My Lao English class !

What a treat !

The beginning of school was last monday for the students, so I eventually got to know who were going to be my new students. I have a class of 13 kids from 8 to 10 years old. And believe me the Lao kids are so so cute !!! Boys are so lively and enthusiastic and inquisitive when the girls are so shy and introverted. I guess this is a cultural feature. I also have three foreign students, a girl from Vietnam, a boy from Japan, very shy and lost (does not speak Lao) and a little Chinese kid, very ugly, fat, and mean on top of that ! However those kids are such a treat !

My heart was already broken after three days of school. One kid was withdrawn from my class to be sent to the "normal English curriculum" class because his level of English was too high ! He was such a nice smart and lively kid, I was so sad to see him leave! But in the end it's better because he was so far ahead of the others and was thus overshadowing his classmates. The class is more well balanced now. However I have my burden too! A little girl Ami, she does not know the Roman alphabet, she is as slow as a slug, has the attention span of a gold fish and is only interested in drawing princess gowns and crowns !

Of course my concern is to be able to cater to their different needs given that I have different levels to deal with - some can read a litlle bit some others don't even know the Roman alphabet- , and that they don't get bored and have fun while learning.

This is an auspicious start however. I'm so happy to deal with those kids eventhough I have to sometimes raise my voice (but they are so responsive) !

Hereafter a picture of my class the 1st day. One kid (with hat) has left (as said) and three others showed up in the meantime. The young man, Vickham,  is my very nice Lao teacher (assistant).  I'll post an updated picture soon...