After observing their TEFL trainers teach the first day of English classes at the Ao Luk Non-Formal Education Center, GVI's new TEFL volunteers had their first adventure as TEFL teachers on Tuesday. With the help of their trainers and peers, volunteers prepared a portion of a 1.5 hour English lesson which they taught for 30-45 minutes each. It was a successful evening of classes and the new volunteers are on their way to becoming qualified TEFL teachers.
GVI's newest group of teaching children volunteers headed off to the schools on Monday morning prepared with bags of resources as well as activities, songs and games to teach English to local school children. 4 volunteers are serving the Ao Luk Primary School and the Ao Luk Municipality School, both within walking distance of the GVI base.
Teaching children at Ao Luk Primary School has been a great experience so far. I have learned a lot about myself through teaching. The experience has taught me about communication, patience and also the importance of always being happy and smiling. All of the children are very excited to learn which makes teaching a pleasure. It is quite fun seeing the kids improve their vocabulary as well as their pronunciation through games and lessons.
For those coming out- bring lots of energy! Don’t be afraid to get sweaty during class, because you probably will!
- MattIt was a great week of teaching, which has been a great experience so far. It is tremendous to see how excited the kids are to see us every time that we are at the school. I have learned a lot about teaching English for the past week and how to manage a Thai classroom. This has been my first teaching experience, other than tutoring in which I have a lot to learn about techniques and skills to use. I have learned and improved on nonverbal commands and cues, since most of the students, know very little English. There’s a huge difference in English skills and behavior in our classes which we have to adapt to manage.
The appreciation from the students and how excited they are to see us is awesome. The Teacher’s Day was a great ceremony and it was tremendous to be in attendance for it. I was also elated to be taken out to lunch at the National Forest Park by the teachers.
-Mike
Patriot Party with our second TEFL training group and Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs)
The Ims! From right to left, Mim (3rd time teaching children volunteer), Tim (20 week volunteer) and Kim (GVI volunteer gone short term staff)
On Saturday I visited Wat Tham Sua with Kim. This temple is just outside Krabi and is set into one of the many incredible karst formations that abound around here. Ajahn Jumnien Silsetso, a charismatic Buddhist monk known as Thailand’s Good Luck Monk, founded the temple in
The temple's grounds are immense and a new pagoda was in course of construction when we arrived. Refreshment cafes, souvenir shops and convenience stores are dotted about, together with the usual places to buy candles, flowers etc for offerings.
Monkeys freely roam the temple grounds and seem to have little fear of humans, coming very close to people and even stealing things from them. After completing the rainforest walk, we wandered back to the main courtyard and bought something to drink. My tin of iced tea (lemon flavoured) attracted the attention of a monkey who tried to wrench it from my hand. I resisted and managed to retain the can, though it was deeply dented from the monkey's firm grip. But then the monkey teamed up with a friend and both approached me in a threatening manner with their paws outstretched, showing their sharp claws. I decided to let the monkey have the tin and it gleefully ran off and drank from it just as would have a man.
Now it was time to try to climb the 1,237 steps up to the top of the mountain. Kim had already done this back in January, so she stayed down in the shade whilst I tried to see how high I could get. Painted numbers indicated the number of stairs you had climbed from time to time during the ascent, which did serve as an encouragement. I made it to number 675 and then descended. I got back just as our lift to Krabi had arrived. Kim got off at the bus station, whilst I continued to
This Friday the GVI team visited Tung Sung School in the village of Tung Sung in the Khao Yai sub district. Tung Sung School is a small primary school with 52 students in pre-school through 6th grade. The GVI team led fun, interactive activities with 24 of the 1st-6th grade students. Topics included colors, body parts, fruits and an environmental education workshop about litter and recycling.
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On of our favorite students, Kitti, brought around durian for the GVI team to try. Durian is known as the 'king of fruits' and is quite unique in appearance, flavor and smell. The hard, spiky shell makes the fruit a challenge to get into. Once the fruit is broken into segments the golden fruit is revealed in all it's glory. Known to have such a strong smell that some hotels bear signs telling people not to bring in the fruit people tend to find it's a fruit they either love adoringly or absolutely detest. The flavor is rich and custardy and is incomparable to any other fruit out there.
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