Half way through teaching a lesson, I am interrupted by my co-teacher. She had been scheduled to teach with me but was called away for ‘school promotion affairs.’

 So I am solo teaching in her absence, which is fine. Then, with twenty-five minutes left of class I am called out to join her, a photographer and some well-uniformed students for an impromptu photo shoot on the small lawn at the back of school. The girls are seated around me, with knees neatly folded to the same side, and we are instructed to ‘talk’ – or pretend to. Hohum. I think ‘it would be nice if this actually happened.’ I’d far rather teach outside than in my eternally cold classroom.  The sheer volume of bug dramas would ensure none of us ever actually had to do any work.    

We move over to some trellis-covered benches for more interesting “conversation”, then get a few shots of me crouched in a flower bush. 

 I am back to my class just before the bell rings. Oddly enough, they don’t seem to have missed me.