When You Give a Kindergartner a Sticker

You know when you're at the beach, and you momentarily feel sympathy for that seagull staring you in the eye as you bite into your sandwich, and you decide to throw him a measly piece of bread... only to horribly regret your decision as you spend the rest of the afternoon shooing the flock off your towel?

Or, remember that children's story, When You Give a Mouse a Cookie (or even its less well-known, but equally wonderful sequel, When You Give a Moose a Muffin)?

Well, as I learned this week, that's a lot like what happens When You Give a Kindergartner a Sticker.

Wednesday was my first day with the Kindergartners. Before class, I was sitting outside on the bench preparing some flash cards. A pint-size Kindergartner walked up to me and stared at me with her big brown eyes. She pointed to a sheet of stickers poking out from my folder. I smiled and said "Yes, stickers!" She kept staring at me. "What is your name?" I asked. More silence and staring. More cuteness. I couldn't resist. I peeled off a yellow smiley face and stuck it on her uniform shirt. She smiled and shouted something and her friend came over. I got the same treatment, and gave the friend a sticker. They both giggled and ran away.

2 minutes later, I gathered my stuff and started to head towards the K2.1 classroom... only to be suddenly barricaded by a swarm of Kindergarteners jumping on and hugging me and shouting words I didn't understand. I clutched the sticker sheet inside my folder against my chest and waded through the pack of small children to my classroom.

I have three different classes of Kindergartners, each with about 30 kids, who I see twice a week (Wednesday - Friday). These kids are ADORABLE, but they are also rambunctious, incredibly loud, and have the attention span of a goldfish. Even while sitting down in rows, keeping their focus on me is like trying to hold onto a fistful of sand for 25 minutes: it keeps slipping out from between your fingers and scattering across the floor, so you have to continuously recollect it and try again. To function, Kindergarten classes have to be filled with a lot of running around, gesturing, game playing, or focused activities like coloring. They shout a lot of Thai at me, while I look helplessly over at the co-teacher, who also doesn't understand any English (but who works miracles when it comes to discipline).

Putting all of that TEFL course knowledge to work, I worked on establishing a routine my K classes this week. We start every morning singing "Good Morning to You" (to the tune of Happy Birthday). Then I have them say my name, by pointing to my name tag and saying "Ajaan Caitlin." Then I walk around and tap a few of them on the shoulder, motion for them to stand, ask, "What is your name?" and point to their name tags. Most just stare and smile at me. A few can already say "My name is _________." We close every class by singing "Thank you class, thank you class. Goodbye to you! Good bye to you!" (to the tune of Frere Jacques). Never are you so aware of your poor singing talent, or of the little movements you make while teaching, as when you are standing in front of a class of 5 year olds and having every intonation of your voice and small unintentional gesture mimicked back at you. Seriously, Kindergartners are like human tape recorders. Every thing I say ("good job!" "okay..." "NO!") is said, in unison, right back to me. So in many ways, the Kindergartners have better pronunciation than even the sixth graders.... they may not know what they are saying, but they will produce any sound I make exactly as they hear it, unfettered by deep fluency in their own language. It's incredible.

Sixth grade was almost as much fun as Kindergarten this week. In the advanced class (6/1), we worked on reading stories and acting out plays. I spent long hours slaving away at the keyboard this week, writing out my own stirring renditions and scripts of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" and "Jack and the Beanstalk." When the kids acted out "Jack and the Beanstalk," I cast the two tiniest 6th graders in the role of Giant and Giant's Wife. I also accidently called too many students up to be actors, and not wanting to send one away, I gave one girl the role of "cow." They found it hilarious. I do what I can for laughs.

This week I gave my first test - a spelling quiz on descriptive adjectives. As a whole, the students did very well.... which hopefully means I'm doing an okay job (but probably has more to do with the fact that they are extremely bright and get extra practice with Aj. Prakop). I am, however, running into problems with homework. The students do pretty well on assignments, but it's clear that certain groups of students work together and turn in the same exact sentence answers. This is especially apparent when the answer is wrong. Example:

Q: How did the boy feel at the end of the story?

A: "Child rearing feel remarseful."

(???. First of all, makes no sense. Secondly, showed up on 7 different students' homework sheets).

I guess I haven't decided yet how I want to address topics like cheating and sharing work, and I don't yet have a feel for how those behaviors are treated in the Thai school system. I remember hearing at Orientation that in many Asian countries, unlike in the United States, students will often share work to help each other out and bring everyone to the same level - rather than shielding their work and fighting to be the best in the class. In any case, it made me realize that I haven't yet laid out explicit rules with the class.... So that's on the agenda for Monday.

Outside of class, my roommates and I have been trying out different restaurants on the river for dinner each night - mostly ones with televisions so we can watch the games. We tend to favor Terrace (the restaurant that our landlord runs), and we're slowly making our way through their extensive menu. But still, nothing beats street food. We've been going to the market a lot to try some new fruits. I bought some bananas a few days ago, which look miniature compared to ones at home. They are much sweeter, and less chalky tasting. I've also been spending a lot of time getting things organized in the apt and doing laundry (woohoo!). On average, the water from the sink will work long enough each day to allow me to hand wash about 5 articles of clothing. Project for the weekend: learn to work our washing machine (which currently lives in the corner of my bedroom).

Other projects for the weekend:

- Find the Nan Steakhouse (again, now with somewhat clearer directions. Thank you Jackie!)

- Nan Museum

- Wat Phumin (we haven't yet seen the murals inside, for which the temple is famous)

- Thai movie

- Venture the outskirts of Nan. Possibly on a tuk-tuk?

....Oh, and how could I forget? My favorite Kindergarten nicknames of the week:

Peen, Ninja, Taxi, Punch, Ice and Stang.