Today I am teaching human body parts to the kids. I use a more creative
and variety of methods to keep them excited about English. For instance: making
crossword puzzles, asking them to draw a monster with certain numbers of eyes,
nose, ears, and singing songs. Some of the children are still really shy. But
today is quite an improvement, since the younger kids are more active. They
sing with me, asking me to draw flowers, animated drawings, and asking me to
play volley ball, which they say is the national sport of Sri Lankan.
Apart from that, today I met an old lady who can speak English well even
though I really can not comprehend what she says sometimes, I guess her age explains it!
She learned all subjects in English when she was young, which was the
curriculum before Sri Lanka
became independent. Seriously, it is a bit tiring responding to her
sort-of-too-personal questions and comments. As an example, she says that
English knowledge is the only thing that I give to these orphans, and the
organization of where I get to volunteer at does not ready to give money and
sponsor the kids. I get involve in the volunteer without pay, I am the one who is paying instead. You will meet various kind of people who might raise your temper. Gladly my reserved and calm personality really aid me to think logically, solve problems better and I will not let emotion get in my way to make a wiser decision. It is understandable for the old lady to be curious; she must have lots of questions in her mind regarding the objective of my volunteer.
Once I get back home, I receive an email from the vice president of
AIESEC in Sri Lanka,
saying that she gets a call from the Children’s Home that they worry if I do
not like the food they serve. I am not really a fan of curry and Sri Lankan
food use lots of pepper; the dishes have strong smell and flavour. But I really
have no complain about the food. I just have to adapt to their signature dishes
and culture. They always give me generous amount of dishes with a plateful of
rice that is impossible for me to finish all. She also asks me whether I would
like to change place as there is a request from Catholic’s Children home, and
furthermore Sarana currently has very limited facilities due to the flood. If
they have better facilities that are more acceptable than what I am
experiencing, it is a good decision to move there. Nonetheless, I am getting
closer with the kids. They are very lovely and sweet, although some are shy and
not that interested in learning English. It is a challenge to foster their motivation in their learning.
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| Kitchen |
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| The hall |
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| The hall |
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