Lion Bum

Yesterday we had CNY program with the kids and the teachers basically "entertained" them haha...For example a colleague and I did the lion dance..ME! Hahah...it was fun but tiring..seriously.  I was the behind of the lion and I had to bend over as well as jump, hop skip, walk run...it was fun though. ..did make a few kids cry hahahaha...

View from inside the lion...

Reflection...I think I can get a better picture later =D

Lion Legs

Hellloooooo

Working Space

Well, I haven't exactly updated on my "new" job description.

On my previous blogs I showed pictures of my classroom and work of the kids and I had fun as a class teacher but now I am a computer teacher!  Yeah! I love my new job description.

Adding to being a computer teacher though I still help with office work, I am on the IT committee (taking care/inventory of IT stuff) and in charge of contacting or "trying" to fix any IT problems (me fix?!?!! ahhh!) - yes there is some stress there considering I'm not an "IT" person and suddenly the whole school thinks I can solve any IT problem (wut?! no!) haha...

I now have 218 students.  I teach K1 to K2.  4 classes a day Monday to Thursday and replacement/office work on Fridays.  I still work from 8 to 5.   I still leave the house at 6.30 and arrive home around 7. And yes, I'm still exhausted.  But I'm happy with my new job =D

And of course here are some pictures!...

Still getting ideas to decorate my class room...Oh and there are 16 computers which I need to disinefect everyday =P

My "table"

Pictures of 2 very memorable occasions with my family.  Seeing their pictures and remembering our good times helps me to get through each day.

Time to mark books!..218 books to be exact. HAHA this is a lazy day I don't usually do it all at once.

Students workbooks all organised!

Old, Tired Teacher

Can you imagine have to keep an eye on a whole class of children in a 3 storey play ground?  With around 150 other children also playing AND wearing the same uniform as your kids?!

Yep, my as I mentioned my school went on an excursion.  I had to make sure my kids were safe, that they didn't wander off out of sight without me and that they didn't get trampled to death among the older, bigger kids also playing around.

I played with them climbing, up down, crawling through, under and over...then going down the slide with "one more time teacher! one more time teacher!" how could I resist?  One more time we went, and then another one more and another one more until there must've been a hundred one mores.

They are nursery kids so we've gotta stick close together and keep an eye on them.  For the older kids the teachers just let them run about wherever they liked...how nice. =P

Finally, toilet break, drink break and eating time then going home.  All this 2 days in a row.  I am sooooo exhausted.

FYI, I don't think I can go on a roller coaster anymore.  I'm probably to old for that.  I mean a 3 storey slide makes me so dizzy....dizzzzzzzyyyy...

My kids didn't go on the 3 storey slide they went on the kiddie ones where it just goes straight down with one bump.  I tried the 3 storey slide while they were eating and I told the kids I would go to the toilet but I went to slide down instead =D  Of course I left them with my co-teacher.

Here are 2 pictures of the playground I took with my handphone:

This is one of the few the slides that is 3 storeys high.

The playground fortress from the outside.

"My Family Portrait"

I asked the kids to draw a picture of their house and their family.  Then I asked them to explain to me what they drew and I wrote it down for them. I also pasted their family picture which they brought from home.  I'm going to put it up for their parents to see when they come for parents meet =)

Just a few pictures for you to admire...

My House & Bats Project

The kids brought cut outs of things found around a house and my co-teacher folded the paper, the kids painted it and pasted the pictures in the different "rooms" of the house...then we hung em' up!

One of their reader books is about a bat...we used tissue rolls and cut out shapes of the body parts of a bat...pasted it and hung them up too!

The kids' reaction when they came in?...wooooow! Hehehe

What would happen if kids were teachers?

I had this random activity to let my students do.  It kinda just came to me to try it out.

I sat on the floor with my kids and I let my kids go one by one and sit on the teacher's chair and pretend to be a teacher.

We would ask the child acting as a teacher what he/she would teach us and the funniest but not surprising thing was that each one of them answered it something like this:

Students and I:  Teacher, teacher what will you teach us today?
Student acting as a teacher:  Games.  We are going to play games today.

It made me LOL.  Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't have to teach kids lessons but just let them out and play ALLLL day long?? HAHa...I bet that's every kids dream =)

School Concert Pics

I can't believe the long awaited school concert is over.

