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| Paul with some of his students |
" 'they're all yours to teach, Mr Newham'. Clearly he wasn't expecting someone with absolutely no teaching experience or training to his name to walk into his classroom. [...] It was all too sudden to be nervous about it anyway, so I just decided to go for it [...] The fact that I more or less held their attention all that time seemed to make it a success. ''
Paul
The Mighty Gully Youth Project is very much a family affair. I am living directly with his first wife, Althea, daughters Kara, Kayah and Kadaye, and son Jayvan, who is now in charge of the project, as well as 'Crazy' Chris, Kadaye's baby son Keshaun (not sure of spelling!) and Ryan, the five-year-old son of a family friend. Across the way live Mr Bryan's elderly parents, brother, sister-in-law and sister, plus assorted neices, nephews, and grandchildren, while in the third house in the yard live another of Mr Bryan's daughters, Marsha, her partner Stretch (also known as 'Rasta' and creator of some awesome vegan Ital food) and their children.
The rest of the extended family is made up of the wood carvers. They spend their days, from morning until sometimes late in the evening, transforming lumps of lignum vitae, the hardest wood in the world and known as 'iron wood' for its durability, into fantastic works of art - birds, animals, portraits and, frequently, beautifully executed and stylised female nudes. Watching them work is an education in patience, precision, skill and vision - the wood is notoriously difficult to work so the job can be physically demanding, but one false move can ruin an entire piece. And once happy with the carving, each piece has to be meticulously course sanded, fine sanded and polished by hand until it literally shines in the sun. They are the proteges of a recognised master and it shows.
After CCCD with its hundred-or-so pupils, the school I'm working at Marlie Mount Primary and Infant School - is HUGE - well over a 1000 pupils, making it as big as most UK high schools. With just 50 staff and not enough space to accomodate all pupils at once, the school runs a shift system - the first lot of pupils come in at 7am and leave at midday, the second starting at midday and leaving at 5pm. It must be exhausting for the teachers - with it being the last week of term and things easing back a bit, the longest day I worked was 7am til 4pm and that absolutely knackered me. But, through a lot of dedication and hard work, they make it work, and the school has a very proud record for achievement in all areas of school life.
Somehow I felt like I'd be letting him and the class down (given as they had all cheered in unison when he told them I'd be 'teaching' them) if I explained that I didn't have a clue what I was doing, let alone a lesson plan, and had never taken a class before. It was all too sudden to be nervous about it anyway, so I just decided to go for it - I asked them what they had been doing in English, they said 'nouns', so away I went - nearly two hours later, I had somehow managed to take them through the distinctions between common nouns, proper nouns and pronouns, spent some time on adjectives and the correct grammatical ways to describe things, and also touched on verbs and tenses, before finishing off with a quiz about where various countries are using a map I'd brought. The fact that I more or less held their attention all that time seemed to make it a success. The thing that impressed me most in class, and has continued to do so all week, was how well behaved and respectful the kids are. There was no back chat, no smart alec remarks, no tantrums, no attention seeking - yeah, they talk and fidget, fool around, bicker and sometimes whack eachother, but when a teacher raises their voice and demands attention (including me), they listen. It's probably worth pointing out that corporal punishment is still very much part of school life in Jamaica, and I've seen a fair few kids get hefty whacks off teachers. But as someone who has always thought the backlash against smacking in the UK is ridiculous and is a direct reason why so many kids grow up thinking they can behave as they please, I don't think this is a bad thing at all. And anyway, it's not like the kids are unhappy or live in fear of getting beaten - just the opposite, they seem really happy, and the enthusiasm they have shown towards me has made me feel like some kind of pop star at times. The troop of students, mostly girls, I have had literally hanging off my arms and fighting eachother to stroke my hair has made me feel like a cross between the Pied Piper and Justin Bieber.
I have had classes arguing with eachother and begging me over who I teach next, the best being 3.1A (who I have to admit are my favourite class) trying to put me off taking 3.2A instead of them by telling me they 'all like to use cuss words and tell lies' and that '3.2 acting up on you would be my worst nightmare, sir!' Another reasons I get on with 3.1A so much is that their teacher, Mrs Smith, has been teaching them sign language, so I've ben able to pick up some of that with them and had a lot of fun.I arrived first morning not really knowing what to expect, having not even spoken to the principal yet as I had kept missing her the previous week when I'd been trying to call. As it was, she wasn't in that morning, but the deputy principal welcomed me kindly and quickly gave me a class to go and 'sit in with' - 5.3 (they 'graduate' at grade 6, which is 11-12 year olds here). No sooner had I walked in the classroom and the teacher, Mr MacIntosh, had introduced me than he sat down to mark some books, giving me a quizzical look -'they're all yours to teach, Mr Newham'. Clearly he wasn't expecting someone with absolutely no teaching experience or training to his name to walk into his classroom.
Even if I can't always follow the conversations, everyone has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, often through the medium of food - Kara has taken it on herself to teach me how to make authentic Jamaican dishes like turned corn and spicy steamed callalloo (a kind of cabbage), while Jayvan is constantly bringing me fruit from the various trees in the yard, mainly mangoes and delicious, watery Ethiopian apples at the moment as they're in season, and I've already mentioned the fantastic Ital food from the Rasta cookhouse. As a side note, I've gone vegan again now I'm cooking for myself (well, unless someone insists on cooking for me!) and it's surprisingly easy over here, plus it gets me serious props from the Rastas. And seeing as everything is laced with searingly hot Scotch Bonnet chilli peppers, I'm in my element food-wise.After the quiet nights at CCCD, it's good to have people to talk to and hang out with, even if I am still trying to get my head round patois ('Yes Paul, wha' gwaaan!!').
