Category Archives: Asia

Monday at the Water Park!

Classes were cancelled for the day. Over 100-students joined in the fun.

That’s Andrew with EGBOK playing with the kids.
It was a fun free for all!
She looks like she’s having a blast, doesn’t she?
So many different places to play in the water!
 May you too have some fun in the water, wherever you are, and whenever it may be.
Aloha,
-sj

Talent Show Night at FLO !

The woman in pink works at FLO; she made some yummy curry which was the impetus for this “party” night.
Three of my students having fun while waiting in line for chow time to begin.
Yum! They all got apples for dessert.
Each child rinses off their breakfast, lunch, or dinner plate.
It was a phenomenal sunset. The barbed wire? It’s on top of the fence which surrounds FLO.
The water is on FLO’s property.
The colors just kept getting more and more vibrant!
Hmm, which prize do I want? Rob’s (eGlobal founder) daughter is on left; she did an excellent job organizing the evening’s activities.
One of my students. He won a prize for his fabulous drawing, and then he gave it to me! What a wonderful gift. : )
Sean and I also loved this drawing; the artist gave her creation to Sean. Nice!
Chancy cooking up some delicious popcorn, complete with melted butter.
And then the dancing really got going!

Fun was most certainly had by all !!!

With warm aloha,

-sj

Week 4 teaching shots at FLO shots . . .

At full attention!
One of the two classes of younger Ss learning from “Gogo Loves English 1”
Wednesday the lesson plan focus was speaking : ) The Ss really got into being someone else and meeting “new” people. The young lady taking a photo was participating in a photography class that day. A former videographer/editor/photographer is traveling the globe with a NGO (non-government organization) teaching photography classes to children like those at FLO.
An eGlobal volunteer’s wife bought 3 puppets for FLO. They came in handy during this particular lesson with the younger Ss. And, the kids l o v e d them! Please tell her thanks, George!
Watching Sesame Street’s “Elmo’s World.”

More pix to follow . . .

