On Monday morning the usual rendition of the Thai times tables crackling over the sounds system has changed its tune. "Hula, hula, hula, hula, hula, hula hooop" rings out instead. It's health week and a selection of girls have been chosen to hula hoop in front of a health panel coming to assess Banklang School.
When they arrive the teachers flurry around in a storm of activity; files, coffees and sweet treats for their distinguished gets appear out of thin air. They all disappear into the air-conditioned hall. 180 students are left watching the Ministry of Educations lessons streamed on Thai television. Their curiousity however, gets the better of most of them, running in and out of the library to say hello and dancing around P'Pom of the office administrator. Occassionally whispers of "koncrew" or "Who-Ha" (teacher!) are heard down the corridors and the race back to their desks.
I give in during my lessons, relying on YouTube and English songs to keep them entertained. They have an obession with a young English star, Connie Talbot, who to be honest I have never heard of, and at 14 years old can sing a thousand times better than I ever will.
Normality fails to return for the rest of the week, with the dentists arriving on Wednesday to carry out routine checks on the children. Students disappear in dribs and drabs, consoling each other as they leave the school hall mouths stuffed with wadges of cotton wool, eyes wet with fresh tears.
My want to fill the last couple of weeks with pronunciation practice seems a little stupid in retrospect as the students bloated faces struggle to mouth simple sounds. As ever, they don't complain as I through "th", "sh" and "ch" round the classroom. We stumble a lot. Fish and ships. Wash and watch. Shook and shock.
I draw and act to help them understand grabbing those in the front row to shake them and point at their watches. Cheek and chick also becomes tangled; I grab another volunteer from the front row, prodding at her cheek to show the difference. Tears well in her eyes and I realise she's craddling fresh wounds from the dentist's chair. My heart sinks and I apologies as much as I can, although we haven't covered the word sorry and I'm not really sure if she understands.
When they arrive the teachers flurry around in a storm of activity; files, coffees and sweet treats for their distinguished gets appear out of thin air. They all disappear into the air-conditioned hall. 180 students are left watching the Ministry of Educations lessons streamed on Thai television. Their curiousity however, gets the better of most of them, running in and out of the library to say hello and dancing around P'Pom of the office administrator. Occassionally whispers of "koncrew" or "Who-Ha" (teacher!) are heard down the corridors and the race back to their desks.
I give in during my lessons, relying on YouTube and English songs to keep them entertained. They have an obession with a young English star, Connie Talbot, who to be honest I have never heard of, and at 14 years old can sing a thousand times better than I ever will.
Normality fails to return for the rest of the week, with the dentists arriving on Wednesday to carry out routine checks on the children. Students disappear in dribs and drabs, consoling each other as they leave the school hall mouths stuffed with wadges of cotton wool, eyes wet with fresh tears.
My want to fill the last couple of weeks with pronunciation practice seems a little stupid in retrospect as the students bloated faces struggle to mouth simple sounds. As ever, they don't complain as I through "th", "sh" and "ch" round the classroom. We stumble a lot. Fish and ships. Wash and watch. Shook and shock.
I draw and act to help them understand grabbing those in the front row to shake them and point at their watches. Cheek and chick also becomes tangled; I grab another volunteer from the front row, prodding at her cheek to show the difference. Tears well in her eyes and I realise she's craddling fresh wounds from the dentist's chair. My heart sinks and I apologies as much as I can, although we haven't covered the word sorry and I'm not really sure if she understands.