A quieter Monday

What a hectic weekend we had! But we loved it! On Sunday evening we enjoyed meeting up with our Forthview friends Sheila and her husband Geoff , Fiona and Irvine who are teaching at Hlee Bee school. They had just arrived after spending time in Chiang Mai with Dr Thein Lwin at his migrant learning centre. It was raining heavily and we wore our less than attractive raincoats for the first time. We enjoyed a laugh together as we shared stories about our experiences so far. Sheila , Geoff and Fiona have been here before but Irvine was just getting used to life in Mae Sot and looking forward to meeting the Hlee Bee pupils. Fiona who is an old (but young really!)hand at teaching at Hlee Bee will make sure he is making himself comfortable!

Looking good!

Natasha and Claire went straight to school after breakfast and I cruised the streets looking for the mini Tesco`s (yes there is one here!) and a place to buy bus tickets for Chiang Mai.

When I arrived at Say Ta Nar there was already evidence of good Pirniehall practice. The girls were teaching the kindergarten children, rotating three different groups and had introduced alphabet cards and games. The kindergarten teachers were able to observe different activities.

Interactive learning in the kindergarten

Meanwhile upstairs Pho Cho was teaching a science lesson and we met the Canadian volunteer Emily, in the adjoining room, and she told us she is with the Mae Sot Education Project and will be at Say Ta Nar until December. She is enjoying her pupils and her time in Mae Sot. While the children ate lunch we then all sat round and chatted as we were fed by Neesha and were joined by the Burmese teachers.

Pho Cho teaches science and Emily with her students

Another delicious lunch!

In the afternoon Pho Cho was able to see Claire and Natasha involve the children in simple mind mapping to organise their thoughts prior to writing. He commented to me as he was watching that he could have used the whiteboards in the morning when he was teaching his science lesson. He understood the value and we think he will soon be making good use of these boards in future teaching tasks. The children loved their afternoon of language games and drawing charcoal portraits of each other.

Developing active-learning skills