Pre Departure Course

On 29th and 30th October, I went to Surrey for an excellent Pre Departure Course organised by Oyster.

It was a fantastic opportunity to meet all the people I'll be going with, who were all so nice! Minibus journey, orienteering (in the fantastic grounds of the school hosting us), volunteer presentations, chill-out in the Common Room and nattering until an indecent hour in our dorm, meant we went a long way to getting to know each other.

But it wasn't all fun and frolics... there was such a lot of information to cover in 2 days. We found out about our schools, learnt about customs and cultures (did you know you must hold your elbow when shaking hands with an 'elder', for example...?), filled out numerous risk assessments, had a very lengthy health talk, and a crash course in teaching. Our heads were spinning by the end!

All of us agreed, especially after seeing a video of a previous volunteer taking a class, that we just want to get straight down to writing lesson plans, and the sooner we get out there, the better - an excellent course!