Some more pictures

A few pictures from the trip

*NEWS FLASH* *NEWS FLASH*

On Friday, late afternoon, we shall be on TV - at 5:30 [Bangladesh time, so 11:30 English time (we think)] on BBC WorldWide, talking about our experiences in Bangladesh!

So WATCH IT! :D

It will later be posted on YouTube, so when it is, we'll add a link!

Just a quick update ...

Today we've done LOADS. And as it's really late, then we will just blog quickly about the basics we did (and then expand tomorrow [hopefully]). We started the morning at 8 o clock, and drove to a school which we had yet to visit, it was a mixed school (so far this week we've been to all girls' schools, and all boys' schools) - we looked around the rooms, and their classes have about 90 students in, and sometimes more. We sat in on a "lecture" about modern teaching methods in the U.K, and they are completely different to the methods in Bangladesh due to class size. We watched presentations which the school had prepared for us: this included dancing, power points, singing etc. It was a real insight into their culture. We also went to the national Bangladesh museum, and we looked around and it was fab, we had our own mini tour guides (the students came with us, and spoke all about the artifacts at the museum) - so that was all really fun. Then we rushed back here and then we went to a dinner organised by the Brit sh Council, and we celebrated Dave's birthday with a MASSIVE cake (pictures tomorrow) and then we chatted to all the people we had met during the week, and celebrated being here in Bangladesh.

Great pictures and comments.  It really makes us fell as if we are there with you, sharing your experience.

Keep up the good work!

Well done for such detailed and interesting blogging so far - you're giving us some great info to use in lessons. It's really good to see what you have been up to. There are quite a few students waiting to sign up to the website we use, I'm sure your expereinces will inspire them to really get involved.
Hope you are all well, keep enjoying yourselves,
Miss M

Tuesday 22nd

Today we returned to Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, which was lovely. We also visited the Liberation War Museum, were invited to dinner, had henna done on our hands and managed to fit in some shopping. Everyone is tired but we're still having a wonderful time.



Some men ride on the roof of a bus.

The Connecting Classrooms display at Viqarunnisa Noon School and College.

David carefully considers which scarf will go best with his eyes.

Some more photos from Monday 21st

We often have crowds of people taking photos of us, so sometimes the only thing you can do is laugh and take a photo back.

A crowd of curious men following us while we were shopping.

Rural Bangladesh

Agrani & Government Laboratory Schools

I have received reports from Agrani and Government Laboratory Schools where they have written about your visit to their school with lots of photos.  I look forward to reading about the rest of your visit.  The weather is awful here today.

Viqarunnisa Noon School and College

On our first visit to Viqarunnisa Noon School and College which is an all-girls’ school, we immediately noticed how much calmer they were than the other girls’ school which was mayhem. The girls were all dressed in their Sahris as today was the celebration of International Mother Language Day.

After we took part in the parade around the town (which has blogged about) we sat down in a massive auditorium to listen to speeches about the celebrations. We were placed in the middle of all the 1,700 female students which was pretty daunting to start off with as we stood out and everyone was staring at us. After a while the girls in front of us started to chat to us and ask us about ourselves, they were really friendly and were translating the Bangla service to us.

We were then approached by a lady who worked for the BBC Worldservice who asked us for an interview. We all lined up in a row while a man was filming us and the lady was getting ready with her mic. She asked us individually what we thought about Bangladesh, about International Mother Language Day and about Connecting Classrooms. Nervously we answered her questions knowing that this would be broadcasted onto the BBC Worldservice later. We are now excited to see ourselves on television!

We are back at the same school tomorrow to sit through some lessons which we are pleased about as we really liked the atmosphere in the school.

International Mother Language Day

Today was an important day to the people of Bangladesh, it was a celebration of their mother language day, and remembered those who died fighting for the cause. On this day we dressed in black and white to mourn with the students of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College.

