Warm Fuzzies in Umsang

It doesn't get much better than yesterday. I started off with maths with my class twos - a competition to see who could make their homemade rocket fly the fastest. It was a blast!

Jigme showed great initiative and made his rocket propelled by 2 straws ( instead of 1) and blew his competition out of the water!

We then farewelled Bob on his mammoth bike-riding adventure headed for a party in Punakha last night (its a 7 hour drive away!).

Safe travels, Bob!

Off course we'll miss him, and I'd love to be going too, but we also had an important task - to deliver books that we purchased in Thimphu to the little library up in Umsang. (Previously I wrote about Umsang here, and spelled it 'Aungsang' as a student told me to - it's hard to be sure as there is no sign and its not on any map I've seen).

I asked for Mr Tandin's help as he is the Y-Via (Youth Volunteers in Action) group leader at school and they work with Umsang on a number of projects. The student members gathered at the school gate and it was a lovely opportunity to go for a walk with these older students.

They are so responsible and mature - and I've no doubt the future of Bhutan is in good hands when I interact with these teenagers who have impeccable manners and help in any way they can.

Remy was carried on a boy's shoulders, and our umbrellas (the intense heat was an ominous sign of a likely downpour on the way home), my handbag, and the big box of books were all carried without complaint and off we went!

As soon as we came to a wild raspberry bush loaded with huge juicy berries we had to stop and eat. Two of my class two students picked handfuls of berries for me to enjoy.

Dechen picking the wild raspberries.

Half way up the hill we came to the spot where our newly built bookshelf was hiding in the bushes!

Bob and Mr Tandin and some boys spent Friday afternoon building the bookshelf out of scrap wood they found in the forest and when they were finished, they just covered it in leaves so it would be ready to collect on the way up Saturday! Made from rough wood, it is very rustic, but will do the job nicely.

In no time at all when we arrived, the bookshelf was installed and nailed to the wall to keep it safe from falling on children. The Y-Via students got to work displaying the books on the shelves as some shy local kids started coming in to see what was happening. The big 'brothers and sisters' sat down and read them stories as many photos were taken to commemorate the event. A few mums came in to look too.

I was happy to see one of my brightest students, Dechen, who lives in Umsang sit down with a lovely new Barbie book (yes, Barbie is a big hit over here with little girls), and read it beautifully. One of the older students commented on how good the year 2s are at reading and I agree, they are progressing to becoming fluent independent readers.

 

Remy found a book he liked and went off to hide behind the door and read it!

 

This little boy found one of the special books that makes music and sounds.

When all the fuss died down, the local kids came in to explore alone.

While most of the Y-Via students left to go back to school, Mr Tandin and Mr Chimmi and I were invited to a local home for tea and ara. It was our third visit to Umsang and our third invitation for tea - this time a different home to the previous times. Following the tea we were served a very special lunch of rice, dal, kewa-datsi and two types of meat curry and papadums and fresh milk. It was a lovely way to thank us, and it feels like we've been guests in every family home now in the village!

Remy remembered this home from our last visit and started climbing the stairs!

We checked out a green-house that Y-Via installed here so villagers can have vegetables year round.

 

I wish the children of Umsang all the very best in learning to read and hope that in time their library can be expanded, but at least we've made a start!

Tenzin helped with the boys all morning in the most kind and cheerful way.

Xavier strikes a pose out the front of the library.

Xavier and Mr Tandin cross the bridge back to Chumey.

A special thank you to our friends at home and in Canada who donated generously and made this all possible.

 

Loving Learning - Maths

It was a lucky moment for me when classes were being divided up at the start of the year that I ended up teaching not only Class 2 English but also Maths.
I really enjoy the breadth that gives me here - and for my Class 2s means they are immersed in English for four hours a day with me, like it or not!

Its also been a blessing that the school could not find a curriculum guide for me, so I have been able to use my experience with teaching year 2 maths at home as a guide, while really responding to the needs of my students and teaching them where they are at.

This meant for the first half of the year we concentrated on consolidating number concepts for numbers up to 100. At the start of the year it appeared that they had never learned counting patterns, nor had any knowledge of basic number facts to 20. We started right back at the beginning, learning to count, add and subtract.

Add to this, at the time, many of them had very limited (if any) English, and so my style of teaching maths in a hands-on way was all the more necessary. Teaching abstract maths concepts using a language kids don't have a good grasp of could be a nightmare, but I feel that the kids have made enormous progress and I like to think it is because as much as possible I have used engaging, hands on methods of teaching (just as we do in Australia) and I've never been so certain of how important this is.

Also, we do not have access to photocopying, so for all the practise work involved in mastering algorithms, I have made countless little cards so that a) I can group students according to ability and b) I know students are working independently on their own questions, not copying. (which is rife here, with students eager to please and fearful of the consequences of getting questions wrong).

