Salama and the girls

Salama my secondary ICT teachers is one with-it teacher. She wanted round group tables in her lab. Finally after much drama I got a local carpenter to build them for me, and had them delivered at the end of last week. Instantly Salama has the girls working from the tables doing their planning, writing and co-operative work before heading to the computers to work. Each computer sits in a stand alone type desk, semi cubicle style, around the edge of the lab which makes group work rather difficult. Some days like today, the girls in Grade 11 didn't touch a computer but completed cross classification charts, and story boards, working from the tables.

Over here pink is a real favourite colour especially with girls, women etc. PowerPoint presentations are bathed in the colour pink. The pinker the better. Initially Salama chose honey beige as the colour tops for the tables. I suggested she might like to chose colours as it's so much easier to differentiate eg say go to the blue table.... As quick as a flash Salama said yes she'd have coloured table tops, as long as one was pink, and PINK it is. However the colours just make the room look bright and a real learning space.

Getting furniture like this is an eye opening experience in the UAE. In the industrial part of town are all these small shops. You pick a carpentry one, from the thousands available, show them the design, or a sketch and come back in a couple of days and they have made exactly what you wanted, replicas of anything. Language is a bit of a barrier and sometimes you go back with your heart in your mouth. From my experience of carpentry and tailors the workmanship is absolutely fantastic. In all of this is the bartering to get a reasonable price.....So getting tables is not walking into a shop and ordering 5 to be delivered next week or choosing from the shop floor, but rather a social experience. lots of conversations, invitations to inspect the work and double check its exactly what you wanted all over countless cups of tea or softdrink! And you know, I love it.