A blog is called "Thai Tots" should probably have some pictures of kids, huh? Well, here they are at last! We've been teaching these cuties for a couple weeks now, and it's been so much fun! Every single one of them is adorable!
Each morning, this kids start out with the Thai teachers singing and dancing and evenmeditating! It's hilarious! We take them from 8:30 until 11:30 am. We start off with calendar and weather, then sing songs and play games for a little bit before splitting off into classes.
Four of us teach, including Jenna, Whitney, Alisha and myself, and Sarah is our head teacher who walks around watching us teach so she can give us feedback afterwards. She's done this several times already and is so much help! We don't teach in a classroom setting, but we do fun activities that keep the kids entertained but provide a lot of opportunities to speak English and talk about things. There are different activity areas, including gym, arts and crafts, kitchen, games, drama, and workshop. For the first month, we'll each teach in the same activity area so we can learn the teaching method really well. So for a while, I'll be teaching gym! It's been really fun, though pretty crazy trying to contain them in the big play area!
Their ages range from 1 to 5, so they're really little! Adapting the ILP method to such young kids has been a challenge, but we're already seeing results in these kids. The three oldest boys are really catching on and can easily form short sentences already, like "I want a ball." At first we're doing a lot of talking to ourselves as teachers. "Do you want a ball? I want a ball." Things like that. Every day we emphasize a different type of phrase, such as wants or possession. We've already found ourselves talking funny outside of class! The other night went something like this.
Whitney: "You need a watch."
Sarah and Alisha: "I need a watch."
Me: "I have a watch."
Then we just starting cracking up as we realized we were using the ILP method while just talking to ourselves!
First off, I'll tell you about each of the kids! Here's Mew Mew. She is the littlest and is always happy and smiling! She's 1 and has these beautiful dark eyes that light up when she laughs! I love getting to play with her cause she's so sweet and interested in everything.
This is Kaow ("Cow") and he's also 1. He hasn't joined us in class yet because he's still getting used to the place, but he's pretty cute! Especially when he's in his Pooh Bear pajamas :)
This is Prea ("Pear"). She's hilarious! Acts like she owns the place and loves telling everyone what to do, or pushing them around (even us!). She's also 1 but loves to run around playing guns with the older boys. She's really smart; she can repeat and remember words and always knows what's going on (though she doesn't always choose to listen!). She does things that make us all crack up. Every morning when the children bring their backpacks to their cubbies, she remains behind for a couple minutes in a desperate attempt to get her backpack on right. Over one arm then the other as it falls off the first arm. Finally she'll whip it over the top of her head and it lands in place, but upside down every time without fail! And off she trots, well satisfied with her accomplishment. Another time we were putting on wristbands during my gym class and we found hers later that day pulled all the way up her leg! And just today Sarah nearly trampled one of the kids during Duck Duck Goose and Prea nudges Alisha, points at Sarah, and starts cracking up! She's just a hoot!
Here's Nest. He's 2 and at first he cried all the time when he was with us, but recently has taken a huge turnaround and has turned into a little wild-man! He loves to do everything I don't want him to do, but it's better than crying I guess! He's a sweet kid though and looks pretty cute with his milk mustache after snack time every day!
Here's Ivy. She's 2 and is so pretty! She wears two cute little pigtails every day. She's sweet but very quiet and has this glazed-over look like she's in outer space most of the time ha ha!
This is Name (yep, that's her name!). She is 2 as well. It's been really hard helping her get comfortable with us; she would just sit and cry a lot at first and would never participate. Just handing her a ball would set her off! She's really smart though; she can repeat anything you say and always knows what is going on and sits where she's supposed to. But recently she's totally opened up and wants to do at least some of the activity! She was great in class today and actually had a pleasant look on her face all day, ha ha! Still working on bringing out a smile though.
This is Great ("Gray"). She is 2 and is a little angel! I can tell she wants to follow the kids who aren't minding me but always listens to me anyway. She's not a big talker but loves to dance along to our songs and do any activity.
Here's Num-ob ("Nam-op"), who's 2. Her main objective in life is to make mischief. Just look at that little smirk! However, she's very loving and fun to play with!
Here's Pordee, a 3 year-old. He's Num-ob's partner in crime! (The reason we switched them into different classes!). He's sure cute though!
Here's Tiger! He's 3 and just loves to have fun! He's got the best little grin and loves running around. He's kind of crazy too, but what can we expect from the toddlers, right?
This is Fei-Fei ("Fuh-y Fuh-y"). He's 4 and is a sweetheart. Tang told us that after the first day of school he told his mom that his English teachers were beautiful! Such a ladies' man ha ha!
This is Ongry, and he's 4 too. We all love him because he's just so good! He's very polite. Always tells me good morning, says please and thank you (which is really cute in his Thai accent: "thah-nk yoooo" ha ha!), helps me pick things up, and even tells the other boys to behave! He's really good in class, working hard on his English. He always addresses me by "Teacher" (since no one can say my name, not even the adults!). Once he raised his hand saying, "Teacher Teacher!"
"Yes, Ongry?" I replied.
"Yes, Teacher?" He responded. And nothing else.
Hey, we still have a long ways to go :)
Last we have our big 5 year-old, Phuvit. He's very rowdy but also sensitive at times. Lots of times we're just trying to bring him back down to earth and make him focus! He's a good kid though, and just loves to have fun!
And here are the kids at play during free time! They have a great ball bin to play in. (I love playing in it ha ha!)
Kaow looking a little lost!
Tiger being a little stinker!
And here are the boys, hard at work building their block guns! It's a daily ritual. They hurry in, build their guns (which get quite creative), and battle! They love when we play with them too. I'm not sure how good it is to play guns so much...but it's tons of fun! And it's hilarious because they say "bahng" instead of "bang" like we say it! "Bahng bahng! Bahng bahng!"
Milk break!
I made some little feet for gym class, so the kids could see where their feet go!
We go to Tang's parents' house on Thursdays so the kids can play in the yard and swim in their little pool. However, last week it rained a little in the morning which made it "too cold" for swimming despite it still being 85 degrees outside. Oh, Thailand...
We had fun playing games and doing crafts that morning though! I taught the group how to make paper hats and then we all sat around coloring them for a while.
This is one of my favorite pictures! These two boys (Tiger and Pordee) have tons of fun together.
The asian peace sign, a requirement in any photograph. They teach them young. Even Mew Mew tries to do it but she's only puts up one finger so it kind of looks like she's picking her nose...
Playing games with the Thai teachers. (Teacher Tan is in the orange, and Teacher Su is in the back.)
Everyone found a flower in the garden for their hair, even the boys!
Meditation at the house that morning. This picture is so perfect ha ha! Tiger yawning, Great trying so hard to close her eyes but just looking really stressed, and Prea just looking around.
Back at the school again. The kids take naps everyday after lunch. The Thai teachers shower them off and powder their faces (to keep them clean and smelling good!) and then they all lay down and are out for a couple hours! It might be possible that they are even cuter asleep!
These kids get cuter and more fun and open with us each day! It's so much fun to be with them, and I'm learning a lot about teaching too! It's neat to see the little improvements every day in their English. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the summer with them! :)
