Miss Abigail’s thought for the week: What constitutes work?
Today I asked a child if they had had a good week and he replied, ‘Yes, it’s been great! We have hardly done ANY WORK AT ALL!’ This made me smile: children have a funny understanding of what ‘work’ means.
This week has seen a number of rehearsals, performances, parties, cultural activities and all sorts of other ‘non-standard week’ kind of stuff, in between other lessons and project work. And there has been terrific learning taking place – even if the kids didn’t notice!
This might include (in no particular order, and by no means exclusively):
- Responding to an audience
- Learning how to speak into a microphone correctly
- Projecting one’s voice
- Pride in a job well done
- Waiting patiently for your turn
- Encouraging your friends when they feel nervous / anxious
- Sharing food, using good table manners
- Finding out more about historical / cultural activities in Bahrain
- Learning how to set up, pack away and operate the sound system
- Holding a choir folder correctly
- Following a conductor when singing
- That embassies have special security rules and regulations and why
- That face paints smudge when you rub them and that the designs are back to front in a mirror
- That small pots can be thrown ‘off the hump’ on a wheel and what that looks like
- How baskets are made
- How cloth is woven
- That if you get 3 sweets for 2 tokens, you get 6 sweets for 4 tokens
- Listening skills
- Craftsmanship in performance
- Commitment to performance
- Confidence
- Public speaking / presenting skills
- Overcoming stage-fright
- Appreciating and respecting our peers for good performances – and being inspired by them
- Giving constructive and respectful feedback to our peers
- That adrenaline rush that follows performance
- Learning how to manage one’s own behaviour in a less structured setting
- That you have to work together to achieve great things
If work means learning – and I believe it does – then that isn’t bad, for 5 days. Well done all!
Have a great winter break…and think of all the ‘work’ that will be happening!