Friday’s “Game” day at FLO, Future Light Orphanage

Hi Everyone!
Greetings from the Future Light Orphanage, FLO. We had a rocking party last night! The kids competed in several fun events: singing, drawing, dancing, and “individual” talents (such as doing a backbend so that the kid’s mouth landed perfectly next to a dragon fruit; he proceeded to take bite after bite until all the fruit was gone; then he bit it and stood up with the peel in his mouth. Yep, it was awesome! And my friend from the beach won a prize for dancing in the style of a Korean pop star; he nailed it! Boy, can that kid move.).
After the competition there was popcorn for every one and lots and lots of dancing. And oh, I got to be a judge in the contest. So much fun! When they introduced Sean, he started dancing. Then when my name was announced, I jumped up and started shaking to the music with Sean. The kids went wild! “There’s teacher rocking her socks off!” they said (or something like that in Khmer).
Today 100+ kids and some adults are heading to the water park. I’ve been told that it’s an injury attorney’s dream, as in lots of accidents could happen and they could make lots of dough. But since this is Cambodia, I expect the kids will be a little more in the “take care of yourself” mode. They also watch out for and help each other; it’s lovely to watch.
But last night and today’s activities are not the main points of today’s post (hmm, but they do have a play theme also . . . :~). I wanted to write about last Friday’s lessons.
Before I came to FLO, I had ideas about how I’d plan each week’s lessons. The first day of the week I would introduce the topic and grammar points. Perhaps one day would be a “story” day. One day a “game” day.
Friday could be a review day (a tip from Gerald, a teacher in Bangkok).
I also initially thought that I was going to sketch out my curriculum for the 8-weeks I’d be at FLO, as in what I wanted to cover. But as I thought about it more, I realized that the students had probably been taught “colors” a zillion times, “How are you?” a ka-gillion times, etc. (Last night at the party which Boo Rob–Rob Hail, founder of eGlobal—dreamed up for the FLO kids, I met an American man who’s been volunteering for the past 4-years at another orphanage in Cambodia. He says the kids are good at “volunteer-speak,” i.e. “How are you”,? “How many sisters and brothers do you have?”, etc. But not things like, “What did you do last Saturday?” So my gut feeling was on track. ; ~).
For these different reasons, I decided to wait and design my classes based on the Ss’ needs and weaknesses (keeping in mind the director’s request that I focus on speaking and writing). What I learned is that the Ss can write pretty well, but they almost never have an opportunity to speak (they’re not encouraged to speak in their state school). Bearing that in mind, my weekly outline for the older kids is as follows:
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays lessons are speaking focused. (after introducing a grammar point, or new vocabulary, etc.) Tuesdays and Thursday are writing focused.
It also became apparent that in the FLO culture, Fridays’ lessons were more game-based. Or, in one class they simply watch movies (whether they really are appropriate for kids or not). I decided to incorporate that philosophy into my weekly plan. Hence, Friday became “game” day.
This past Friday, I decided to show a Sesame Street DVD (Elmo’s World: jackets, hats, and shoes : ) in the two classes with younger children; they loved it! I wrote on the board the key words and also drew pictures of these items. Some of the more motivated students wrote all this down as they watched. I didn’t instruct them in any way really. I wanted to watch and see how they reacted. (Remember, I’m learning too.)
But for the older Ss, I wanted to do some activities that involved speaking more specifically focused on the past week’s theme (goals and dreams). “How to do that?” I thought. So I dreamed up a “game” for them, and it worked great!!!! I was so jazzed when they got into it and actually used the target language for specific points.
So . . . what follows is my lesson plan outline. I realize that my last entry might have made it seem like I haven’t been making lesson plans; I have been. I’m just not typing them into the CELTA-approved-form®; it’s just too time consuming for the moment. I’m using Word and organizing them by folders, i.e. week 1, week 2, etc.
And with that, SJ’s lesson plan for the two classes with older Ss this past Friday, August 19, 2011:
“Game” day
Focus: Speaking
Aim: to review the marker sentences: I’d like to (work with computers). I want to (be a pilot). I don’t want to . . . I hope to . . . I’ll . . ., and the new vocabular from Thursday’s lesson.
Materials: marker pens, list of words to listen for, red card, flash cards of people (a simpler batch for Elem. level Ss)
Intermediate:
I’d like to . . .
I want to . . .
I don’t want to . . .
I hope to . . .
I’ll learn . . .
In fact,
There were/there are . . . ,
often (is this once? no),
sometimes (every day? no),
practically disappear (almost and mimed hiding)
view
one day
traveling salesman,
wagon,
each month
when no one was looking
blanket
When she (awoke)
Elementary:
one day, lives on the mountatin top still,
I’d like to . . .
I’ll . . .
for now
every day
save money
guide (tour guide)
relax
I hope to . . .
My dream is to . . .
someday
Game One: 3 Ss sit in the front of the class. They are given one of the *flashcards from Wednesday’s speaking lesson. There is a moderator (teacher for this lesson until they were familiar with the game) who asks them questions about themselves (based on the flashcard they received). They get a point for each time they use one of the phrases or word chunks used this week in a lesson. There will be two students assigned to “judge” the participants; their job is to listen for the phrase/word chunks. Each judge will have a list of the words to listen for. The score keepers will have a red card to hold up each time the student uses one of the phrases/word chunks. Note: I made to myself right after class. This game went really well! Especially with the Int. level Ss. At the end they loved asking me questions. But the Elem. level took a little longer to get it; it was good practice and all got a chance to speak. Rob stopped by during the second class and gave me two hats to give as prizes; they went to the boy and girl who really outshone the rest. It was cool that it naturally happened that the “judges” selected them.
Played this one game the entire time; it was a really good way to review “I’d like to, I hope to,” etc.
Game Two: Do what I say, not what I do.  
Game Three: Knot Game
(These were back up games which we didn’t play. The previous weeks the Ss really loved game #2; it’s a variation of Simon Says and works well with older and more advanced Ss.)
And with that, I’ll sign off. Hope you’re all well and enjoying the end of August. Happy early Birthday to my friend, Deb.
Aloha,
-sj
p.s. lots of new photos to follow . . .
*Flash cards. One set came for a Pre-Intermediate Review book I have; the second set I created. They had a drawing of a male or female and gave basic information such as: occupation, whery they came from, where they lived, how many brothers and sisters (ut oh, that ubiquitous theme!). I went further and asked them to tell me what they liked to do. Some of my friends were in class this past week (in the second set of card I made). Who? Katie Beer, Bobby Downs (sorry for the misspelling Bobbee, but I didn’t want to confuse matters more than necessary : ), Jocelyne Champagne. : ) It was kind of fun to hear them say, “I’m so and so . . .”