Grouping students has been possible as I make use of the library where we have room to spread out. I have room to teach a group of students on the floor using manipulatives while a group of more capable students works independently on a task at the tables. My groups are fluid and depend on the task at hand. It is awesome to see that the group with higher needs is developing so much more confidence in their abilities in maths, and are really not too far behind now. In a classroom which didn't allow for this catering to difference this group of children would be left behind. I just hope I have given them enough skills, knowledge and belief in themselves to carry them forward.

To perhaps inspire other teachers in developing world settings I have lots of photos to show what we do with very limited resources. And friends and family who donated supplies will see what we've been able to do with all your bits and pieces!

Number

 



We began with using 10s frames (I made by hand with cardboard and a pen) to develop counting, grouping numbers by 10, addition and subtraction number facts to 20.

The children really took to the hands-on way of learning - and for many using manipulatives has helped them grasp concepts that otherwise would have been very difficult in an ESL environment.

My handy collection of recycled bottletops again comes in handy learning 'missing addends'.

Before my paddlepop sticks arrived from Australia, we continued to use 10s frames to begin working with numbers beyond 20 (up to 100).

I brought my maths mat from home - a 100s chart (hard to see in the photo, but it has all the numbers from 1-100 in a grid). We have used this in many ways to develop number awareness to 100 and addition and subtraction skills.

We rolled a number on the maths mat and then kids raced to make the number on the tens frames.

By the time my paddlepop sticks and rubber bands arrived, the kids had a good grasp of place value and we used them to practise bundling numbers, again using the maths mat. This was Remy's birthday and he popped in to visit us!

In Australia we commonly use paddlepop sticks, bundled into groups of 10 to build an awareness of place value.

 We had fun learning 'rainbow facts' - all the combinations of facts that add to ten.

I've used my number cards (and another set of similar ordinal number cards) in many ways for kids to learn how to read the and write the number words.

 Xavier and Yeshi work on putting numbers in ascending order (my little number cards come in handy for lots of different activities).

More ascending order, the numbers getting more challenging.

Exploring three digit numbers using playing cards - making the highest/lowest number possible with your three cards.

Looks like fun!

I was very lucky to find a few boxes of 'MAB' blocks that are the next step along from paddlepop sticks and teach numbers to 1000 and beyond in a concrete way. Here the girls are playing a game with dice to learn about 'trading' in addition.

I made cardboard dice with 1, 2, 10, 20 and 100 on the sides. Kids roll the dice and add it to a number card. Some chose to use the MABs to help. Working in groups allows for conversation around the topic and more capable kids helping their friends.

Another pic of the game.

We've now progressed to adding and subtracting double digit numbers up to 1000 with trading. How far we've come!

I made number expanders to develop awareness of the different representations of numbers to 1000.

 Fractions

Folding and chopping coloured paper to learn common fraction.

Luckily the kids love pizza here, so they enjoyed making pizzas and...

chopping them up to share with their family members!

Bottletops came in handy again when we were looking at fractions of a group.

Probability

Rolling dice to explore the probability of each number being rolled.

We used recycled cereal packets, and put 5 bottle tops inside - 2 of one colour and the other 3 different colours to explore more complex probability. They really got it!

The kids had fun flipping Australian coins (Bhutan doesn't have any coins) and seeing whether heads or tails came up more often.


Time

Learning the days of the week, months of the year and seasons has been a big challenge. Here I have a group game - each group gets a little ziplock bag of words to put in the correct order - first team finished is the winner. Lots of repetition seems to be working!

 Northern hemisphere seasons - still trick me, and I told Xavier not to bother memorising these!

 

I made a large teaching clock out of cardboard and its as good as any fancy plastic one I've used at home!

 

We made paper plate clocks (thanks to some split pins sent from home) and they have been so useful to help teach kids to tell the time.  A big hit!

 

 

Measurement

 

I brought in a bag of ordinary household items to measure.

 

Even measuring beans!

 

We used colourful streamers to measure parts of our body...

 

and then measured the streamers to find the exact length.

We've made air-propelled rockets with paper, matchsticks, straws and streamers and tomorrow will measure how far they fly. On Monday we'll write a procedure! Its all coming together!

 

 

Looking through this selection of the hours of maths time we've had this year,  I feel really happy with how far we've come. I'm happy to document what we've achieved and I look forward to an opportunity to share all this good stuff with my teaching colleagues here before I leave.

 

 

Global Classroom

I recently read this interesting article about the 'Global Classroom'. It discusses how for many families in western countries now, taking the family travelling overseas is more achievable than ever before. A long list of places that would be interesting, educational and potentially life changing for children is suggested, and I’m happy to say that we’ve visited at least one place on the list as a family (Chiang Mai) and would definitely recommend it for families.

Some take it a step further and make travel their life and the world their classroom on a permanent or at least semipermanent basis. We read a book called 360 Degrees Longitude before we left Australia and I guarantee you, it is just the inspiration you need to start dreaming big! On the other hand, just google 'worldschooling' to find out more!

I started thinking about the value for our kids of the year we have been having. We had the experience of on-the-road travelling in Thailand, and both boys were fascinated and learned so much. Xavier remembers very detailed things from that trip, and even Remy occasionally recalls things from Thailand, so it has made an impression.
 

