Day 3 in Puloly

I feel like I am going very slow in lessons with the kids and that they might get bored with me repeating the same but I also feel like I need to keep repeating what i say for them to understand. It isn't easy at all. I am almost teaching the same thing to a Grade 6 student and a Grade 11 student who will be taking his O level this year.They have studied all of what I am saying, it's just that they had forgotten quite a huge chunk of forming sentences and asking questions.

I am focusing on talking to them because I think they need to get the confidence that they are able to speak it before they get really interested in learning it. I just need to remind myself that these kids are practically afraid of learning it and making mistakes especially when it comes to pronunciation.I just had to be really patient and encouraging for them to fully be able to come out of that fear that has been there since young. Some kids, haven't even studied for the past few years due to the civil wars.

It is not easy living in a country which just survived a war that lasted for 50 years and it surely isn't easy for visitors when they keep earning gruesome stories about killing men, when they see army personnel everywhere and when everyone keeps on saying they don't know what's going to happen next? It's almost as if they are living in fear and insecurity.When I was talking to the Sri Lankans here, they mentioned that they are living here with nothing to hold on to. There is no sense of belonging because their tradition and culture, books and poetry are gone. Because of the war. That's when I started to appreciate what I have back in Singapore. Our heritage centres, our emphasis on our mother tongue language, and our celebrations are actually really important. It really creates our identity and we must respect it, protect it and treasure it with all our hearts because once it's gone, it's gone forever.