Part 3 . . . now to Railay Bay & then Koh Phi Phi

This was last month, July 2011 . . .

Took a 15-minute boat ride from Ao Nang towards the east to Railay.
Cutest darn puppy!
The tide goes really far out! This poor guy hurt his foot, I think.
Loved the pink slicker. : )
Fascinating to look at.
Sacred phallic rock.
Moi. Went for a dip. Felt good, but it was chocolatey water.
This was the nicest beach I experienced in Thailand. Could actually hang out here in peace in quiet . . . it was lovely.
Good thing I took the dip when I did. Yep, stubbed my toe on my way back to the hotel.
Had the most lovely next day just hanging out. How often do you just sit and think? It was such a perfect day. So thankful for the private lanai looking out at teak trees.
When I ventured out that late afternoon I found the coolest crab art.
There were literally hundreds of them!
From my perspective, beaches in Thailand are mostly nice for looking at . . . the swimming? It ain’t Hawaii.
A small sample of the pollution.
Took a ferry to Koh (island) Phi Phi.
That’s my green backpack on the hotel worker’s back. He met me at the dock. It was about a 10-minute walk inland to the hotel.
This was a common site during this portion of my journey. See the “no water”? Later in the evening the tide rose up to where I was sitting (in a restaurant on simple boards raised over the water).
This is where I hung my hat for a few nights. I had my own bungalow. Would be perfect for couples. Had a TV, which was fun at times . . . some English programs to watch when I was getting dressed to go out.
I’d heard about this and enjoyed watching it. The little fish nibble and clean their feet (or so I hear : ).
One of the nicest things to do (in my humble opinion) while on Koh Phi Phi, hike up the hill to the vista.
I found many ways to get up here . . . let’s just say I found places where I don’t think a tourist is “supposed” to go. Needless to say, I was very happy when I found LOTS of people at this lookout rather than NO one at the obscure lookouts I first found! And then to see that the way down was so easy . . . yep, that’s me, always finding alternate routes rather than the “main” one . . .
It rained and rained one morning. I had the most relaxing time sitting in a guesthouse restaurant drinking coffee and eating muesli with yogurt.
Luckily the weather and seas calmed so that I could take a boat excursion. That’s the viking cave. Vikings in Thailand? Reckon so. Or was it Pirate Cave . . . ?
Our tour guide/boat captain . . . that’s pineapple for a snack on the platter.
Sj on the beach at 50-years old ;-)
Moi at the famous “beach” from the eponymous movie. Thanks Michele for the use of your little “dry” bag.
Snake on the beach
This critter was hanging out on the beach. ! ! !
I think this is the well known location shown in the movie. Why think? Haven’t seen the movie yet, but I saw lots of people posing here and taking their picture.
Hi Mom!
This is where I heard a German yell out “Ganz allein in Paradis!” All alone in paradise!
We’d swum from our boat to this ladder to then walk to “the beach.”
The surge wasn’t too bad . . . fortunately!
Jelly fish in the water as we snorkeled! Luckily they didn’t sting. But there were LOTS of them.
Last stop before heading back to Koh Phi Phi: monkey beach.
These are “professional” monkeys.
Swam/snorkeled wearing my turquoise and citrine bracelet. Even had it on when I swam to “the beach.” And then it broke right on the boat over a black backpack (so I  could easily find it). One citrine decided to stay on the boat. Or maybe it jumped ship and is swimming around in Thailand. Who knows? Just know it was time for one citrine to take a walk about.
A ubiquitous mannequin in SE Asia.
Left Koh Phi Phi for Ao Nang beach.
The Aloha Inn was absolutely perfect for one night!
It dumped rain outside and I watched two movies in. And my clothes which were soaked were dry by morning. : )
Aloha Ao Nang and the “Krabi” area of Thailand.

