I get to teach too! But now it's 2011!

November 1st...2011,  new semester began at Wat Po Wai School in Surat Thani..... and I get to teach too!  So the first day, I got to introduce myself to the students... "What to say?  How to introduce myself?" .........  Needless to say... put in front of a group of students, and I'm NOT at a loss for words! 

Okay.... I was a bit of a ham on my first day.....doing some interactive communication with the students..... and the students laughed along with my antics...  this is a big school with kindergarten through the equivalent of 10th grade. 

I've put on a new hat.... from my 2010 adventures.  I'm now living in the south of Thailand, helping Friends For Asia expand its international volunteer program from Chiang Mai in the north.... to Surat Thani in the south.  We have two Irish volunteers currently (November 2011) teaching at a school here in Surat Thani.... so in my free time, I decided I could do some teaching at another school in the city.

Using art to teach English vocabulary

FThe day before Christmas, I improvised a bit on my lesson at Wat Chetupon temple school.  I combined a drawing activity with English vocabulary.

As I drew a scene on the board, the novice were to follow my lead and create their own picture.



The novice drew some very detailed and creative pictures .





The room was quiet as the novice drew their own masterpieces.




The attention to detail was amazing.




Once I got the lesson started, I soon realized the novice were much better artists than I..... so I invited them to the board to draw.





Adam, a Friends for Asia volunteer from Australia took over from me and then taught the lesson.





Oh what fun!



Santa?  Santa's sleigh and reindeer too?  Well, t'was the day before Christmas..... even for these young Buddhist novice! 



Word Association with the monks

This Word Association activity was a new addition to my lesson plan at the Buddhist University.  Basically, I wrote lists of 20 words.  One monk read a word on the list, the other monk responded with the first word that popped into their mind.... associated with the word they'd just heard.

Although a game, this challenged the monks to respond quickly, using their English vocabulary..... and it was fun for them too!

Practicing some words and having fun too!

How to turn a three hour lesson on the stress and intonation of English words and sentences?  Break it up with a little fun reviewing on words, the student have trouble pronouncing!

Also gives me a chance to be "on stage" for a bit!

"Four"

"Here"

How was the meditation retreat?

Following the meditation retreat the monks attended, I asked the monks to come up with adjectives that described the retreat for them.

The monks were to complete the following sentence:

"The meditation retreat was _____________________."

As the monks gave their descriptive words, I wrote them on the board:  good amazing, interesting..... 


All of this was going very well, until.....

One monk commented that the meditation retreat was "entertaining!"  That answer caught me off guard, as well as the other monks!

Peaceful, quiet, calm.... maybe even exciting.  But.... a meditation retreat being..... entertaining?

Needless to say, that response got more than a few laughs!

University Monks brainstorming before writing

Learning English writing skills is an impotant part of these University monks' education.  Over several weeks, I've been teaching a modified Four Square Writing Method, to help my students organize their thoughts before the writing process begins.  Its a challenge for these monks to write in another language, but I'm seeing improved writing skill develop, as we repeatedly use this basic writing method in the classroom.

Chanting for The King's Birthday - December 5th

My students, participated in a special chanting session today, in celebration of The King's Birthday.  The King of Thailand turns 83 on December 5th.