John and Jane in Thailand

Nearly all our students with Choo and me.

John and I have become full-fledged members of this small beach community.  We are recognized and greeted by our names almost everywhere we go.  People notice when we were gone and welcome us back upon our return.  This has become “our town” and as such I feel the need to contribute more than my smiling face.  I have become a volunteer English teacher at the local elementary school.  The woman who was our Thai tutor (Choo) when we first arrived has a son in the school and she is concerned that the education the kids are getting is all rote memorization and desk work.  They are being taught no critical thinking skills, get no art, and never participate in learning activities.  With the blessing and full cooperation of the school, Choo and I have become adjunct teachers.  Twice a week for two hours the kids are ours.  Our goal is not only to expose them to English as spoken by a native English speaker but to have fun while learning. I develop the curriculum and I try to theme each week’s class, for instance our first class was based on colors and the second was optical illusions.  The photos below were taken during our animals’ class.  We have a lot of fun and accomplish a lot.  One of the reasons we are able to do so much is that it is a very small school – 28 kids in total and four teachers.  I have nine 2^nd and 3^rd graders in one class and thirteen 4^th and 5^th graders in the other class.  I don’t work with the k-1^st graders though they love to peek in the class room to see what we are doing.  And here I was worrying that I wouldn’t have enough to keep me busy if we moved to Thailand.