Krabi area continued . . . part 2

Who is that madly happy woman???
Just love the contrast.
Heading down.
And love the bamboo scaffolding!
The guide book made it sound like the monkeys would attack me. Was very happy to find that not to be true.
Tie a yellow ribbon round that old oak tree.
Couldn’t resist taking a shot of this.
Most of the roads I took were pleasantly free of traffic.
A typical site.
A friend waiting his turn to cross the road.
I went to the “end of the road.” The locals were laughing at this goofy tourist visiting the (what looked like) salt mines.
The next “end of the road.”
Looked like a nice place to hike.

This was one of the nicest roads I was on. But right about then I was wondering if I was going to make it back on the amount of fuel I had . . . I did obviously!

Time to check out, return the moto and head to Railay (a boat ride around the cove from Ao Nang in the Krabi area of Thailand . . . not far from Phuket.

Shots galore from the Krabi, Thailand area part one . . .

I was there July 10th to the 17th (of this year . . . 2011).

Enjoy!

aloha,

-sj

Leaving Bangkok.
Arriving in Krabi area (southern Thailand)
It was raining buckets.
Add the hype about taking a taxi . . . it was 150 Baht to be delivered right to my hotel’s doorstep.
My room.
Love the elephant theme ALL over Thailand.
Ao Nang beach.
Ze hotel.
The end of the road with the scooter.
A school at the “end of the road.”
Looked like the perfect place for lunch.
Ze elephants were right down the street.
The Auntie made a wonderful veggie lunch.
The doggie who “sidled” up beside me.
Her cousin.
Base of the wat with a zillion stairs.
Part of what I saw when I was “lost.”
Stopped here to get out the rain and have an orange fanta.
Where they get their fuel for their motos, i.e. scooters.
Where I was scootin’.
A typical view.
Back at the wat with a zillion steps . . .
Loved their construction rigging.
Do you get a feeling of how steep it is?
This worker took a break.
Do you spy him?
I think it had been freshly painted.
Yeah, I thought it was cool too.
Love that they didn’t use blue tape.
Trash can made from tires. : )
Keep going!
Takin’ a break.
You need some help to bring all the whatever up this mountain.
Ah, made it to the top!
It took about 30-minutes to walk up, 20 to walk down.
What you see from up top . . .
Lots and lots of rocks . . .
Where the monks hang down below . . .
There was a large patio on top . . .
Ze distant mountains . . . looking north.
It was built right over and around the rocky mountain.
These guys are working pretty hard.  :  )
I thought the antennae looked cool.
It was nice to just hang and take it in . . .
The “behind-the-scene” view (or under the patio . . . )

More to come . . .

Gogo Loves English 1 is about to begin . . .