It was wonderful I had so much fun and so did the kids!  They did so well and I was so proud of them.  It was great meeting their parents as well.

I cropped out my kids faces as this is a public blog but I want to show you their costumes...the theme was International Night.  The British soldiers (red & yellow) costume I had to design and work with a tailor but the Korean costumes (pink, orange, blue) I got at a shop in Chinatown.  I had to go back to that shop like a million times!

Night 1:

I wore a Filipino costume which is just that see through top I just put over and a black skirt.

Add caption

Night 2:

Me in my Thai costume with my co-teacher =)

Senses - Taste

This week's theme that I'm teaching my kids is my 5 senses.

Today I taught them about their sense of taste.

1. sour

2. salty

3. bitter

4. sweet

It was so fun to watch their expressions!

The 1st round I let them taste lime, salt, unsweetened cocoa, and brown sugar.

The 2nd round I let them taste the sour gummibears, m&ms, and twisties cheese flavoured chips. They loved it and I loved it...it was a good day hahahaha.

Miss Lerie

Ray: Where are the dictionaries?
Miss Lerie: IN the shelf.
Ray: Isn't it ON the shelf?
Shivam: No, that's not right.
Miss Lerie: I'm not sure either.
Shivam: It's AT the shelf.
(Krik Krik)

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Miss Lerie: A, say something.
A: Something

Miss Lerie: Are your parents here?
A: Yes.
Miss Lerie: Where are they?
A: (Points to the crowd)
Miss Lerie: What are they wearing?
A: Clothes

Miss Lerie: A, I'm leaving to Singapore. I won't come back.
A: (Looks confused)
Miss Lerie: I won't teach here anymore.
A: So, Miss Lerie will be the old teacher.
Miss Lerie:.....that's right.

Miss Lerie: I'm going to be staying in Singapore.
A: How long will you be in Singapore?
Miss Lerie: Forever.
A: (Very had very real laughter) HAHAHAHHAHAAH.

Kids with ASD take things very literally. Their innocence, purity and honesty is so amazing. I never cease to learn from them and they are so fun to be with.

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G to T: You wanna fight?? I'll see you after 7Eleven closes.

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Miss Lerie: This is my first and last Christmas Production with you guys.
T: Don't worry Miss Lerie. We'll make you proud.

...And they did.

My Dear Students

Sometimes people might get the idea that teaching children with special needs is boring because most of them need routine and everything is the same everyday. It's just the total opposite. Something different happens everyday. They are wonderful human beings to be around and to get to know. To me they are just like anybody else except that to the world they are labled as "special". Well, it's hard to explain unless you get to meet and spend time with these kids. I'm so happy to be able to connect and begin to understand this part of the world that not many people know about.

Anyways, I just want to share a few things about some of my students.

J is having his GED exams on November 19 Mollel and I have been trying our best to help him. He is doing his final exam on mathematics.

A., he loooooooves music. So on mornings that I am on duty to watch the kids I lend him my phone and let him listen to the music. At first he just nods his head to the song, then he snaps his finger and taps his feet, then he gets up and starts bobbing around...finally I tell him to just go to the court and walk around to the music. He loves music so much he can't stay still or stop smiling while he's listening to it. It's so fun to watch him. He doesn't know how my phone works and he asks me "Where is the volume?" You can hardly get a word out of him without talking to him first or sentences that are not rehearsed but here he asked that on his own accord.

Today, I wore a Karen shirt from on o fmy friends at MC. Then E comes up to me points at my shirt and says "nice,nice". She also hardly starts a conversation or doesn't seem to notice these kinds of things and out of the blue she comes up to me and says that. It was such a great start for the day.

Yes, just a bit about a few of my students. I wish I could tell you every funny thing that happens but it isn't the same if you don't experience it first hand. So come and visit The Village! Hahaha.

Oh the Laughter

Every Thursday morning I'm on duty. I have to be at school earlier than usual and I watch and mingle with the kids. When I was new I found it kinda awkward but now I look forward to it! I get to spend extra time with them and watch them interact with each other. I also get to know the kids from the other classes better.

