"Under the Trees" Classroom

Monday, December 15

Myanmar unpredictability again:  I didn't know, when I said my "See you tomorrow"s with my primary students a couple days ago that there would be no more classes until after the winter break!  The principal has gone off to attend to the upcoming eye clinic opening in his village, and Lin Kyu says to just take rest until school starts up again.  Even the girls in my guesthouse have suddenly disappeared, gone home for the holidays.

Once again Aung comes to the rescue, stepping in. He said many of his novice students, still at the monastery, would be eager to meet with me during their free time, and he would talk with them.  So at 1pm about a dozen of his 10^th and 11^th graders met me under the trees and we worked on English conversation skills, doing
some dialogues from their lesson books, and questions and answers from a great "Best Questions"book

that one of the students had, many of them misspelt or misworded, as Myanmar English sentences are wont to be, but covering a vast  range, from "What do you do when you are sad?" to "Are you ever afraid of your teachers?" to "How do you honor your parents' gratitude for what they give you?" (sic)  After the older students left, younger ones came, anywhere from 5^th to 9^th grade.   Gradually there thus began what one of the students named as our "Under the Trees Class," meeting every day from about 1 to 3:30 or 4:00 for novices who were interested—usually between eight and fourteen students mostly ranging from grades 6 to 10, sometimes a younger group, sometimes an older one, I never know from day to day. 

 


The older novices are very patient and helpful with the younger—it is great having a group of mixed levels, where the ones who understand better can explain or translate to the others. Sometimes too it's the other way around, where a younger one will explain to an older one.  The are delightful to work with, very engaged.



  

novices study hall and dining room

One day when all there were no novices around because of an afternoon study period, Aung walked to  the study hall, getting permission from one of the head monks we met on the way, to invite the "under the trees" students to come out, and like a pied piper, the novices of all ages who'd been coming followed us out.

Aladdin sees the princess and falls in love

One afternoon class we turn the storybook I had of Aladdin into a play. The novices are wonderfully creative, eager.  The “princess” character draped his robe around his head to play his part, and someone on their own wove a little ring for the marriage ceremony; and when Aladdin was thrown into prison, one novice ran to get a piece of string to tie his wrists with; likewise someone found a cup for the scene where the uncle gets drunk.

Aladdin giving wedding ring to princess

[Note:  to see more photos at any point, you can go to: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129187095@N02/sets/.  The first album "Top 400" is a selection of the best photos, so that would be the one to look at unless you want to look at even more in any particular phase of the trip.]