Koko, the dog. This entry is dedicated to Rudy Williams, who left this earthly plane earlier this week. May Rudy and Fido have fun playing together again!
Note from my 8 a.m. class:
(the class for “slower” learners—FLO’s description, I don’t know what the “correct” word is. Enlighten me please. Thank you.)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Today was our first “class,” though it “officially” begins on Monday the 22nd when the Ss will receive their books.
The Ss who will be starting Gogo Loves English 2 at some point (no one seems to know when) also came to class this morning. ST1 told me that they’d rather be in my class than just go play. So I simply asked them to sit in the back.
“Why?”
So that I could clearly see who the Ss in this class (officially) are. (I offset “officially” because I’m learning that things are very fluid in Cambodia; something will be planned, but that’s not necessarily what will be done. It may be done, or it may be done slightly differently, etc.) Of course the Ss from the other level were welcome, but I didn’t want them to call out the answers to something that was new for the Gogo Loves English 1 Ss. It worked out fine with them sitting in the back; they watched the class and mostly restrained themselves from calling out the pronunciation of words.
First, I made sure that all Ss in GLE 1 had made their name cards; there were 5 who hadn’t. Then I called all the GLE1 Ss to come up front. I shifted the desks some so that they could gather around my computer. I’d wondered if it would work with 17 Ss; it did. The audio level was high enough and they could see the screen. I played the Silent E song from the Let’s Start Smart Long Vowel Word Families DVD (which I played for the more advance Ss earlier in the week).
Whereas I was able to include a fairly long list of words (mentioned in my post on Tuesday, August 16th) with the other class, I only included 4-sets (8-words) with this class: tot/tote, kit/kite, rip/ripe, pet/Pete. I also only played the song once. I had my flashcards on-hand and went through these 8-words. To elicit the meaning, I drew on the board and mimed different actions representing the words. To confirm their understanding, I asked simple CCQs, such as, “I fly a  . . .” “Kite!” they called out. The most difficult words for them in terms of pronunciation were: rip/rip and pet/Pete.
To mix it up a little and add variety to the lesson, I then called them up to stand up and form a line (this introduced nicely the phrases/words, “Stand up.” “Sit down.” “A line.”) One by one they pronounced a word, some correctly, some incorrectly. Regardless of their performance, I asked them to go to the back of the line. This continued for several passes for each student.
From this exercise, I could see that some still had problems with the words. (Duh! They’d just been introduced this. : ) So after these initial rounds, I asked them to sit again, and I reviewed the 8-words with the Ss. Holding up a card, putting my hand on my ear, “rip,” “Ripe!” some would call out. But sure enough, there was always at least one, if not two or more, who knew the correct pronunciation. After going through the words in this manner, I then called on specific Ss. Repeating, repeating these same 8-words.
When it looked like most were “getting” them, I asked them once again to form a line. This time when they answered correctly, I said, “Awesome!” raised my arm for a high-five, and asked them to sit down. It came down to about 3-Ss who still had problems. I noticed before when I was “assisting” in the review lessons with STs 1 and 2 that these same couple of Ss had more difficulties learning. Just after class I spoke with the director about some things on my bullet list (I need to renew my visa next Monday, I’d like to get a lot of copies of the alphabet work sheet, I’d like to get a lot of copies of lesson plan templates*, etc.), I also mentioned that a few Ss need extra help. He suggested that some of the visiting volunteers . . .
(It’s interesting how I’m not really in that group any more when speaking with the director . . . yesterday Rob went so far as to say that I’m the “best” volunteer they’ve ever had . . . hmm . . . that’s cool . . . but does that mean I feel pressure to keep it up? Nah, my goal is to continue to have fun learning, teaching, and simply being here at FLO. : )
. . . could work individually with these Ss. Hmm, now I need to look through my photos and find their names. The list of student names I want to learn has jumped from the initial 64 to 111 (32 + 32, 64 + 9; 73 + 17; 90 + 21!) !!! Wow, that’s a LOT of names!
