Journal entry by Al Negstad — 35 minutes ago
For the first several years that I taught here in Thailand the teachers would either leave the room when I entered or, if they remained while I taught, they would totally ignore me. Now several of the teachers stay with me which can be very helpful. When I'm explaining what the process will be, if the students don't understand, the teacher will explain to them in Thai.
The fifth and sixth grades have progressed to the point that we could have a bit of group conversation in English today. The students would work together on their questions or answers in English and the teachers would help them. Because the teachers can speak to them in Thai it facilitates their understanding. They were wide eyed when I told them I ate rice about once a month. They told me they ate rice five times a day.
While I was teaching the 6th grade the 5th grade was singing loudly to a boom box. The classrooms are next to each other and with the open doors it was very difficult to hear my students who shift to speaking softly when addressing me.
The student teachers were back today which makes my time outside of the classroom more fun. They are really serious about conversing in English with me. Nit, the 6th grade teacher, has an excellent command of English and she stays with us providing a helpful bridge of understanding.
On another subject, I'm going with some of the family with whom I live chair shopping tonight. It's appropriate because I broke their only chair. Chairs are not very important to Thai who live on the floor much of the time. The floor is where they prefer to eat their meals. There were two other chairs but Met took one to her shop and the other broke. Many of the houses on our street have large doors, similar to roll up garage doors. These doors are often open and as we drive by I see the families on the floor, eating, watching TV, etc.
Yesterday afternoon was one of the most humid times I've experienced. Feeling the humidity in the air, which was also very visible, I did some checking on the conditions. It was 90 degrees, the dew point was in the 70's, and the relative humidity as 92%. A small thunder storm awhile later brought cooler air. Understand I'm not complaining, only reporting.
Blessings,
Al
Pictures: 5th Grade, in one of the pictures the students are showing me how to hold my thumb and forefinger to signal love. Boys are playing marbles in the dirt.
The fifth and sixth grades have progressed to the point that we could have a bit of group conversation in English today. The students would work together on their questions or answers in English and the teachers would help them. Because the teachers can speak to them in Thai it facilitates their understanding. They were wide eyed when I told them I ate rice about once a month. They told me they ate rice five times a day.
While I was teaching the 6th grade the 5th grade was singing loudly to a boom box. The classrooms are next to each other and with the open doors it was very difficult to hear my students who shift to speaking softly when addressing me.
The student teachers were back today which makes my time outside of the classroom more fun. They are really serious about conversing in English with me. Nit, the 6th grade teacher, has an excellent command of English and she stays with us providing a helpful bridge of understanding.
On another subject, I'm going with some of the family with whom I live chair shopping tonight. It's appropriate because I broke their only chair. Chairs are not very important to Thai who live on the floor much of the time. The floor is where they prefer to eat their meals. There were two other chairs but Met took one to her shop and the other broke. Many of the houses on our street have large doors, similar to roll up garage doors. These doors are often open and as we drive by I see the families on the floor, eating, watching TV, etc.
Yesterday afternoon was one of the most humid times I've experienced. Feeling the humidity in the air, which was also very visible, I did some checking on the conditions. It was 90 degrees, the dew point was in the 70's, and the relative humidity as 92%. A small thunder storm awhile later brought cooler air. Understand I'm not complaining, only reporting.
Blessings,
Al
Pictures: 5th Grade, in one of the pictures the students are showing me how to hold my thumb and forefinger to signal love. Boys are playing marbles in the dirt.
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