We learnt the importance of the Bangladesh flag, the green symbolises the land which they have, and the environment around them. The red symbolises the blood which was shed in fighting for their mother tongue, and their love which they have for it.

For us, it was a great honour to be able to participate in their service, we had a parade around the school block, and upon return we laid down flowers in memory of them.

The event itself is a celebration of the Bengali Language and the independence which Bangladesh gained as a result of the protest, it is a national holiday held on the 21st February every year. The history of International Language Day, began when Urdu was the only language allowed to be spoken in both East and West Pakistan. The Bangla people protested about this, and a student strike was organised – however, would not be tolerated by the Pakistan government. Five of the students who campaigned for Bangla to be recognised as one of the state languages of Pakistan were shot and killed by police. These students are seen as martyrs for their cause, which turned out to be the beginning of Bangladesh’s struggle for independence.

Some photos from Sunday 20th and Monday 21st

Great to read your news

Thank you so much for the blogs.  It makes such a difference to know you all arrived safely and to share the experiences with you as they are happening.

Experiences...

One thing that I think we all expected to see when we were here was poverty...however, seeing it first hand really brings it to life and unfortunately to a reality. Living in a society were we are fortunate enough not to have to worry about extreme poverty is overwhelming when looking at how people live in a society like Dhaka. The social tiers and classes are made to be quite obvious, just from looking at what people are wearing. One thing that will stay in my memories is the first begger child that we saw. A little girl, around the age of 7 or 8, came up to our minibus begging for food. It was one of the most unnerving and shocking experiences of my life (not trying to sound over dramatic!) and the sense of guilt wahes over you. Experiencing this is a major eye-opener and it really does make you rethink about how lucky we are and what we have going for us.

Government Laboratary High School visit

The second school we visited was an all boys' school. These boys were a lot older in general than the girls (around 16 years old). Their English was superb and we were able to have really good conversations about school, football and cricket. The whole of Bangladesh is "partying" at the moment due to the Cricket World Cup taking place in Bangladesh - even though they lost yesterday to their big rivals, India.

After we chatted for a while we were entertained by 3 lads and guitars who were so confident around singing - even that was eye-opening. Eventually we left the cheery school with many photographs being taken. They offered us games of cricket and football which I (David) really wanted to accept however, unfortunately we had to leave then.

Then we went to see the government buildings and as we posed to have our photograph taken we were surronded by many members of the public who stopped and stared at us with cameras - like we were famous. Now we are back at the hotel and have a daunting 7.30 start tomorrow!!

The visit to the Agrani School and College

Today we took a visit to two schools - Agrani School and College, and the Government Laboratory High School. Both at which we took part in various classes, and got showed around the school.

The students at the first school (an all girls school - aged 6 - 17) showed us a presentation that they had made, showing us the 'new Dhaka' which they wanted to create. They said that the present Dhaka has too many problems: there is too much pollution, a shortage of electricity (it has already cut out twice since being here), there isn't a good enough water supply, too much traffic - queueing and too many cars. They also said that there were slums on the outskirts, which they wanted to get rid of, they also wanted a much greener community, as at the moment it isn't exactly the greenest place on earth. These girls, who were fairly young, are already aware of the issues surrounding them, and it was a real insight into their way of life - that they are already aware of these issues.

Have a great trip

Hi everybody,
Just to let you know we are keeping track of you and Y10 will be looking you up during the week! Your blogs are working, we hope you get the chance to add more.
The first set of photo's look great. Have a fabulous trip

Miss Muncaster

The Bangladesh trip has landed!

Having left the island at 8am on Friday morning, we arrived at Dhaka airport nineteen hours later, at around 9am on Saturday in Bangladesh time (they are six hours ahead here). It’s now 1pm here (7am UK time) and the adults are getting some sleep, while we still haven’t slept for some reason.

Just arrived at the hotel

We haven't been properly out yet - just driving to our hotel in the minibus - so there will be better photos to follow.