Okay, back to today’s first meeting with the first of two Gogo Loves English 1 classes per day (with younger Ss, How young? About 7 to 13-years old.)
What did I learn?
I learned that it takes a long time to really go over new words/ideas/pronunciations/etc. I learned (confirmed) that I do need to break it down into bite-sized chunks for them (like I did today). I learned that they love it when the “get” it and receive a high-five from the teacher. I learned that some really do learn more quickly than others. I learn that some who learn more slowly CAN learn; they just need a little extra attention. I learned that I do like working with the younger Ss; they’re just so excited to learn!
Now, what else is on my agenda for the day?
-Finish the next “chapter” of my “Patty, the Pig” story for the two different level of classes this afternoon (with the older Ss). I’m including “I’d like to,” “I hope to,” and “I want to” from this week’s lessons (in the story). I prepared the lesson plan last night except for this part.
-Teach the 1 p.m. class with the 21-younger Ss who are also going to “officially” start Gogo Loves English 1 on Monday. This class is with student teacher number 2 (ST2).
-Prepare my list of what I was a lot of copies of. Organize the names cards into the appropriate group. Organize the photos for copying into a word doc and printing. (Okay, this last item will most probably be pushed back to later in the day or for this evening.)
-Teach my 3 and 5:45 p.m. classes.
-Mark their stories which they’ll be writing in today’s lesson.
Yesterday after my 3 p.m. class, I met with the two student teachers. We discussed (okay, I talked mostly) what we plan to do over the course of the next 4-weeks (while I’m still here at FLO). Essentially, I told them that I want to think about it first, write the initial lesson plans, and then add more for them to do in regard to the planning, etc. I’d like to think it through first and give them a model (okay, several models).
Later last night as I thought about it, I realized that I really should prepare the very formal CELTA-style lesson plans for these Gogo Loves English 1 classes.**
“What? You haven’t been doing that?” you ask.
“Well, not exactly,” I reply.
Part of what I didn’t particularly enjoy while studying in Bangkok this past June were the many, many hours I spent typing into my word doc template my lesson plans. I really didn’t mind writing them (I enjoyed this, in fact.), but I found it to be annoying to type them in that awkward word doc. (I still think an Excel file would be better, or maybe the combination of the two, but I never had the time to design a template.) I think I’ve come up with the perfect solution (read below).
So, it’s 10:37 a.m. and I have my next class at 1 p.m.; lunch is at noon. Time to get to work!
Aloha everyone. I hope you’re well, happy, and enjoying your summer (wherever you may be : ).
In the Divine Light which encompasses us all,
-sj
*lesson plans. Bright idea from last night. Delegate the typing of the lesson plans into the computer to the student teachers! They will (hopefully) learn while doing so, they’ll see an example, and I won’t have to do it! Yahoo! Sounds good to me. As a self-employed person for the past 25-years, the idea of delegating is new to me. I like the thought of it!
**A lot of copies of the lesson plan templates? Why?
FLO is essentially asking me to train these two young student teachers (ST1 is 17-years old; ST2 is 20) how to teach. The director gave me a sheet yesterday that I surmise is the current teacher’s lesson plan. It’s an outline of the subject matter with a note that it will take 2 to 3 lessons or 2 to 3 weeks for any given item. There’s no more detail noted than that basic information. So when I prepare the lesson plans, I expect that they will continue to use them as a guide. Also, I plan to assist the student teachers as they look ahead for the lessons, which will follow my departure.
Ah, this leads me to a very important side note. Rob Hail, founder of eGlobal and major supporter of FLO, would really like to see a more developed volunteer program evolve where trained and/or experienced ESL teachers sign-up for specific time period. For example, I depart on September 17th. Who wants to sign-up to start teaching on the following Monday the 19th? And ideally arrive my final week, so that I can show you the ropes????? Enquiring minds want to know! : )

