Lesson 13 on Learning by Doing
I can’t help feeling that in all the political guff about raising educational standards a basic fact is missed out. We human beings learn best from those who want the best for us and will search out the ways and means to help us get there.
In a modest way we travelled to the Isle of Wight in that spirit.
It’s not easy to escape grotty estates. They have the security of known surroundings and familiar ways. The rest of the world can seem very scary and strange.
So it was a brave and exciting journey into the unknown to get to the station by the appointed time, to negotiate luggage onto the train and to find ourselves seats. Baljit sat in a corner white faced, silent and shaking. We hadn’t even made it to the first station yet.
“Is Baljit ill?” I asked her friend anxiously. (Pupils valued the few outings we had, so they were prepared to come in any state of health)
“Oh no, Miss! She’s just frightened! She’s never been anywhere before!”
Ahead of us lay a change of trains, a transfer carrying our luggage to the boat, then another train (an old London underground carriage) from Ryde pier to Shanklin. After that we had to find our way on foot from the station to the guest house with the help of a street map. How would she survive?
“Don’t worry, Miss. She’ll be fine. I’ll look after her!”
And she was. By the time we reached the ferry she had begun to get the hang of things and it had all started to be fun.
I am afraid to say we didn’t have worksheets or aims and objectives for our stay. Our plan was simply to go on holiday to the seaside.
That is exactly what we did. It was blissfully sunny all week. We could only afford three excursions and we undertook these at a leisurely pace. We went to the wax museum on the train, Blackgang Chine on an inclusive day excursion and Alum Bay by local bus, though we didn’t make it down onto the shore there. We just had a look from the top of the cliffs, then spent our visit in the souvenir shops at the top, enjoyably filling little ornaments with coloured sand.
The rest of our trip we spent on the beach or wandering along the cliff path staring out to sea. We walked and looked and chatted. We watched our budget and worked out our spending money. We ate a lot of chips.
And at the end we made it safely home.
“Did you enjoy yourself, Baljit?” I asked
“Oh yes MIss,” she replied. “Now I will go home and tell my mother we can go on holiday!”
All in all, it was mission accomplished (and at a bargain price).