My first week at HH started badly as I came down on Sunday with a bit of khmer sickness ala johnny cash! Not so good and had to miss a day's teaching - really not very good! Being sick alone in your room on holiday is pretty depressing I find, but fortunately I was better by the end of the day...
This week I was teaching in the morning session with the morning teacher, Savanne. It is slightly easier than the afternoon as there is only one class due to there being less children around for some reason. Savanne likes to let you take the reins a bit more than Sopeap so I have found myself once more in charge of the class! It has been really good fun though and I have found myself utilising what I learned in my TEFL certificate and becoming more confident. The kids are very friendly and when I noticed they were becoming a bit bored after a few too many chain drills I devised a board race for the whole class. With 46 kids (!) you need to try and think of something to keep their attention and they seemed to really enjoy the game which involved them competing in 4 teams to "hit the vocab" first, it was a good laugh! The kids cheeky smiles and laughs really do make it so much fun.
Highlights of my two weeks so far:
- teaching descriptions of people...hilarity ensued when it slowly dawned on me everyone bar myself had black hair, brown eyes and same colour skin! Fortunately there was one girl with curly hair. When I added the word 'bald' the teacher told me it was common in Cambodia for people to shave the dead before burial- this seemed to be what he thought of first?!...after this was said it occurred to me I have not seen a single balding person since I have been here! Bish and Abbie hadn't either. Perhaps Regane need to come here and test the water...
- when Sopeap was late on my second day and I dragged in Thea the driver to help me teach the lesson! He has since said he once thought about teaching but now knows he will never pursue it...it went that well then ha!
- the board game race, it was good to see the kids getting really excited. I feel more confident now that they will remember the difference between mat and map!
- the school itself, the journey out there... the chickens jumping in the window, the buffalo outside in the river, the little ones peeking in the corner and shyly smiling as I look at them before running off, the older ones high-fiving me when they leave, and the teachers, who have been extremely friendly and welcoming
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