Marc Provins

Strange what tiredness can do to you. To use Edu-speak work has been 'challenging' of late, and at the risk of sounding like a whinging teacher it has felt like a long term.  I had a curious Gloria Gaynor moment during a particularly hectic lesson this week. The computer system had gone down and after half an hour of trying to get things working again I decided to go to plan B. The students had got pretty restless by this point; I'd already had to break up a physical play-fight between two male students older enough to know better. So I wiped off the original set of tasks from the whiteboard and was in the process of writing up the new ones whilst also fielding numerous questions from the keener members of the class.   I was stopped in my tracks when I realised I'd written, "I WILL SURVIVE" in large letters across it instead of “I will provide A2 paper” .  I tentatively turned my head to see if anyone had noticed and was greeted my a row of grins from t...

I had half an hour or so to explore the streets of South Kensington on Wednesday. I was amused to find that people cover their Rolls Royces and Bentleys in this neck of the woods. This seems remarkably modest and quite the opposite of one-upmanship, or maybe it's just to keep the leaves and bird poo at bay. I really like the suggestion of form and shape sheathed in grey fabric, hugging the expensive, polished machine beneath. One of my highlights of this trip to London happened in the tunnel from the museums back to South Kensington tube station. A group of twenty or so infant school children were walking with their teachers slightly ahead of us, when some of them started to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. This built and built as more of them joined in and the sound reverberated around the tunnel. An elderly busker realised what was happening and joined in on his guitar, grinning excitedly at the opportunity of a spontaneous jam. The whole thing o...