when you're happy, clap your hands - teaching Thai-children
Hi from Thailand to the home-front and fellow-travellers,
my first volunteering. As english-teacher ... We were 4 of us - Ingrid and Yvonne from england, Rebecca and Heidi from germany. We asked a lot for preparation but got answers from our Thai-coordinators all kind of 'don't worry'. By now in my understanding it is just the Thai-way of life. The westerners take everything too seriously. Something to think about?
But we were a bit of nervous when we discovered that the preparation we finally did was not fitting.
So we went into classroom in front of 25 children without a plan. We german call it ' thrown into cold water'
And it worked - more or less. The children are cheerful, well behaving and very keen on something different like foreign 'falang' english-teachers.
We learned that more complex stuff was difficult to transmit. We had no common language.
English is spoken very badly in rural Thailand-regions. The biggest challenge was to get them into talking. And english is as difficult for them to pronounce as Thai or chinese (similar language concept) for us.
So we did easy-stuff with concentration on talking.
And we did it in the way of fun and singing and playing.
We had classes from first grade to 8th grade. And all pupils - the small and the elder ones - were happy with english nursery-rhymes or games.
So if anyone has an idea of a reasonable benefit - now I am able to sing
'head, shoulders, knees and toes'
'hello, how are you' and
'when you're happy and you know it, clap your hands' :-)
A few pictures:
The school, 230 children, 16 teachers.
Here they were practicing marching for a sport-contest of schools at the weekend
The canteen. Children and teachers wear uniforms - every day another kind or colour.
The Thai have a colourconcept for every day. Monday is yellow, tuesday is pink etc.
You will be lucky if at least one of your clothes is in the day-colour.
Very much seen in Thailand is yellow - the kings birthday was monday.
A lesson - Rebecca and Yvonne
Kids - in the land of the smile
The bigger ones. Ingrid (left) had the brilliant idea, that we should write letters to penpals in england and she will give it to a teacher in england so the Thai-children get a real answer from an english friend ...
After the lesson we were certain that it wouldn't work. But the next day we had a letter from every pupil. Shortly on it's way to england:
friends: little Ingrid and me. The bamboo-sticks are gifts from our school. They have sweet sticky rice in there.
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