The Abingdonian 2019

49 www.abingdon.org.uk Summer Term counselling and youth work. We were working alongside pupils fulfilling the same role from John Mason, Fitzharrys, Larkmead and St. Helens. The key principles of our training were based on the importance of listening skills, such as listening to what is not being said, listening to people talk about others and deducing what it says about them, and even listening with your eyes! There was a lot of active group work, including the dreaded role-playing, where we tried to get to know our colleagues from the other schools whilst incorporating the multitude of social techniques we had been taught. Beyond this, Nick highlighted the importance of how we respond and act, emphasising the use of open questions and empathy as the fundamental methods of response. We rounded off with nine different games/exercises that I’m now able to implement in tutor time. These are a good way for me to engage on a more personal level with the younger pupils and will allow them to get to know each other better. Overall I learnt some really interesting and advanced social skills. I hope the role will allow me to offer support to the younger boys and enable me to help people and get along with them for the rest of my life. Archie Delafield, 6MAS I was involved in teaching biology to Year 9 students from schools around Abingdon. The most challenging element of this was having to teach a student who didn’t really want to be there; this didn’t disrupt any of the lessons, however, and I think the student in question did actually have a good time and picked up a few things. I found the actual teaching and interacting with younger students the most enjoyable parts of the process, from which I learnt many valuable skills; most notably, the partnership scheme has helped me develop clear communication and organisation skills. I would definitely recommend the partnership scheme to others both because of how enjoyable it was and because of the skills it teaches you. James LLoyd, 6RMT On Thursday 13 June, Thomas Long and I, feeling really quite nervous, were shown into a classroom at Buckland Primary School, containing 28 Year 5 and Year 6 boys and girls. We had been attending Abingdon School’s Other Half Language Leader programme for six months, in which we had been planning and creating resources for a Spanish lesson; our chosen topic - Sport. Luckily, the children were very kind and welcoming and, once the lesson had begun, very calm and well-behaved. Everyone put their hand up instead of shouting out, they all worked hard, and they weren’t afraid of asking for help if they were stuck. We finished with a game of vocabulary noughts and crosses on the board, and the class clearly showed that they had remembered almost all of what they had been taught. This was really satisfying! Once we finished they all said ‘Gracias’ and most of the class said that they would like to continue learning Spanish in the future. Overall it was a very rewarding and enjoyable morning and the Language Leader course has given me a better understanding of the work that goes on to prepare and give lessons. I am really hoping to do it again. Grant Rogan, 4RSS