Goodbye Pitaksa

Thursday was my last day at Pitaksa Day Care and I found myself very sad to say goodbye. Also, because of the language barrier I did not understand that my 5th week was actually the last day of the official school year and that many of my students would not be there for my last week. I also got several new students, which made teaching a little more difficult because of the distractions and because they were not at the same level as my kids. All in all though everything worked out fine and we had fun working on basic conversational stuff and reviewing everything we'd learned the past six weeks. Since the next two months are technically summer school, not all kids attend and those who do don't have to wear their uniforms.

On Thursday the kids that were left gave me a wonderful parting ceremony, singing me songs, giving me flowers, and all lining up to give me goodbye hugs. It was so sweet and heartwarming. The staff also gave me a beautiful pashmina, which came in very handy because my last few days in Bangkok were cold and rainy.

These are the staff members who I worked with to teach them English while the students were napping. This was actually much harder than teaching the children but these women were so great and so appreciative. We got through it together with lots of laughter and good humor.

Aor, Sue, Ann, Eung, me, Muay, Bom, Riaw

This picture is from the Democratic Party event a few weeks ago that my kids performed at. These are the teachers in my class, Maew (teacher's aid) and Arom (head teacher). They have been so wonderful to me and despite the fact that they speak very little English, we were usually able to communicate and work together fairly well using a mix of charades and basic words here and there.

Two weeks ago when another volunteer Rhonda was still here we put on an English Camp for the oldest kids at the school. Every 20 minutes we would get a group of 10 kids each to teach English to. Rhonda is a nurse back home in Oregon so she taught about cleanliness, like washing your hands, covering your cough, etc. I taught animals. I had pictures of a frog, cat, fish, and elephant. First they learned each animal, then I taught the spelling of frog, and then I had a page with each animal on there that they could color. I found out very quickly that my students were definitely the most advanced and best behaved kids in school. It was quite an adjustment trying to capture the attention of the younger kids and keep them engaged the whole 10 minutes. With some groups we definitely spent more time drawing rather than spelling.

We did this for two very long, challenging, non-stop days, and then the third day was a big celebration. There was singing, dancing, drawing, and finally a big feast.

While I had my doubts about doing English Camp with kids who were so young, the staff and teachers thought it was a huge success and would like to do it again in the future. The school is actually looking into finding a native English speaker to come teach full time there. Hopefully they'll be able to get the funding that they need because I feel like that would benefit them so much more than to have volunteers come in a few times a year and work with different classes. I'll be keeping in touch with the principal and I'll keep my fingers crossed for good news.

Although I was at Pitaksa to teach, looking back I see this was just as much or more so a learning experience for me. I am so grateful that the students, staff, and teachers were as kind, supportive, and appreciative as they were having me there. I definitely had my moments of doubt about how much my being there was actually helping them. But if I made a portion of the students excited about English, want to learn English, or at least gave them a foundation and helped them to be one step ahead when they start formal English education, then I will be happy. For the others I'm glad that for six weeks they got a little extra attention, affection, and encouragement. Sometimes a smile, or a hug, or a big "gang maak" (good job) goes a long way. I will certainly miss these beautiful smiling faces.