# Days 3/4 -at MES Cairo The primary school

On my second and third days at MES (Modern English School) in Cairo I met some of the Foundation Stage children in FS1 and FS2



We talked about colours, animals and feelings such as being happy, or sad, or shy and about what colour love might be.

After that I read from What Colour is Love?

And some of the children came up and helped to tell the story with some toys of the characters.

 I spoke to some of the primary classes about  Hamish McHaggis and some of his friends.   

We also tried out some Scots words like Coorie Doon and Blether ..........and they all became honorary Scots for the day!

With the oldest primary classes we talked about myths and legends and I read the much loved story of Greyfriars Bobby. 

One of their teachers came up at the end of the session and said that he had read one particular book of mine hundreds of times! 





He told us all that  What Colour is Love? had been a family favourite in his house for years.

It was a lovely end to the day!

 I would like to thank the MES for inviting me to Cairo, I had a wonderful time.  And a big thank you to the teachers, all the other staff and the students for giving me such a warm welcome and for making my visit to Cairo so special.

I hope they all enjoyed it as much as I did and are enjoying reading their books.

# Day 2 - Cairo - Visiting the MES (Modern English School)

On my first day at the MES the school bus came to collect me early in the morning and at that time the roads were fairly quiet, although there were a number of other school buses.



Driving along it was a chance to see the dry and sandy landscape that was such a contrast to the wet, greenery of Scotland. It was thankfully not too hot while I was there but warm enough to be a welcome change from a chilly spring back home.

Little did I know at that point that the weather at home had changed as I left and they were enjoying a week of glorious sunshine!!!


 









All of my sessions would take place in the school hall and my first day was with the Year 9 students.


I ran a series of writing workshops with three different classes.


I had planned a mixture of short exercises and some readings from Dead Boy Talking and Spider.
The day went well with really interesting ideas coming from the students.
Some came by afterwards to get me to sign the books they had bought and others were able to come back to see me later in the week to ask questions and get their books signed, too.