Big Bass Drum

Not much to report from today... Yesterday, it rained.  It reminded me of India - that's how much it rained.  So at the end of school there was just a deluge of rain so we stayed kind of stuck until it slowed down.  Of course at that point we were pretty much on an island as everywhere around us was completely flooded.  The water at its most shallow was above my ankles and at its deepest it probably hit mid-shin.  So I was walking with the guy teacher, T, and we were trying to figure out how to get off school property when he suggested we just hop in the back of a pick-up truck (after asking, of course).  I have since noticed a surprising amount of pick-up trucks in this town!  But anyway, so we asked someone if we could just jump in and they were very nice about it so that's how we got off our little island!  He actually ended up going pretty close (half a block) to my hotel so that worked out really well.  After that, T and I walked around town for a bit and at one point got stuck and actually had to walk through part of the flood.  It was ok though and eventually we ended up eating dinner pretty close to where I'm staying.  Dinner was simple - just a noodle bowl with different kinds of meat in it.  So yeah, that was pretty much my night.

Today's classes have gone well.  I spent a lot of time making activity worksheets for each class and it worked well taking up the whole class time.  I think the highlight of each class was the songs we sang at the beginning.  My first two classes, we sang "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Old MacDonald" which I do not feel the need to share videos for.  For my last class, I've been struggling because they're older so it feels inappropriate for them to sing songs like "Old MacDonald" but at the same time I want something easy enough that they can learn it.  Well, I finally stumbled on a great youtube channel which has sing along songs for a variety of ages.  So this is what I settled on for my oldest kids today and they got shockingly good at it and loved it!  I was shocked because I definitely thought it was going to be too fast for them.  I was thinking they'd get the instruments but not the repeating phrase.  I also loved it because it was in a lower range and my voice has dropped into a much lower register since having a cold. ;)

I should also add, about the videos and songs, most of the time I'm trying to find something related to the lesson.  Some days that is easier than others.  So today is an example of a day where I'm mostly using the music to get the kids to gain confidence in using English.  They are way more willing to sing silly songs than anything else and right after we sing the songs I get way more participation for whatever else we're doing!