Mahachulalongkarnrajavidyalaya University in Chiang Mai

Today was my first day of teaching Level 4 monks at the Buddhist University in Chiang Mai.  Level or grade 4 is similar to being a junior at a university in the USA.

Some individual work by the monks, as I asked them to individually brainstorm what they wanted to accomplish during this special English conversation class.



Since this is a conversational English class, I used a great deal of the "Think, Pair, Share" Instructional Stategy technique.  While telling the monks about myself through words and pictures I drew, the monks then took turns retelling each other through their drawings and words, what I had just said.



Written English with its Roman letters, is so very different from written Thai, which to the untrained eye looks like a series of squiggle lines and circles.

 

By moving throughout the classroom, I was able to listen in to the monks' English, and provide on-the-spot input.