First Week of Teaching Children

Georgia has been working very hard with GVI Ao Luk's teaching children project and here is what she has to say after a week of being in Thailand:

'You know a typical teaching day has begun when you are greeted by smiling, excited and energetic children shouting 'HELLO!' 'HOW ARE YOU!?' and desperately pushing their hands through the excited scrum to receive a handshake or a high five. The more timid children display a 'WAI' and then shuffle off shyly and so sweetly.

Well behaved children in class!

My first class this morning was lovely; we dedicated the entire lesson to teach the alphabet. As I wrote the letters on the black board, they were all, unprompted and in unison repeating the letters and anticipating what would follow. We then all sang the ABC song, which was more of an enthusiastic chant than a song! I then pointed to random letters and asked the children to tell me what they were. Their enthusiasm is so encouraging, whether it's screaming out the letters, or quietly and meticulously recording them in their books, rubbing out the tiniest error.

Learning colours

When the children play, the whole classroom erupts with laughter and excitement. It's surprisingly not chaotic since all the energy is harnessed into the aim of winning the game. Things do indeed get competitive! Teaching so far has been both exhausting yet extremely rewarding. I have taught at 4 different schools, and all the children have been equally friendly and eager to learn and play. The teachers' English varies, so sometimes the conversation is very basic, but the permanent smile communicates all.

Georgie and her students

During lunchtime we are provided with the tastiest variety of dishes. The thai culture embraces sharing, so we have lots of little dishes and try a bit of everything, it's as if we are presented with our own private, delicious banquet. The end of the day is similar to the start, a frantic scramble of children wanting you to sign your name in the books or even their hand. Last week, a little girl put a flower in my hair. Their kindness and enthusiasm is so uplifting, it's only when we return to base we realise how exhausted we actually are! After the first day of teaching, I awoke after a refreshing snooze in the resources lounge, surrounded by 4 other sleeping volunteers! We have a ' teaching children ' meeting everyday at 5pm in which we all proudly share our days experiences. The collective buzz again shakes us free from all fatigue and we discuss the new teaching resources we could make! Each teaching day presents us with new challenges, opportunites and memories I will certainly treasure forever.

Georgia :-D'

NB. Please notice the Georgia font ;)

First Week of Teaching Children