The Celeb and the Chicken Party

A major breakthrough on this trip was locating the North Eastern Fibre Line from Delhi. This has really opened up opportunities for some of the most rural schools that we work with. This week, we have connected three schools up to Wi-Fi and better still - it is a cost saving of a handsome £9 each month over the data sim packages we had previously opted for. Before we set off on this second journey to Meghalaya, we had ear-marked 'the metal school opposite Pahsyntiew School' as a potential establishment that we could work with. We fantasised over how convenient it would be to have another school in Nongkrem, we imagined the cross-school collaboration that could take place and it was also the start of the idea of creating Nongkrem as the epi-centre of LBQ in India!

We had a meeting pencilled in with the Principal - a small, spectacled man with a smile permanently plastered over his face. He beckoned us into his office and called for a teacher to join us - a tall, young lady, with excellent spoken English. He studied us carefully as we spoke through the project. The young teacher interjected at various points with valid concerns, "We will not have the internet connection to do this I do not think." and "We would need to commit to this 100% for it to work!". For Tom and I this was music to our ears - the school 'gets it' and we have two people here who are already visualising their part in the project. We trawled through our usual questions such as, "How many teachers do you have?" and "What is the level of spoken English here?" It was the class sizes which took us somewhat by surprise: "Class 5 have 23 children, Class 6 are 25 or 26, Class 7 have 32 children and Class 8 have 78 and Class 9 have 84 ch..." "Pardon? 78 and 84 children? In a class?" "Yes."

That however wasn't the biggest surprise - as we were offered a tour of the 'made out of tin' school, the Principal revealed that they had not only one but two smart classrooms. Now, do not let your imagination get the better of you. 'Smart' means there is a projector and semi-interactive smartboard screen. This though, in this area, is unprecedented. By this point we really felt like we had hit the jackpot. LBQ in collaboration with a smartboard? Teachers will be able to model - share progress with the class and maybe even embark on some peer modelling. As much as we were not expecting this - we were certainly not expecting the next big reveal. As we said out goodbyes to the smiling Principal and the young teacher of Hindi, Jop showed us perhaps the biggest grin of the day. In a slightly hushed tone Jop revealed, "That tecaher, the one who teachers Hindi, she is very very famous in East Khasi Hills. Very well known as a model. Music videos. Everything." Now, I dont want to sound too much like I was doubting Jop's claims but 'very famous' could really mean anything here. Jop himself has been said to be famous for his music - he's very good but he isn't Elton John or...Ronan Keating. At this point, Wanlang, as though he had been waiting his whole life for this very moment, whipped out his phone with a youtube music video already loaded. "Look, see!" Well, bloody hell. 13 million views! The next day we delivered four LBQ question sets in the same school and it was an absolute joy! Such was the enthusiasm, the children begged for more sessions through their lunch and I am half-convinced the teachers would have done so. This school, Nongkrem Secondary, will be our third school for full implementation of LBQ. Tablets, laptops and licenses. I can not wait to see their progress. I have a feeling it is going to be pretty special. Afterwards, we delivered a short training session to Jop, Khraw and Wanlang and then called it a wrap. As we put away our laptops Jop began to share some of his experiences during his one month stay in the UK 10 years ago. "I made very good friends with the Chinese restaurant - everyday I ordered rice from them and two very cheap beers." he said with a big grin. "But, you British...you drink. I was on a train to London when oh my gosh, oh dear, lots of women on a chicken party... I put my head down and pretended to sleep" "Hen party, Jop." "Huh?"