Yewlands FoS : Global

• Caution
• Cold
• Un-prepared
• Sign language
• Stress
• Bumps
• Excitement
• Ideas
• Sharing
• Incapacity
• Outside comfort zone
• Non-verbal communication
• Manic
• Blue Skies
• Competencies
• Being prepared
• Emotional need
• International

We got back to our accommodation late this evening after a packed day. Many thanks for all the comments, questions and suggestions. We are going to answer some questions tonight and give a full update and photos tomorrow as we have a very early start and need some sleep!

Day 4 in brief: we started the day with a tour of the fruit processing area of Blue Skies, this involved going through the hygiene process so we had to shower and change into some fetching blue overalls and white wellies. Some of us carried this off, whilst others didn’t!

Later Dr Piper ran a stress management workshop for the Blue Skies management which we helped facilitate.A slight change of itinerary meant we left after lunch to visit a large school for the deaf (including some deaf/blind children).

On return from this school we stopped briefly at a local art and craft market, and practiced our bartering skills. Then just before it was dark we visited the botanical gardens. The trees were slightly bigger than the Sheffield botanical gardens as you will see in the photos!

Now to your questions:8X3, we really like the ideas and will be discussing them further on our return.

Mr Jackson’s Year 8 Geography, we have noted your questions and will be putting them to pupils if we get a chance.

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9Y3’s Questions:

What do you eat for breakfast?We have a pretty normal breakfast but with fresh tropical fruit every day. A big plate of mango, pineapple and papaya is available each morning.

Is it hot?

Most of the time it is very hot and humid. Inside the air temperature reaches 30degrees even in the evening. The locals know to stay out of the sun in the midday heat. However at one point today we were freezing cold! We were shown around the ‘blast chill’ room in the factory where the temperature is close to freezing, but in contrast to outside it felt about -20 degrees!

What are the people like there…do they speak English?

English is widely spoken, it is used throughout the factory and schools. The local language is called ‘twi’ which is common but there are many other local languages hence why English is used a lot. All the people we have met have been very friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable.

Are you sleeping in a hotel?

No, we are staying in accommodation owned by Blue Skies. It is 2km from the factory down a dirt track.

Have a look at our new page of curriculum ideas. We will add to it as we go through the week. You can drag the page around and zoom in and out. This mind map was created (in about 5 minutes) using one of my favorite websites, Bubbl.us is free to us, brilliant as a collaboration tool, amazing on whiteboards, and takes literally 30 seconds to learn to use.

We have more contributors for our ‘words of the day’, so we are continuing to raise the bar on literacy across the Family of Schools!

• Inspiration
• Hot
• Enthusiasm
• Connections
• Powerful
• Delicate
• Happy faces
• Education
• Opportunities
• Medical
• Nutrition
• Cooking
• Similarities
• Humbling
• Reflective
• Excitement
• Basic
• Flexible
• Disbelief
• Teaching & Learning
• Resourcelessness

Our third day began with an emotional opening of the Julia Piper Clinic situated within the grounds of the Blue Skies Factory.
The event marked the hard work and commitment of Dr Julia Piper, her practice and family in their commitment in raising medical standards and facilities for the workforce of the factory.

Once again we felt humbled to be part of an event which maybe to some of us “Into Africa” Europeans would not have appreciated back home: A relatively small affair compared to British standards. However, to the workforce of Blue Skies the facility is “life changing” providing medical care, assessment, advice to so many and in British terms at little costs.

We were privileged to be shown around the clinic and quickly realised that there is so much to do for example the staff pointed out that they required a new chair for the patients to sit on as the present ‘antiquity’ resembles an old colonial dinning chair with a worn out leather seat. The doctor expressed that they could really do with a swivel chair to ease the necessity to lift heavy another dining room chair. When needing to use the computer to access patients notes, very 21st century you may think, but the computer had seen better days probably one of the first tower set ups still in use. Read the rest of this entry »

If you look at the top of this page you will see ‘Toby’s Techy Toy’s’ which is a separate page describing some of the tools and technique we are using for this project