Assalamu Aleikum!
As I sit here with December almost on us in my summer gear of T shirt and sandals one of the things I miss most is the Sunday afternoon film. The central heating would be turned up and I would settle back on the sofa with a steaming hot cup of coffee to watch Steve McQueen try to jump that barbed wire on his motorbike for the umpteenth time. Something about his character in the Great Escape always appealed. Maybe it was his attitude to authority or just the cool clothes and bike. Well, whatever it was that film has to rank as one of my all time favourites.
You are maybe thinking 'What's all this talk about daring escapes from Nazi POW camps?' Here in the middle of the UAE we had our own daring escape plan with me in the role of the German guard. The school I work at is a secondary school and an all boys one. So you can imagine surly Bedouin teenagers whose main aim in life is to avoid work and experience the pleasures beyond the school walls.
It started a few months ago when I was investigating the school property looking for opportunities to improve teaching and learning. I found various hidden corners but the best was an outside playground complete with basketball court, football pitch and volleyball court. It had a strange unkempt quality and so I asked the headteacher about it.
"Is it used?"
"No."
"Why not? It's great. You've got all these hormonally challenged teenagers with energy to run off and here, in the school, are 3 sports they could be playing."
"They escape."
"They what?"
"They escape. They climb the walls and run home."
I thought for a while. Yes, I had seen a high whitewashed wall around the playground. But the wall was at least 10 feet high. Kids couldn't scale that especially our ones who I had never seen break into a jog let alone a run.
Last month we'd put the finishing touches to our sporting programme to get the kids running and make breaktimes a bit more interesting. And yes, we'd decided to use the outside playground as well as the gym. Before the programme I went out to look at the walls one more time and muttered to myself 'Yeah, escape. Over the walls and away. I don't think so!'
The programme was a resounding success. Kids were queuing to join in and behaviour on the playground was much improved. The final day I volunteered to stand guard on the door to the playground to stop kids taking food out and wandering out without sports kit. Now, at this point I must state that there are a number of doors that lead into the playground and a few budding Steve McQueens must have found one, open and unlocked. Before you could say 'Achtung' a group of boys had made their way to a portion of the outside wall which was unseen by teachers supervising the sports. Having many years of practice as a teacher I sensed something wasn't right (it's called sixth sense I think!). I walked swiftly towards the wall in a way only teachers can - remaining in control but going like the clappers. I was just in time to see a foot disappear over the wall but also just in time to grab a Grade 6 Steve McQueen before he pulled himself over. With a firm grip on his leg and his left sandal in my possession I tried to persuade him back into the playground.
"Come down!"
"No!"
" Come down now! I'm not letting you go!"
"Kitab."
"What book?"
A bystander offered some advice. "His books are over the wall."
He shouted a few words over the wall and minutes later his book bag came sailing over. I glanced at the book bag, turned and looked at my escapee who had now jumped down. Finally I surveyed the crowd of boys enjoying the free entertainment on what might otherwise have been a boring breaktime for them. Taking to my new role as camp guard with relish I marched the boy off to the cooler (otherwise known as the social worker).
Later that day the headteacher's words came back to me 'They escape'. They certainly do and it's amazing how agile they are at scaling walls. The next step is to check for any tunnels.
Masalamah
Yahya
As I sit here with December almost on us in my summer gear of T shirt and sandals one of the things I miss most is the Sunday afternoon film. The central heating would be turned up and I would settle back on the sofa with a steaming hot cup of coffee to watch Steve McQueen try to jump that barbed wire on his motorbike for the umpteenth time. Something about his character in the Great Escape always appealed. Maybe it was his attitude to authority or just the cool clothes and bike. Well, whatever it was that film has to rank as one of my all time favourites.
You are maybe thinking 'What's all this talk about daring escapes from Nazi POW camps?' Here in the middle of the UAE we had our own daring escape plan with me in the role of the German guard. The school I work at is a secondary school and an all boys one. So you can imagine surly Bedouin teenagers whose main aim in life is to avoid work and experience the pleasures beyond the school walls.
It started a few months ago when I was investigating the school property looking for opportunities to improve teaching and learning. I found various hidden corners but the best was an outside playground complete with basketball court, football pitch and volleyball court. It had a strange unkempt quality and so I asked the headteacher about it.
"Is it used?"
"No."
"Why not? It's great. You've got all these hormonally challenged teenagers with energy to run off and here, in the school, are 3 sports they could be playing."
"They escape."
"They what?"
"They escape. They climb the walls and run home."
I thought for a while. Yes, I had seen a high whitewashed wall around the playground. But the wall was at least 10 feet high. Kids couldn't scale that especially our ones who I had never seen break into a jog let alone a run.
Last month we'd put the finishing touches to our sporting programme to get the kids running and make breaktimes a bit more interesting. And yes, we'd decided to use the outside playground as well as the gym. Before the programme I went out to look at the walls one more time and muttered to myself 'Yeah, escape. Over the walls and away. I don't think so!'
The programme was a resounding success. Kids were queuing to join in and behaviour on the playground was much improved. The final day I volunteered to stand guard on the door to the playground to stop kids taking food out and wandering out without sports kit. Now, at this point I must state that there are a number of doors that lead into the playground and a few budding Steve McQueens must have found one, open and unlocked. Before you could say 'Achtung' a group of boys had made their way to a portion of the outside wall which was unseen by teachers supervising the sports. Having many years of practice as a teacher I sensed something wasn't right (it's called sixth sense I think!). I walked swiftly towards the wall in a way only teachers can - remaining in control but going like the clappers. I was just in time to see a foot disappear over the wall but also just in time to grab a Grade 6 Steve McQueen before he pulled himself over. With a firm grip on his leg and his left sandal in my possession I tried to persuade him back into the playground.
"Come down!"
"No!"
" Come down now! I'm not letting you go!"
"Kitab."
"What book?"
A bystander offered some advice. "His books are over the wall."
He shouted a few words over the wall and minutes later his book bag came sailing over. I glanced at the book bag, turned and looked at my escapee who had now jumped down. Finally I surveyed the crowd of boys enjoying the free entertainment on what might otherwise have been a boring breaktime for them. Taking to my new role as camp guard with relish I marched the boy off to the cooler (otherwise known as the social worker).
Later that day the headteacher's words came back to me 'They escape'. They certainly do and it's amazing how agile they are at scaling walls. The next step is to check for any tunnels.
Masalamah
Yahya
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