So first off, let me tell you a little bit about our school. It's located in a small village about half an hour's drive outside of Ubud, so we have to take a taxi there every day. It's a very remote place, and the locals don't see very many foreigners. We definitely turn some heads when we show up to teach every day. The building itself is a lot more than we had expected; while it is definitely still fairly primitive and lacking in everything an average western school would have, it has 4 walls, a roof, electricity, a whiteboard and some wooden desks. There are about 4 or 5 classrooms in total, and they all open up onto a large courtyard area in the middle.
The school operates as a regular government-operated Indonesian school during the mornings, and then it becomes an extra-carricular English school in the afternoon & evening. The children are not required to go to English school, but many of them choose to as it is free for them because of the volunteers through IVHQ and Green Lion. I know I certainly wouldn't be showing up to second language school every afternoon during my free time when I was 9 years old, but the children in Bali are so eager to learn; they show up prepared, optimistic, and overwhelmingly enthusiastic.
The volunteer work day starts at 9am and goes until we arrive back home around 5:30pm. We spend our mornings preparing our lessons and our afternoons in the classroom with the kids. Our total class has 24 students, but the numbers are different every day depending on who shows up. Today we had 13.
Our class is actually fairly advanced considering that they've only just started learning English this year. Some are definitely more advanced than others, but it's so cool to see their eyes light up with recognition when we connect with them, or teach them something new. Today we reviewed numbers 1-10, taught them the names of 26 different animals, played games like hangman, Rock Paper Scissors and Duck Duck Goose. We also did a few introduction activities to get to know them. Tomorrow we will be able to delve in much deeper now that we know where they're at in their English lessons.
The children can sometimes be loud, challenging, and energetic to the point of being out of control, but overall they really are a bunch of incredibly sweet, lovely kids. They're patient with us when we struggle with the language barrier, and they love teaching us, too. After today, I wholeheartedly believe that we will learn just as much from them as they will from us. What a beautiful experience this has been so far.
Sampai Nanti (Until Next Time)
Xo Ashley
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