The Last Few Days

Always a good feeling to get to the end of the first day of the week! I think I am going to have a lot of fun with Grade 6 and map reading and co-ordinates which I thought looked fairly uninspiring when I was planning lessons. However some of my brighter kids seemed to be struggling a little with the concept of co-ordinates. So tomorrow I think they will be drawing shapes on the basis of joined-up co-ordinate points.

We had a very pleasant weekend. I taught as usual on Saturday morning. My 121 student's parents told me their daughter had come first in Ratchaburi province in a national Thai English exam, and came 91st in the whole of Thailand out of 7,000. I wasn't too surprised as she is a very smart kid and speaks better English than most of the older students at the school. I don't know whether I can take any credit but no doubt I would take a lot of blame if she had not done very well!

My six year old kids were wonderful. I see a pronounced improvement in their writing and I also learned that two of them do not associate what they are writing with sound. I think this means flashcards are coming out this weekend. It amazes me how quickly those two hours pass. The key is to keep them busy so planning is essential, specifically having prepared materials. If all else fails the get out of jail card is a colouring sheet! With the older students the get out of jail card is the quiz! When I told Luna about this she laughed and said she was glad that I was learning! Of course you have to be careful about quizzes. It can easily become unmanageable and chaotic....... the best way to prevent this is to make the kids write the answers in their exercise books!

This extra tuition is hard work but it really is accelerating the learning curve. In a addition I have fantastic advisors.....my wife is a seasoned teacher with over three years Thai experience, my sister Christine is an early years specialist in Scotland and my mate Tony, also in Scotland, was a secondary English teacher in Edinburgh for almost 20 years. Christine is helpful and says things like......Grade One is all about doing. For sure the key is keeping the kids busy! So I am tired but having a lot of fun.

Saturday afternoon we took a trip mid-afternoon to Chaloem Phrakiat Thai Prachan National Park on the southern border of Ratchaburi province. About a 60 km run from here. Very pleasant but no easy birds. We got sight of a green backed bird on the forest floor with side barring, possibly a woodpecker of some kind. However I only got sight of the sides and then it was gone so not able to make an identification. A fair few sounds elsewhere. I reckon I will be back because I have no doubt there will be many species to see. Plus the park is quite manageable and includes an 11-tiered waterfall.

What was satisfying is I carried Benedict in his carrier, a BabyBjorn, and he slept peacefully as we walked through a forest. Luna and I laugh a little because we get interesting advice from people. The locals believe that new born babies should spend most of their time lying horizontally. The BB has Benedict sitting vertically head against my chest. One of Luna's friends also advised her not to hold Benedict between the legs as it might affect his sexuality!! Anyhow it was really pleasant to get out for a stroll together and enjoy the cool breeze and scenery.

Sunday we went to mass at Ban Konti which is about 15 km down the Meklong River and home to the oldest Catholic church in Thailand. It is a truly beautiful setting, this fine stone church on the banks of the Meklong River. We went as normal to mass in Ratchaburi to discover the church closed and a phone call told us there was a big service on at Ban Konti with the newly installed Bishop Siripong as principal celebrant. There were five bishops on the altar. It was in fact a huge event with overflow marquees, TV monitors and lots of people. I am glad we made it. Of course Benedict was the star of the show and people were amazed we were allowing Benedict to sit upright in his BabyBjorn....the boy was sound asleep!

Sunday afternoon I had a drive down to Laem Pak Bia, west of Phetchburi and probably the most important shore bird site in Thailand if not S E Asia. Nothing significant to report on the bird front. Nice to be out and I am grateful to Luna for tolerating my restlessness and need to be out or doing things.

Monday evening Benedict had inoculations, a fairly major one in fact, and he cried as the needle went in but five minutes later he was beaming! For all his frailty and vulnerablity Benedict is a tough little soldier. The Doctor and her staff adore Benedict, as do most people, and they love his smiles too. There may be some side effects with this injection, maybe some fever but Tuesday morning the worst that can be said is that Benedict is a little grumpy.

Even Boo seems a little better. Not such a bad weekend and start to the week.Back to the Thai idyll!