School on a Mountain

I was fortunate enough to join eleven others in a journey to teach English about two hours outside of Webster at a school in the mountains. It was by far one of the neatest experiences here thus far; I am really ecstatic about it too because Ajan brings students and teaches every weekend somewhere...at least that's what it seems like and she is very willing to bring students along! It is different from any other teaching I have done, like swimming, or basic tutoring of children. The kids here are just like any in the states, hesitant to participate a first, but give them and inch and they flock like mad! We were introduced as the "foreigners" brought to them, we were actually the first native speakers they've ever heard! Different from the states though, is the enthusiasm for learning, every single kid seemed to have this unquenchable thirst to participate and really soak up everything they possibly could from this experience. I took a back seat this time because it was just getting my feet wet with the experience and we had two seasoned teachers with us. And even though i knew very very little of the language it didn't seem to be a barrier. If you speak slowly and with enough gestures, actions are cross-cultural so the idea gets across pretty well. When i had a group to myself i honestly feel like we did pretty well. I was trying to explain this game "blow wind blow" and i hadn't heard of it before, but somehow we ended up getting the hang of it! I was once again amazed at how respectful all of the kids where and how grateful everyone seemed to be with our being there! I definitely want to keep doing this, i feel like it could be what makes Thailand for me!