Silent E Words Lesson

Puthy

Puthy

Notes from my class that just finished . . .

I just had a very good class with the 9-younger kids. Yesterday I’d played the Silent E song from the Long Vowel Word Families DVD. I decided to make flash cards with these words and review/continue with them.
The words are:
rob/robe
cub/cube
fin/fine
cap/cape
pet/Pete
cut/cute
tot/tote
man/mane
not/note
rip/ripe
kit/kite
dim/dime
her/here
man/mane
First, I held up each one one-at-a-time to see which ones they knew/remembered. I then modeled and drilled the ones they didn’t know. When it was a new word for them, I elicited the meaning either by miming, drawing on the WB, or using the surrounding posters (such as the giraffe and horse for mane). Also, I happened to have an art kit, which was a perfect example for the word “kit.”
I then went around the room holding the flashcards face down (spread out like a deck of cards). Each student chose one and then said the word. Several of the Ss were able to correct the others, and when no one remembered it, I modeled and drilled it.
Then I played a “game” with them. I arranged them in a line. “Form a line.” I figured it’s time they learn that expression/sentence. “Form a line.” With 9-students it’s so much easier (than with 32)! I then turned over all the flashcards. Each student selected a card. If they said the word correctly, they were able to pass through to the other side. If not, they sat down. Each student tried again until they got one right. Then we all cheered that everyone had gotten “passed through to the other side.”
I then did a quick review of all the words, holding the cards up and not saying anything (unless they couldn’t remember the correct pronunciation). I then divided the cards into 3 and had 3 groups of 3 Ss. They then said the words on their own and corrected each other (or asked for the pronunciation of a couple of the words when they weren’t sure). There was enough time to make one change of the cards between the different groups.
I then did one final review of all the words, holding one card up at a time.
Lastly, I had written on the board a few of the words written using the phonemic symbols. I simply pointed them out to the Ss at the end. Perhaps that was a silly thing to do since I hadn’t built up to it. But it felt like a simple way to introduce them to a few phonemic symbols using words that they’d just been pronouncing. I wrote them for Pete, pet and cut, cute.
At the beginning of the class, I gave them each a half sheet of paper for making their own name cards. At the very end of class, I took their pictures with their name cards (on the back of which I wrote the phonetic spelling of their names). Then ST1 showed me the list of the other Ss and that she and ST2 have divided them into two groups. Both groups will learn Gogo Loves English 1, but one group is comprised of the slower learners (17), and the other group is comprised of faster learners (22, I think).
“Are the Ss I’ve just been working with in this group?”
“No,” she replied. “They go to Gogo Loves English 2.”
Well, I took their pictures just in time. I do want to learn their names; I see many of these Ss around the school at various times. Several are in the dance troupe (which I watched rehearse last night).
It hasn’t been decided yet whether ST1 or ST2 will be paired with the faster or slower learners. Either way, I think it’ll be a fascinating challenge to be their teacher for a specific book. They’re not the only ones who will be learning!
And when will these new classes begin? Either tomorrow (Wednesday) or the next day. It depends on when the director gets a chance to type up and then post the list. (I noticed that my other class lists are posted by the Ss dining area.)
And now it’s time to get ready for my next class . . .
aloha,
sj
p.s. I was just told that the classes can meet starting tomorrow, but I won’t get the “official” teaching materials until Monday (or maybe sooner). It’s up to me to decide which student teacher is paired with each class . . . giving this some thought . . . :~)

p.s.s. I was just about to post this when the power went out; this often happens as the surrounding factories in the area draw more and more electricity from the main power grid. “Start the generator,” called out Rob from another desk in the office. “Yes, it’s happening,” the director replied. A little while later I learned that a rat was fried in the process. Yes, one’s timing and location are everything—even for a rat!

Some Shots of Week 3 at FLO, teaching shots . . .

Jan (left) is a singer from Honolulu (among many, many other things!) She was leading the song about the old woman who ate a spider . . . why? I don’t know why? : )
Showing shots from the beach trip.

Susan Jane teaching at FLO, Cambodia

Susan Jane teaching at FLO, Cambodia

They l o v e seeing shots of themselves.
This was also my “lead-in” for the lesson.
They wrote letters that day to their eFoster parents about . . . drum roll, yes, their trip to the beach!
Love this shot Rick! All the ones of me and my class were taken by Rick the Aussie cameraman. Thanks mate!
Looks like I’m smiling : )
Sharing the beach trip pixs with the younger kids one morning in the library.
They love to hang out in the library and read, draw, listen to stories, etc.
Koko met me one day when I came early to my 5:45 p.m. class.
He’s a sweet little guy.
“Now that feels good!” says Koko.
“Where are they?”
“I think I hear someone coming.”
The Knot Game. Fun to play and also a cool new word. What’s that “k” doing there?
Dani’s here teaching environmental themed classes with Kai and Sean. She’s great at games and helped me out coming up with ideas. Also, their little WB’s were super handy.
Hmm . . . I spy a misspelling . . . Can you spot it?
The little kids really, really l o v e to play hangman.

That’s all for now . . .