Teaching English to children in Sri Lanka: a highly rewarding experience

Earlier this year (March 2024) I spent a month in Galle on the SW coast of Sri Lanka, a trip organized through Global Crossroad. I wanted to work with children and teaching English was an obvious way to do it.

All my contacts with GC were helpful and friendly and I was provided with plenty of information prior to departure. I was picked up at Colombo airport and taken to the house of Michael Ferreira, the local organiser. The accommodation was spacious and the food (three meals a day prepared by his wife) was excellent. I frequently met his children and grandchildren. We talked, drank tea, played games, watched cricket(!) and I rapidly felt I was part of the family. Michael also has many friends and contacts in Galle, and I was often on the back of his motorbike for shopping or for sorting out official business downtown. This was total immersion in the life of Galle which was exactly what I was looking for.

During the week I helped at a government-aided school for children from very poor families, which was about 20' away by bicycle. I helped with the English class mainly teaching 3rd,4th and 5th grade children (6-9 yo). The resident English teacher, Prarthana, was kind and helpful and the children were a delight to work with: so happy, enthusiastic and respectful despite their clearly difficult home lives. It was a pleasure getting to know them all.

During my stay Michael organized 4-day road trip around the island. There is so much to discover: beautiful landscapes, an incredible diversity of plant and animal life, many historical monuments from the time of the kings over 2000 years ago, sacred sites from the time of Buddha around 500 yrs BC, and the remains of the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonial periods. We also visited a tea plantation, an Ayurveda spice and herb garden, producing a wide variety of natural therapeutics, a turtle hatchery, and an elephant clinic, necessary because in some parts of the island the elephants roam free and sometimes are injured on the roads! I never expected such a rich experience. It was a great trip and I would strongly recommend it to anyone who visits the island.

This was my first experience of voluntary work outside Europe. It was a memorable, and without exaggeration, a life-changing experience. I am definitely planning a similar trip in the future, and I will gladly choose Global Crossroad as a partner for the next project. My thanks to the whole team and especially to Hom, Anjana and of course Michael and his family