Mondays and Wednesdays…

I teach English at the (all girls) children’s home. It’s down the street from where I live, which is the upstairs of the bilingual pre-school that I volunteer at.

“Sure.”, I said. “Yeah…. (with a little bit of hesitance in my tone, I’m sure), I can teach 12 girls English… by myself.”

That was when I first arrived. I had never done it before, and had no idea where I would begin, but the girls eagerly wanted to learn, and I thought, “Why not give it a go?…”

To at least have someone consistanty spending time with them, speaking in the language that they are striving to learn, and trying to help them understand… that has got to be better than nothing.

So that is what I do.

Tonight was so great! As a hands on learner myself, one who despised studying and school, I am doing this my own way, especially after last week, where I tried a lesson plan with no interaction. It was too hard for their beginning level, and I walked away upset with myself for putting them through such misery (especially for how much time they spend in a classroom as it is).

Someone recently told me that in teaching english like this, you have to approach it in this way: as you would with a child at the age of learning to talk (and I can do that). Activity. Talking. Talking about what we are doing.. what we are eating, painting, singing. Repeating. Playing games that get them talking and saying what you are saying.

So for this evening’s class, I found the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, made a trip to Lotus (Thai Super Wal-Mart), and bought all of the foods that the caterpillar ate in the story. We all had a picnic together, laughing and talking about how funny farangs are for liking cheese… talking about every part of the picnic and object of food in the story. Basic, but they loved it. How could they not? It involved ice cream and chocolate cake.

The girls are the cutest too. Tonight, I had just walked in the door, and was talking to my friend who I live with when Air and Ning came skipping to the gate. They had my bag… the one that I hadn’t even noticed leaving behind yet. I’ll miss them. I have two classes left. Ten days more here in Chiang Mai before I leave for Bangkok. And from there, my next flight will be in the direction of home.

(the last three sentences are hard for me to believe)

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