The rest of the extended family is made up of the wood carvers. They spend their days, from morning until sometimes late in the evening, transforming lumps of lignum vitae, the hardest wood in the world and known as 'iron wood' for its durability, into fantastic works of art - birds, animals, portraits and, frequently, beautifully executed and stylised female nudes. Watching them work is an education in patience, precision, skill and vision - the wood is notoriously difficult to work so the job can be physically demanding, but one false move can ruin an entire piece. And once happy with the carving, each piece has to be meticulously course sanded, fine sanded and polished by hand until it literally shines in the sun. They are the proteges of a recognised master and it shows.
After CCCD with its hundred-or-so pupils, the school I'm working at Marlie Mount Primary and Infant School - is HUGE - well over a 1000 pupils, making it as big as most UK high schools. With just 50 staff and not enough space to accomodate all pupils at once, the school runs a shift system - the first lot of pupils come in at 7am and leave at midday, the second starting at midday and leaving at 5pm. It must be exhausting for the teachers - with it being the last week of term and things easing back a bit, the longest day I worked was 7am til 4pm and that absolutely knackered me. But, through a lot of dedication and hard work, they make it work, and the school has a very proud record for achievement in all areas of school life.
Somehow I felt like I'd be letting him and the class down (given as they had all cheered in unison when he told them I'd be 'teaching' them) if I explained that I didn't have a clue what I was doing, let alone a lesson plan, and had never taken a class before. It was all too sudden to be nervous about it anyway, so I just decided to go for it - I asked them what they had been doing in English, they said 'nouns', so away I went - nearly two hours later, I had somehow managed to take them through the distinctions between common nouns, proper nouns and pronouns, spent some time on adjectives and the correct grammatical ways to describe things, and also touched on verbs and tenses, before finishing off with a quiz about where various countries are using a map I'd brought. The fact that I more or less held their attention all that time seemed to make it a success. The thing that impressed me most in class, and has continued to do so all week, was how well behaved and respectful the kids are. There was no back chat, no smart alec remarks, no tantrums, no attention seeking - yeah, they talk and fidget, fool around, bicker and sometimes whack eachother, but when a teacher raises their voice and demands attention (including me), they listen. It's probably worth pointing out that corporal punishment is still very much part of school life in Jamaica, and I've seen a fair few kids get hefty whacks off teachers. But as someone who has always thought the backlash against smacking in the UK is ridiculous and is a direct reason why so many kids grow up thinking they can behave as they please, I don't think this is a bad thing at all. And anyway, it's not like the kids are unhappy or live in fear of getting beaten - just the opposite, they seem really happy, and the enthusiasm they have shown towards me has made me feel like some kind of pop star at times. The troop of students, mostly girls, I have had literally hanging off my arms and fighting eachother to stroke my hair has made me feel like a cross between the Pied Piper and Justin Bieber.
I have had classes arguing with eachother and begging me over who I teach next, the best being 3.1A (who I have to admit are my favourite class) trying to put me off taking 3.2A instead of them by telling me they 'all like to use cuss words and tell lies' and that '3.2 acting up on you would be my worst nightmare, sir!' Another reasons I get on with 3.1A so much is that their teacher, Mrs Smith, has been teaching them sign language, so I've ben able to pick up some of that with them and had a lot of fun.I arrived first morning not really knowing what to expect, having not even spoken to the principal yet as I had kept missing her the previous week when I'd been trying to call. As it was, she wasn't in that morning, but the deputy principal welcomed me kindly and quickly gave me a class to go and 'sit in with' - 5.3 (they 'graduate' at grade 6, which is 11-12 year olds here). No sooner had I walked in the classroom and the teacher, Mr MacIntosh, had introduced me than he sat down to mark some books, giving me a quizzical look -'they're all yours to teach, Mr Newham'. Clearly he wasn't expecting someone with absolutely no teaching experience or training to his name to walk into his classroom.
Even if I can't always follow the conversations, everyone has gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, often through the medium of food - Kara has taken it on herself to teach me how to make authentic Jamaican dishes like turned corn and spicy steamed callalloo (a kind of cabbage), while Jayvan is constantly bringing me fruit from the various trees in the yard, mainly mangoes and delicious, watery Ethiopian apples at the moment as they're in season, and I've already mentioned the fantastic Ital food from the Rasta cookhouse. As a side note, I've gone vegan again now I'm cooking for myself (well, unless someone insists on cooking for me!) and it's surprisingly easy over here, plus it gets me serious props from the Rastas. And seeing as everything is laced with searingly hot Scotch Bonnet chilli peppers, I'm in my element food-wise.After the quiet nights at CCCD, it's good to have people to talk to and hang out with, even if I am still trying to get my head round patois ('Yes Paul, wha' gwaaan!!').
Paul
For more info about Creative Inclusion, visit the special webpage, clicking here.
Project part of CREATIVE INCLUSION
and supported by EACEA
and the Youth in Action Programme
of the European Commission.
For more info about Creative Inclusion, visit the special webpage, clicking here.