This morning A* (not his real name) was playing tic-tac-toe. A has [high end] ASD and he doesn't really show much emotion except grinning from ear to ear when doing stuff he loves like listening to music, dancing, computer or movies. Anyways, he was playing with the other kids and then he asked me to play with him. He was just learning how to play it and I was teaching him that if he saw his opponent having two x's or O's in a row he must block it.

The part that really made my day was when he LAUGHED. That's right he laughed, really laughed. He tried brushing my hand away when he saw I was going to win because he forgot to block me and when I put that winning X he shouted "oooh no!" and laughed. Almost 6 months being his teacher and only now I've seen him laugh. Even the other teachers turned their heads to look. I've always seen him smiling his smile but today was the first time I really heard him laugh. What can I say it just made me so happy to be able to see that side of him.

You might not understand how someone's ability to laugh could be so amazing. In my short time of working here I've learnt that we take many simple things for granted but this was one of the most memorable moments I've had here in The Village - I just had to share it.

Say Cheese

I was filling in a questionnaire a few weeks ago and one question asked:
What makes you laugh?
It didn't take me to fill in my answer ---- my students!

They can be very sweet and funny and bring a smile on my face even on the most down days.
I'm so blessed to have the chance to know all of them.

Here is Sweet Azumi.

Meet Sashank! He is falling asleep here.
He is so cute and so funny and everybody at school loves him.

Field Trip

Our class the Hua Hin class went on a field trip today - to Central World. WooHoo! When I was doing my internship, as well as education in college, I thought I was training to be with little kids. I am with little kids but this term I was put with the big kids! It's been great so far, a bumpy ride, but great.

Well, you must be wondering what crazy teachers will bring their students to Central World for a field trip. Well the students and especially us the teachers need a new atmosphere for once and just some general experience. Alot of these kids still need help in social situations. But mainly it's also because they've been learning percentage in math and we bring them to learn about percentage through sales in Central World. So we made a worksheet for them to list items, their original price, percentage off, sale price and VAT.

We just arrived! We stayed from 10.30 am - 2.00 pm

Going up, up and up to check out the prices.

Advise for all. Before you bring a big group to do abnormal things (like bringing clipboards and going into shops to look at prices and jotting them down and not buying anything) contact the main office first to get a permission slip or a tag like I have on my shirt. Then the bouncers won't kick you out! That's what we learned today.

That's my partner teacher Mollel with Tum and New.
In the B2S bookstore they had this Audio Book Room For the Blind. The lady inside was reading and recording what she was saying for future reference.


New, Leo and Mollel

Education is not just in the classroom!

Lunch Time! Pizza Time!
The sign in the restaurant we ate in.

James and I. James is studying for his GEDs.
He's got one exam left. Math. Please pray for him!

James and his Pizza. He taught me how to eat pizza with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yummmm.

This has nothing to do with the field trip but I put up for RJ and Cathy. This is the back gate of EIS. I was waiting for Hazel in the car after work.

More Picts!

I know a blog is for writing and a phlog is for pictures but...well, I like to do both. Not that I have to give anybody a reason why (but I'm going to anyway as you continue to read this) it's just that there are some people like RJ in the Philippines and my cousin Cathy in the States who would love to see pictures of ME!...nah...of Bangkok and other stuff besides me. I'm sure they miss BKK so much just like I will when I leave. So this will be one good place to refer to when missing home - BKK. Well, these pictures are of my usual day.

We have a coffe and tea station! Coffee anyone?

In the hallway, right in front of my morning class are the work of art my students did during art class last term. Beautiful isn't it? These kids can really draw and paint!

Out the hall and in another door is this room! It's a new room. I just noticed it yesterday and took a pic of it. I would've so loved this as a kid.

Mark got the orders for smoothies - life skills class.

Puff is getting the fruits and stuff ready to make the smoothies - life skills class.

ICT time every Monday and Friday at 12.45 to 1.35 That's Achis so intent on his PPT book making and Thep waving to the whole world shough "HI!"

Michael, Madi and Mark - ICT. They look bored but they're having fun! Haha...

This is the ICT work of the smaller kids using Paint. Their main topic this term is about the Olympics.

At the end of the day we can see our duty for the next day. That's me on the 3rd row at the very right. I'm on duty for lunch break. At the bottom are the afternoon class schedules for each day of the week so we know which student is supposed to be in which class.

4.00 PM - Jump on to the 71 bus and head home.