I made travel journals for the boys to keep a daily record of our time in Thailand.

I wonder what imprint the bulk of our year away – our time in Bhutan – will leave on their life?

Certainly, the slower pace of life, the ‘normal’ routines we’ve established, the friendships we’ve made mean that they can really absorb life here, almost to the point that this becomes their 'normal'.

I really recommend an experience like this to families with young children – we were fairly burnt out from lack of routine, eating in restaurants and travel after about five weeks – it is so much easier now that we have regular bed times, food that is somewhat normal and a slower pace. We enjoy travelling when the opportunity arises, but it is good to come home (even though our home is still in Bhutan!).

Xavier is definitely having an unconventional first year at school, but I think he is gaining so much from the experience.

Here he is flipping Australian coins in our maths lesson on probability.

 

Some of the aspects of life that were challenging for me as a parent at the beginning of the year are less so now. I worried that we didn't have access to all their favourite foods at home for example, or all of the fun experiences like playgrounds, fun parks, birthday parties that are a common part of life in Australia.  But now both boys have come to terms with living with less – and not getting everything they want when they want it. Quite often we just have to say sorry, we won’t have any apples or bananas or whatever till the weekend, or sorry, we can’t get that in Bhutan. Most of the time they barely bat an eyelid. I no longer feel so convinced that children need all those fun parks, expensive toys and adult-generated fun to have a worthwhile childhood.

Xavier felt a huge sense of achievement for climbing to the top of Tiger's Nest.

 

Things that used to cause a lot of complaints at home like meal-times and brushing teeth are much easier here. There is much more of a sense of having to eat what is available whether you like it or not (no convenience foods, takeaways or even icecream/custard/yoghurt available as after dinner treats). Knowing that some of his classmates literally have no breakfast or lunch sometimes has had a sobering effect on Xavier – I see him grasping this with a new level of maturity and realising how fortunate he is.

Seeing children at school with black rotten teeth means that neither boy complains about teeth brushing. On the contrary, they go off and brush their teeth morning and night with little need for reminding. In Australia we talk about the consequences of not brushing, but here it is a visible reality.

Young children are generally very accepting of others despite differences, and I’m happy to see that the boys have made friends with all sorts of children here, without any prejudice. They are happy to play non-verbal type games, or understand broken English. Xavier often praises his friends when he notices their English improving – one playmate from India couldn’t speak English at the start of the year, but recently has started speaking beautifully (she is immersed in three languages here), and he is really enjoying her company. They have also had the opportunity to meet with many new adults (especially our BCF friends) who have treated them with love and care like surrogate aunties and uncles.

 An interesting part of not having many English speaking friends is that the boys have become 'best buddies' and get on so well together.

Here they are finding a hidey hole at Paro Dzong.
 

 

Both boys are definitely aware that English is not the only language in the world. They are aware that some people can speak multiple languages. They have both picked up vocabularly here, and have seen Bob and I struggle to communicate with people here in Dzongkha. Xavier has listened to half an hour of Dzongkha every school day at assembly and at other occasions so I think in the future he will be considerate of the enormous effort it takes to learn another language. Often as native English speakers we can get a bit self-important due to having mastery of the 'global language', but it is good for all of us to be surrounded by people who speak three or more languages fluently, and be put in our place a bit!

The children are having an opportunity to live in a small rural community so different to home. I remember once taking them for a long drive out to the countryside beyond the Gold Coast to see horses. Here we walk past horses and cows daily grazing on the side of the road. We talk about where milk comes from (Remy goes with Bob to the dairy to collect milk and cheese so hopefully has a good understanding that milk doesn’t suddenly appear in milk cartons!).Our main entertainment after school and weekends is going for a walk to the river, picking berries by the stream, walking to a monastery, or going for a picnic in the forest. All that fresh air and nature is so calming and good for the soul.

Remy and I bravely cross this scary suspension bridge!

 

Xavier, being that bit older has already got the itch to travel, and week by week he changes his mind about where we should go next. He is fascinated by all the countries of the world he hears of and now when a country is mentioned on the news his ears prick up, especially if he has a connection to that place i.e. Canada – that’s where Heather and Sarah D are from! We've got some good apps on the ipad (we do have some 21st century toys!) that are suitable for his age that extend his interest in geography and travel.

And so I have no doubt that as a family this will not be the end of our adventures. Although we’ll all be so pleased to settle back to a new type of ‘normality’ at home, I think it will only be a matter of time before we start the process of dreaming again. I think we have learned that as a family we value experiences over things (we came here with next to nothing and will leave with just our suitcases, but enormous wealth in memories), and so saving for the next adventure may not be so hard.

The intensity of this experience makes me inclined to a journey of a shorter duration next time, which will fit in better with school and work. We're thinking houseswapping maybe a great way to have an opportunity to have a deeper local experience somewhere (Paris is Xavier's choice!), and also cut costs.

I love how this photo sort of sums it all up.

Do you have itchy feet, and where would you like to take your children for an eye-opening experience?