'Please sir, can we have some more?'

We are coming up to the end of the first term here in Maskeliya and what a jam packed few weeks it has been.Our days continue to be filled with drama workshops, lots of frantic planning, saris, and of course, eating as many curries as we possibly can! We are also looking to become culinary experts whilst we stay here, with us all scribbling down the tips and tidbits from the wonderful Shyama who continues to cook us fabulous food day in, day out. It has also started to rain here. Lots. However, when the sun was out, we were sure to top up our tans on Achinika rooftop! All in all we are loving this country, the food, the culture and the people. So much so that we are even getting used to the dogs. Well, almost...

As the weeks have progressed, we have seen the groups transform, growing in confidence to work as a focused team producing some fantastic pieces.The students have been under a lot of pressure this week with final exams, so we've aimed for our workshops to be fun as well as stimulating. As ever, the mature response from the students and subsequent high quality of their work, has challenged us, as facilitators, to provide the most interesting workshops possible.

We have brought in character development, allowing the students to create realistic but fictional personas, so that they are able to channel their feelings in a healthy and expressive way. We have now met Raj, Jesse, Mala and Kumar, who all live in Maskeliya and have similar experiences to our students. Using our characters as a base, students have created scenarios exploring said issues and have discussed and performed resolutions as well as coping strategies. Our priority remains to provide rounded sessions that end with a positive message, so that whilst the students can explore very personal topics, they can do so from a safe distance and leave the issues within the performance space.  

As well as making our students run around and stand as trees *drama jokes* we have also been conducting a reading project in the mornings, which we hope will continue to flourish once we have left. We have been individually leading sessions, where the students read Oliver Twist aloud. We have already begun to see an improvement in both their reading and pronunciation skills as well as their engagement with the material. They have also enthusiastically acted out scenes from the book, to make the story come to life. Whilst the school already has a good supply of books, we would like to look into a way of providing sets of books with the money we raised, as we have seen how well the students engage when reading as a group. 

We are now looking forward to the last week of workshops and preparation for the final performance, where the students will showcase their work to the teachers and each other. We are expecting some nerves, lots of hard work, but most of all excitement and pride in being able to share the brilliant student creations.