(no subject)
I saw something amazing today - a child wearing a helmet!
It is the first child travelling on a motorbike wearing a helmet that I have seen since travelling in Asia. In Ho Chi Minh it was days before I saw anyone at all wearing a helmet. In Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia more people wore helmets, but of all the children none of them did. You'd see parents wearing helmets but their children not. Somehow that seems worse than neither wearing one.
Anyway this morning at Binh Minh was good. Unfourtunatley two of my girls (who are sisters) have left and gone "home", something to do with their grandmother. They father is very ill, and their mother sells corn - thats all the information I got. They will be back in July, but I will be gone by then! So my Binh Minh class is now just three girls.
Anyway, it was really good. I tried teaching something that I wasn't sure if they would get or not, and they were brilliant! I gave them each two stickers at the end of class because I was so pleased!
Austin gave me the idea of a wordsearch, so instead of sleeping and eating before my afternoon class, I worked on that. It took about two hours! I drew pictures of some things that I have done with the girls (clothes, animals, food, etc), so they then needed to find the English word. I gave it to them and let them do that for 25 minutes, and then I did the same as I did at Binh Minh, plus some more.
Ga Sai Gon is still very draining, and the kids are difficult to get going. Perhaps I will ask to go there less, it just feels like banging my head against a brick wall sometimes.
On the drive home I thought "Hang on a sec, I can't usually see my reflection", and then I realised that Tien was wearing a helmet! I said it was good, and he said "To protect my head".
It is the first child travelling on a motorbike wearing a helmet that I have seen since travelling in Asia. In Ho Chi Minh it was days before I saw anyone at all wearing a helmet. In Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia more people wore helmets, but of all the children none of them did. You'd see parents wearing helmets but their children not. Somehow that seems worse than neither wearing one.
Anyway this morning at Binh Minh was good. Unfourtunatley two of my girls (who are sisters) have left and gone "home", something to do with their grandmother. They father is very ill, and their mother sells corn - thats all the information I got. They will be back in July, but I will be gone by then! So my Binh Minh class is now just three girls.
Anyway, it was really good. I tried teaching something that I wasn't sure if they would get or not, and they were brilliant! I gave them each two stickers at the end of class because I was so pleased!
Austin gave me the idea of a wordsearch, so instead of sleeping and eating before my afternoon class, I worked on that. It took about two hours! I drew pictures of some things that I have done with the girls (clothes, animals, food, etc), so they then needed to find the English word. I gave it to them and let them do that for 25 minutes, and then I did the same as I did at Binh Minh, plus some more.
Ga Sai Gon is still very draining, and the kids are difficult to get going. Perhaps I will ask to go there less, it just feels like banging my head against a brick wall sometimes.
On the drive home I thought "Hang on a sec, I can't usually see my reflection", and then I realised that Tien was wearing a helmet! I said it was good, and he said "To protect my head".