Turning them in to zombies

As a teacher, your job is to inspire and revitalise today's youth. Draw from them like water from a well. If you have any idea about secondary education in today's Britain, you'll know that's often an uphill struggle if at all possible. I have nothing but the utmost respect for my friends who stuck it out and still teach in some really tough schools. Regrettably, we'd just had enough.

I loved my training and NQT year but after that...It wasn't enjoyable trying to get blood out of a stone, it was no fun ringing parents to ask for their support and instead getting a mouth full of abuse and it was disheartening to see at the end of weeks of work, the complete and utter waste of their time and mine.

We turned our backs on the education system in the UK and, I suppose, copped out by teaching at a nice little private school abroad. Both my husband and I are from very working class backgrounds, NUT reps and pretty staunch socialists. We never thought we'd ever end up working in the kind of school we now do. We got in to teaching to help kids improve their lives and naively thought we could make a difference in our own small way. Instead we ended up constantly too tired and too overworked to make a difference to anyone.

If you follow the stereotypes, our very privileged private school students should be arrogant, dismissive, rude and expect A stars to fall delicately in to their worthy laps. Instead, they are unbelievably respectful, hardworking and really very nice. They could probably buy me 75 times over but never behave that way. At times, I do wish I was still working with British kids, especially as most of the kids I taught were the most disadvantaged, maligned, after-thought to the System and to their parents. However, for our own sanity, we'll continue to work here. Sometimes that sits uncomfortably with our principals but I'm still sane at the end of the half-term and haven't been driven to downing a bottle of wine and 30 B&H a night just to forget the horrors of the day.

Anyway, as per title-zombies.

Despite our gifted opportunity to turn these kids in to mean thinking-machines, I have spent the last week turning them in to zombies. We're studying horror. I currently have a class of contorting, dribbling, jerking zombies.

They love it. I love it. Though I wonder whether it's an excuse to just play some of my favourite music and move around a bit. This was our zombie music from last night's workshop. Thought it leant a rather sinister edge...