First let me say that I wish I took more pictures. Two weeks
at Isara teaching English was not enough for me, so I hope to return some day,
perhaps after I’m done in Hong Kong. I’d love to be placed in a government
school like Emilie, and teach English there one week at a time – it seems like
you can really make a difference and learn awesome things that way, though
working out of the house is also a really awesome experience.
For those who don’t know about it, Isara is a nonprofit
organization which seems to be dedicated to several things – but all of them
really awesome causes. For example, there is a recycling program that has
happened there, a motorcycle helmet program (which is really awesome) and of
course, teaching kids and adults English as a second language – both during
after school programs and in government schools.
Mondays Wendesdays and Fridays we had the same kids in
classes from 4, 5 and 6PM. We would teach them different emotions, activities,
and a lot of basic English that we felt would benefit them in the real world…
IE not passive voice or anything grammatical.
Tuesdays and Thursdays in the mornings we would jump in a
TukTuk and head off to government schools, where we would teach 2 classes for 1
hour each. It was really interesting, because in some of these schools, there
would only be one teacher for about 100 kids, who would migrate from classroom
to classroom. The kids were insanely cute; especially the kindergardeners, but
though they could be a little hyper at times, they were always willing to learn,
and loved the kittycat stamp… to be fair though, so did I.
We’d spend free mornings and evenings seeing Nong Khai,
watching movies, hanging out, appreciating Thai culture, and of course, lesson
planning. It was very chill, very laid back, and I’m going to miss it a lot
when I get to Hong Kong, I have no doubt about that.
I would definitely recommend anyone reading this to pass
along the information to anyone who might be interested… This is the place to
go!
Their website is
www.isara.org
if you would like to check it out. I’ve attached way more pictures than text
for this blog, so take a look at them! I wish I had taken more pictures of the
schools and the kids, but I was pretty focused on teaching at the time I guess.
For all the people I met there, Anna, Cloe, TJ, Tara, Ben,
Kirk, Matt, Nok, Leon, and anyone else I might be forgetting, thanks for making
the experience so awesome, best of luck in whatever you’re working on, and of
course, Happy Travels!
The swing at Muttmee was a really fun time, as you can clearly see.