Thailand Trip (Day 18)

Day 18:
Today we headed to class to teach preschool at 8:45. All of the children were gathered outside drinking bags of milk. It was very cute! After a few minutes the teachers gathered the kids inside and began counting 1-10 in English! We were surprised since we didn't know that they spoke any English other than hello. In class we did the 10 Little Monkeys song again and duck, duck, goose which the kids love. We also tried out the Hokey Poky, which was a big hit as well. Since is was our last class with the Pre-school we took a group photo which was nice, except that my entire shirt was covered in sweat. After class we waited at the picnic tables and Pi Rai showed up with some strange red prickly fruit. Once we peeled it, it was delicious, but a little fleshy. The next class was the "troublesome first grade class." When we arrived we found that one half the students were there (the little terror was away) and that the other students were at a dental exam of some sort. The small class was great. We practiced writing letters and words/ pictures associated with those letters. The students completed 3-8 letters which was several times the productivity of a large class. One student was on J by the end of class. It was a good example of how class size affects learning.

This week the municipality school is in session as well as Ao Luk Primary. They teach several first grades (expanding population?) and we send teachers there as well. Since the school is now in session, Mike and I had our first experience teaching solo. I taught the third grade at Ao Luk Elementary and Mike at the municipality school. Teaching solo was a good experience, though it was quite a bit harder. The students had more chances to mess around while you were facing away from the class. Overall, the class went really well though. In the late afternoon Kirsti and I went to the pool to escape the ridiculous heat. It has now been almost 2 weeks since a major rain which is really strange for Thailand in the rainy seas ion. Most people (local and travelers) suspect global climate change is the culprit. Anyways, the pool was great and we returned to eat a surprisingly excellent mushroom vegetarian curry. In the evening Shaun, Tim, Karen and I went next door to a restaurant known as Nong's to enjoy a few beers. It is owned by Nong a 26 year old Thai man that recently graduated from the GVI adult English program. It's a nice family place where his mother and her friend do most of the cooking. They also have two kittens which frolic around the restaurant. Nong told us about his plan / dilemma of moving to the North of Thailand to become a travel guide and learn more about his country for a few years. The dilemma was that he would have to leave his family sand small business.