Around the World in Eight Months – Series III

Thailand

Koh Lanta, Southern Thailand

We are now in Koh Lanta; an island in Southern Thailand. We love Koh Lanta when we arrive. It has a real island feel and mentality to it.

Life is slower and more chilled. We find a lovely couple of

rooms in a complex and find ourselves surrounded by families who have retreated here to escape the rat race. One couple have a child who was born here and have no obvious intention to return home. They earn enough to live on teaching scuba diving and get to spend their spare time on the beach. On the other side of us, we have a Ukrainian lady, who is usually based in Russia, and her five year old daughter.

They have spent the last six months travelling South East Asia alone and are due to return to Russia shortly. The lady said that she doesn’t enjoy living in Russia as she finds it too cold and apparently only returns to appease her residency requirements before taking off again. Apparently she travelled India a couple of years ago (again on her own with her daughter) and is thinking about where to go next.

The kids love staying in this complex and have befriended both Russian and Thai children. Their evenings are spent having swimming competitions and then catching toads. It’s magical to see these children relate to each other in the absence of a shared language. It’s almost as though they operate through some unspoken language as play is never impeded and they all get on like a house on fire.

How do your kids socialize with their peers?

Boys from the local madrassa

Home schooling is still going well. It’s hard, but I

love it. Both Neil and I however are fully aware that we would be unable to do it beyond Grade five as we are already struggling with understanding our oldest child’s maths curriculum. My evenings are often consumed with me taking a ‘Youtube’ maths lesson before my lesson the next day.

The other day, when teaching my child how to measure angles, I realised that I didn’t know how to use the two dials of a protractor. Floored by my own stupidity I had to ask Neil. I felt better when he admitted not to knowing either

What about Home Schooling?

In our first

week here, we enrol the children into a ‘Madrasa’ which they attend for three hours each day in a bid to teach them Arabic and the Quran. I’m so proud of my children on their first day as they rise to the challenge and throw themselves in.

First week at Klong Nin Beach Madrassah with their teacher (by Yahya)

Again, it’s amusing to watch

children communicate in the absence of language. The boys all seem to do it in the only way they know how, which is primarily by pushing each other, rolling on each other and chasing each other.

Our youngest child is the centre of much attention due to

his mischievous ways. On one occasion when the children were learning to recite a prayer, Faris contorted himself into different meditation poses and pretended to meditate whilst Neil tried desperately to untangle him and make him behave. He has also taken to wearing a Terry Towling cloth hanging out of his prayer cap in the hopes that it looks like a turban which amuses the other children.

Having

previously taught English as a foreign language to children, Neil enthusiastically volunteers us as English teachers. Part of me is really annoyed and the other part is glad for the challenge. The children are the most gorgeous, well-mannered sweet people.

My Boyz

What are the main challenges you faced during your teaching experience?

The difference in teaching style here is evident. On my first day,

whenever I say something such as ‘sit down’, the children all repeat me.

“No, I mean ‘sit down’” I say, making appropriate hand gestures.

“Sit down”, they repeat in chorus.

It’s takes a while for them to get used to me and vice versa, but soon I’ve made good rapport with them and start making some progress. I would love to do more lessons with them which involve games and running around but I have ten and eleven year old girls who appear to be at an age where they are rather self-conscious and I get the impression that they are more at home with directive learning. Hence our lessons involve considerable drilling and writing which they appear to enjoy. The building in which we are learning is yet to be complete – it is missing windows, flooring and plastering. Good enough for us and the building more than serves its purpose but I’m sure in the UK, Health and Safety would object to children learning in this environment.

The only negative is that children can

clearly not avoid the temptation of a large window without glass and we are often distracted by errant boys leap frogging through it. The other day I had to berate a little boy who had found a sharp stick and was using it to poke my students in the backs of their necks through the window. When I looked outside there was a gaggle of giggling children outside who clearly thought it was the best game ever. Retribution was served however, when I saw one of the victims exit the classroom and slap the would-be perpetrator on the head.

Where are you planning to go next? Once we’ve finished in

Thailand, we plan to go to Malaysia. Neil and I are then at loggerheads as to where to go next. I’d rather like to go to Greece and do an archaeology sweep as my eldest is a Greek mythology fanatic but Neil would rather finish South East Asia. I guess however, it’s lovely just to have the option. A year ago, we’d never have dreamt that we would be in the situation where we’d be travelling and disputing where to go next!

We would love to hear from anyone thinking of a similar venture. If you have any questions then feel free to send them

to ncpayne@kwintessential.co.uk.