It has been a while since I have been running, but this year I am happy to say that I am coaching cross country once a week at YiLi park near to our school. The students have made very good progress and nearly all of them can now run 5km, or approximately 3 laps around the school. The students will have their final meet on October 10th and the official season is over, but we plan to continue a running club once a week for those students who want to improve their fitness. I absolutely love going to the park in China and you can read more about what you can see and experience in a Chinese park here and here in my blog about life in China.

On Wednesday afternoon a colleague of mine run the GET FIT club. We alternate between a high intensity workout video inside one week, and an high intensity outdoor workout the next. This week we did the T25 Lower Focus, I love Sean T!

Whilst teaching in the UK I occasionally had the opportunity to teach cooking as part of the curriculum, because the food technology teachers generously allowed me into their space and supported me with the help and supervision of students. I loved teaching the students about food from other countries and cultures, as well as teaching students the numerous skills associated with cooking:

• Planning and organising.
• Communication and collaboration.
• Managing time and ingredients.
• Reading and following instructions.
• Understanding quantities and conversions.
• Managing food hygiene and waste.

. A few years ago a wonderful ex-colleague of mine Laure Kruger started the French cooking club as an after school activity, as I was delighted to be able to take over from her when she left. We made a range of sweet and savoury dishes such as <<quiche lorraine>>, <<crêpes>>, <<croque-monsieur>> and <<mousse au chocolat>>.

The students and I loved the French cooking club (because who doesn't like eating yummy food!), but one of the challenges of this activity was that the students worked in groups preparing a dish between them, and I had to ensure that each student was able to contribute equally to the preparation and cooking of the food,  practising the different skills of chopping, frying and grating etc. When Kristin Maurer (another amazing colleague of mine) became involved in the club, she significantly improved the activity by finding and creating recipes that each student could complete individually. She bought some small aluminum baking tins suitable for single use, and at each cooking session students were able to prepare a recipe on their own from start to finish. The students made chili-lime chicken, homemade pasta and meatballs, chocolate cookies, sticky chicken and rice  and nachos.

This happened! Yes I was a cheerleader in the school production of The Games that People Play. I hadn't been on stage since I was in High School and I thoroughly enjoyed performing again alongside my wonderful colleagues. See below an example cheer that we performed in between each scene.