Week 2: Week of May 27th

Context:  As part of Laidlaw Leadership in Action, in the summer of s20024, I have volunteered to teach English and help out at the largest slum community in Bangkok through the Duang Prateep Foundation.

What went well: This week I came in with a more patient mindset. I started off teaching the kindergarten students on Monday. They are slowly progressing in terms of what they are learning, and it is very rewarding to see their gradual growth. I used puppets for the first time to review greetings in english with the kids. This seems to be something that they really enjoy and it makes something potentially challenging for them into something that is fun. For the grade school kids, I got the opportunity to teach a more diverse range of grades this week. In particular, first, second, and third grade classes, and a sixth grade class. This meant that I got to meet a lot of new students which was very fun. 

What could have been done differently: This week for the grade school kids I think I moved a little bit too fast through the curriculum. I should have slowed down a little bit and repeated things more. I think this way kids will be able to quiz themselves from my questions from their consolidated knowledge of what I have taught them so far. Additionally, I wish I found amore fun way to engage the grade school kids as I did with the puppets for the kindergarten kids. I am thinking of including maybe some games or songs to help them learn. 

What were some of the issues: As I mentioned above, there were times when I would come in a different day and the kids forgot something that I had already taught. Specifically, it was something that I thought they had already understood. I think having a recap at the end of the class will help to solve this issue. Some kids are also still a little bit rowdy and start to run around in the middle of the class when they lose attention or focus. I think doing a sort of "eyes on me, 123 approach" will solve this but I have to learn to say that in Thai since the kids will not understand that in english. Additionally, something that I have noticed is that I think some kids might be dyslexic or have ADHD so I will need to give more personalize attention to them. 

What do I plan to do next: I plan to introduce more fun learning activities for the grade school kids while maintaining my patients. I think moving a bit slower through material will ultimately help more with longterm learning.  

A picture of the children during assembly time: