Or shall I say, The Saturdays That Were.
With the threat of Covid-19 spreading throughout Mae Sot, we have had to cancel our Saturday program through the end of March. But, for a few weeks there, we had a good thing going! We hope it’s back soon!
And we still want to give you a glimpse into it! Each Saturday, we’ve had between forty and fifty students coming, from age two to twelve. [The thirteen and above group comes to English and other activities on Monday, for our youth night.]
We start at 9am with music, where Stephen leads us in guitar and we attempt to lead a group of second-language learners in all the “classics.” I then read a children’s book or two in English, which fulfills all my dreams of a library story time. 🥰
Lun then leads the kids in a bible story until 10am. She leads the children’s ministry at her local church every week, so she’s a pro!
We then gather around for rice, which Thida has made for us all in a superhero-like fashion in a Barbie-sized kitchen. It’s incredible.
After things are devoured and spilled all over and cleaned up, we divide into four groups for classes. The yellow group is our littlest, from about 2-4 years old. They start with Burmese, taught by Thida, and then move to English, taught by Pwin Pyu Hein or I.
The red group is about 5-8, taught first English by Pwin Pyu Hein and I, and followed by a bit of Burmese.
The blue group and green group are older, from 8 to 12, and divided by skill level. They each study more of the Bible story with Lun, now focusing on new English words from that week’s lesson. They also have thirty minutes with another English teacher, sometimes our friends Mia & Bryce, and sometimes me.
And somehow, we manage to teach two languages, songs, and Bible to a whole collection of kids for over two hours each Saturday! While chaotic, it’s pretty incredible to see it happen week after week.
And now we’re realizing how thankful we are for it now that it’s closed for a few weeks; we’re hopeful to back at our best before too long!
Leave a Reply