At the start of the Covid pandemic, life was dominated by blinking screens, and depressing headlines.
Teachers had begun giving online lessons and as we all struggled with the steep learning curves of the new medium of teaching, teachers and students were missing the dynamic energy of the classroom and there was a general feeling of disconnectedness. To address this, in a British Council staff meeting, Richard Fleming extended an open invitation for teachers to put forward ideas for us to creatively connect to our students and their families.
From four words typed tentatively in the chat, ‘How about a podcast?’, the Sunshiny Day podcast was born.
Co-hosts and co- creators, Matt and Kaal got to work planning the aims and content of the podcast. Things quickly fell into place and there was only one piece of the puzzle missing: the name.
While he was jogging along Caparica Beach, a song from Kaal’s Spotify playlist provided the answer. The reggae legend Jimmy Cliff’s classic song named ‘I can see clearly now’ contains the lyric ‘It’s gonna be a bright, bright sunshiny day.’ It was positive, optimistic and reflective of the wonderful quality of life and climate we enjoy in Portugal – the deal was sealed.
The Sunshiny Day podcast is now six episodes old, and we have been proud to showcase the incredible diversity and talent among our students and staff. From students rapping a prosecution’s argument to a teacher with serious operatic talents, from tantalising secret recipes to interviews on hiking trails, we have explored many of the delights that make life….sunshiny.
We hope you will enjoy exploring the episodes and just perhaps, consider adding your own special talents to the show.