At the Crossroad.

Actually, it's more of a spur off the 'main' road - but 'Crossroad' sounds more dramatic.  If you cycle away from Spitler School, Ang Chagn Village (and there is the sign to guide you), then turn right at this point, you have a short, but bumpy two kilometer ride before you fetch up, panting and sweating, at Kurata School.  The road itself is not dramatic, and there are a few houses and rather bare farms along the way - as well as a bit of local wild-life, who clearly takes an interest in passing strangers.

 

The countryside looks very barren at this time of year as we haven't had any rain for a few months.  Temperatures are reaching 37C and the humidity is high, so cycling between the two schools can be hard work - at least, that's what Nick discovered on Monday morning, the start of the new term and the first day for the two new English teachers.  The track may look passable, but in fact the ruts are filled with sand, so the bike slithers around alarmingly.  Nevertheless, Nick set out on this epic journey, at Loll's request (insistence?) as we could find no pencil sharpeners at Kurata School, and we needed a few other supplies as well.  This is one of the main differences between the schools at the moment.  Kurata School is still developing and resources need to be built up, especially in the English room where, once it has received a new lick of paint, some new cupboards and shelving,  teachers will be able to put up displays and posters and store resources away from the constant dust.  

Ratha was in bright and early, and was delighted to find a class of eager students all ready to start their English programme, with a song and some phonics.  He was also delighted to find that the class size was manageable as he had been used to some classes of 50+ at Spitler school.  We could actually hear him from the main gate as we arrived: 'Are you READY!' - and the chorus of shouted 'YES!' from his new students.

We stayed in the school over the two-hour break between morning and afternoon sessions, cleaning the desks (Loll, with assistance from some young helpers) and doing important things on the computer (Nick.)  At about 11.30 a number of children stated to arrive, and began crowding round the door of the English room to see what these strange barang were up to.  We invited them in and Loll showed them some English books that we had put out as a display at the back of the class. They dived onto these books, and soon more and more children arrived, Nick put on some songs on the computer, and they all sat down with their books and looked expectantly at us.  An hour before afternoon class!  Clearly, there is a demand for tuition here at Kurata, and if we had some lunchtime help then maybe we could  run more structured classes over the break. 

The lunch time English session. 

 It was interesting to watch these kids, however, and compare them with the Spitler children who have had English lessons for longer and whose school is much more established as a place of education.  The Kurata children stared at the computer monitor, and one or two of them began to imitate our actions to 'The Wheels of the Bus'. But their response was very muted compared to their fellows of only 2 kilometers away.  They will need much more exposure to English and to the lively teaching methods that our teachers will bring to the job..

And at 12.45 the sound of an approaching moto heralded the arrival of their first lively teacher of the afternoon:  Pheoum.  He got stuck in straight away - lining the children up at the door and insisting on a greeting: 'Good afternoon, teacher. How are you?'  Then he got on with the Jolly Phonics, a song and some further greetings.   We left, to let him get on with it.  But this is a very promising start to the English programme at Kurata School.

Phoeum meets his first class.