should start getting worried! And yes-we used this opportunity to shamelessly dish out the Ebor Academy Magazine. 

As it is the last day of Chinese New Year today, we celebrated with another LoHei (the traditional Chinese New Year meal where you toss the food around). 

We spent the afternoon observing and taking part in the CCA activities, yes, Miss Davids is behind that Tuba!

The school choir sang beautifully. Mr Jones almost shed a tear! 

Here are the Brownies, we made orange and cream cheese cupcakes. There is a mirror strategically placed over the desk at the front, so all the girls can see exactly what the teacher is doing from all over the kitchen, a handy tool don't you think Mrs Seabourne, Mrs Brooke? When the school built the kitchen, the girls were allowed to name it, they choose "The Cooking Palace"...Should we remane cook school?

Even though the weather here is above 30 degrees, we told the girls about the weather at home at the moment, they thought it was "so cool" and begged to come back in our suitcases to Robert Wilkinson! 

There's more to come from today but we haven't decided what yet, I suppose the pool will help us decide! 

Bye! 

PS: green crepe anyone?