It's very common for people coming into a "mission" setting to find themselves doing things way out of their "comfort zones". No way was that going to happen to me!

Before we came to Ethiopia I emailed anyone at the school who I thought would listen and requested that I wanted to teach the youngest children and certainly no higher than grade 2. Why? Having spent the past eight years with Reception ("Kindergarten" or "KG1" here) that was my "comfort zone" and I wanted to stay well within it.

It wasn’t that my request was ignored, it’s just that when I arrived the school needed someone to teach library sessions throughout all the elementary school classes - KG1 to grade 5. In the UK class teachers will usually take children to the school Library once a week or they will use it to source books on a particular topic. In some other countries I have discovered, "Library Science" is taken much more seriously. Usually there is a specialist teacher who introduces children to different genres of books and develops research skills. For now, they wanted that  to be me!

The previous incumbent left a note to say that the teaching resources available needed updating and I had to agree, as I was given books of lesson plans and worksheets to photocopy published in 1987 and 1988. That’s how I came to embark on developing each lesson from scratch using the books available here with plenty of assistance from Mr Google. On occasion I would blow the dust off a set of magazines or a single thick tome and try to figure out how to make the content accessible and interesting for the next batch of eager young people. My "comfort zone" was receding...

Well anyway now the school has a set of recent educational resources that may be helpful if another non-specialist teacher takes on the role in the future, and I have had so much fun with this challenge along the way. Maybe it’s worked, as many children are now convinced that I love (or even live in) the library and that I enjoy reading. I won’t pop that particular bubble!

Next year I’m eagerly anticipating KG1 again, and I’m busy downloading, printing and laminating useful teaching and classroom bits and pieces. "Comfort zone" restored!

However - I’m also reading through some text books and past papers I've never seen before. Why? Because ironically I’ve now been asked to teach a GCSE in Child Development for  Grade 12 (upper sixth, or year 13 in the UK ) students as well as doing KG1. And to think I didn't want to do anything above grade 2!

Now where's that comfort zone?