First week in Mae Sariang

We finished our first week at the center! We have had some great experiences and the kids have really warmed up to us. The first day was a little frustrating because of the language barrier and we just did a lot of observing. But by the end of the week we were interacting with the kids more and we both have had opportunities to lead the classes in different activities. Jessica was with the younger kids this week in their classroom. She was able to talk to Pond, the teacher, and discuss new learning strategies. A lot of times pond would leave the class doing nothing while she focused on one student at a time. So jessica was able to explain to pond the importance of keeping everyone engaged the whole time and she got puzzles out for the kids to practice colors and animals while they were just sitting there. She also suggested to pond making a calendar with velcro for the months and days of the week as a more hands on way of learning. So next week we will tackle making calendars for both of the classes! I spent the week in the therapy room. There are a lot of kids with brain injuries and varying degrees of cerebral palsy. I saw some of the kids making progress but one girl in particular has been there for 9 years and is still wheel chair bound. It is really frustrating to see because I know with proper therapy in the US she could be using a walker to support herself now. But while they have a lot of resources for therapy, many things are outdated or they have been trained differently on how to use them. Next week we are planning a field day for the kids and we are really looking forward to that! Thank you for keeping us in your prayers!