And Jesus said, "Let the Children Come Unto Me" Matthew 19:14 ... 2.3.11

I guess it’s probably about time I tell you about my new little friends here at Wat Preah Yesu. As you all should know by now I am helping out in the Kindergarten room. 

We have 29 students in that room! Luckily we have our disciplinarian who attempts to keep the kids in check with a bamboo stick. Yes, it’s still the dark ages here, and it’s not illegal in Cambodia so please don’t go and freak out!!

There are two Kindy teachers, Houn and Kumrang. Houn teaches in Khmer in the mornings from 7.30 – 10 and Kumrang teaches in English in the afternoons from 1 – 3.30. 

 

The kids aren’t fluent in English so the afternoons are a bit of a mixture in both languages. 

 

My role while I’m here is to help Houn and Kumrang develop an effective learning program that takes away from the more old fashioned way of ‘recite, read and write learning’ and adds a bit of play and fun into the learning.

I love my kids! They are all so cute and so much fun. And even though we can’t understand each other very well, I know that they love me and I know that they know I love them! This theory is based on the evidence in all the hugs I get and the fact that when the first one in my class sees me from the other side of the school, he/she will yell out “Teacher! Teacher Alicia!!” and then 29 children will come running to me, and all fight to hold my hand to walk me to the classroom. (Usually it ends up being one child on each finger and the rest hanging on to wherever they can get a grip on my clothes or bag!! It must be a pretty funny sight to behold!!

So these are my kids … the new loves of my life!!

And for those who are wondering, yes most of them are orphans. And yes, I do want to adopt them all!!! But don’t worry, I’m pretty sure this isn’t the year I’ll adopt :D