30.12.2009
As scheduled, today's plan was to teach level 3 in the morning and level 4 in the afternoon. Along the way to school in the morning, we saw the kids from level 3, at their homes! Puzzled, and from the manager, we realised that the kids were unaware that there was classes! (supposed that the principal didn't tell the kids cos most probably it should be post-exams school holiday!)We were very worried if there would be any kids turning up at the school. After the manager told the kids about the lesson, some of these kids went around the village to "notify" their friends! This was one of the coldest mornings, and the kids went around in slippers and barely-there winter clothings. I could only say my heart was warm- warmed by their enthusiasm to learn and their selflessness to care for their friends. Braving the freezing cold, they brought their friends to the class. And they brought their running noses.

Disregarding the running nose, their attention in the class was undivided. It was the teachers who couldn't ignore. Whipped out tissues to wipe the mucus flowing from the nose, and the next moment the tissues were thrown out of the classroom windows (most naturally).

Topic: objects at home and school
Activity: went through the common objects at home and school using flashcards. Followed by asking some students to use the flashcards to "label" the objects in classroom. Also played a card game where the students were given 2 cards each. The cards had words of the objects. I showed the flashcards without the pictures, and the students who had the cards to match the pictures would stand up or raise their hands. Some kids were really fast learners, while some were cheeky and tried to ask the director if their cards were the right ones! Hahahhah...and the last part of the lesson, went through some simple verbs. With matching actions, these energetic kids were learning at an encouraging pace! Sweep, jump, swim, run, wave...

Then we moved to the outdoor. With the words they had learnt earlier, they played "dog and bone". Also to recap colours, each of them was given a colour tag instead of a number. Divided into 2 teams, a colour was called. An object was called. The students from each team with the colour tag then identified the correct flashcard that was placed among the centre pool of flashcards. The winning team got some stationery as prizes!

The last activity was to dance "hokey pokey". In case you can't recall what's that- "put your right hand in, put your right hand out, put your right hand in and shake it all about... And we do a hokey pokey and shake it all about...that's what it's all about!"The more difficult part was "right" and "left". But again, the main objective was not really academic, but more for them to have fun and be exposed to new things. And they did have a lot of fun as they laughed and giggled through the dance!

In the afternoon, we taught the level 4.

Topic: Taste
With the flashcards, wendy went through the taste such as sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy. With the translation provided by the manager, the kids understood (can't really use actions to explain). Then we showed them pictures of different food which match the tastes, eg. Bittergourd to bitter, lemon to sour.
Activity: gave the kids to taste 4 samples of food - orange peel (salty), mentos(sweets), preserved plum(sour), mint sweets(spicy). The plates were numbered and the kids have to write the number matching to the taste in their given worksheets. Afterwhich, we asked the kids to get into 2 rows. One kid fed another kid (eyes covered by paper plate) one of the sample food and to point out the flashcard that illustrate the matching taste.

After the indoor lesson, we moved to outdoor for games and dance. Played "dog and bone"using the flashcards used for tastes. It was interesting to see how more competitive it was as compared to level 3 this morning! Hahhah...Then next came the most "exciting" or rather, the most violent game! We attempted to play "three legged" - 3 kids with legs tied to each other. And modified the game from pure racing, to reaching the finishing line and telling us what the flashcard held up was, then to picking up the correct flashcard we wanted on the ground. But because of the enthusiasm in the game, they dashed towards wendy who was at the finishing line. Not afraid of tripping over one another, not bothered about the pain when fell to the ground. And immediately, there was a "mob" around her! She was almost attacked! Hahaha... For the safety of the kids, or rather wendy, we have to stop the game! Hahahah...Then we revised the dance learnt yesterday- "as we walk to the left..." and taught them hokey pokey.

The day ended with total tiredness and of cos, total happiness!