A TEACHER from Ipsley had the chance to visit an Indian village he has actually been teaching about for nearly a decade.

Jeff Thomas, 62, has just returned from a trip to Chembakolli to experience what life is like for villagers there.

The Berrington Close resident has taught about life in the village in schools around Birmingham for the last nine years since retiring from full-time teaching.

Mr Thomas visited the poverty-stricken country with ActionAid, which helps disadvantaged children around the world and provides teaching packs on the village to UK schools that he has been using in his lessons.

"We were privileged enough to stay overnight with an Adivasi (a minority tribal group) family in their mud brick hut deep in the forest," he said.

"Although being very poor, they were genuinely welcoming and so positive. It was a life changing experience.''

Mr Thomas said he thought his visit would help his teaching of Chembakolli as it had given him personal insights and real life stories.

"How many British parents write absence notes to school saying their child had to stay at home because there were wild elephants or tigers close by?" he asked.

"All the children we met at the school were bubbling over with enthusiasm and eager to learn. It was heart warming.

"I now have even more stories that bring the reality of Chembakolli into the classroom. These stories are something children really like to hear. After all, geography is about learning through the soles of one's feet."