A morning in Huay Pu

I spend a morning at the Free School Class at the government school Huay Pu. There are just over 20 children. Jantana has 3 children who are not ready to join in the main group activities because of late development. One boy is not talking and is scared of everyone and just comes and goes to the classroom. Another boy, a bit younger, is just not 'school ripe' and plays when the others are doing writing lessons. Than there is a girl with down syndrome who plays with the second mentioned boy. The boy (Set) and the girl (Naan) are good friends but unfortunate they are very loud and naughty. Teacher Jantana has her hands full with those two! Amazing how she divides her attention between the class and those two. I had a great time playing with them. We did some painting until they thought the wall was a better choice to paint on than the paper! The game with the clay was their favorite. They made balls and blew them through a clay gate. I have lots of respect for Jantana how she runs the class! A great morning!


Wednesday is the day that students and teachers are wearing Northern Thai style costumes to school.










Naan and Set doing a clay activity with me while the rest of the class is practising writing and learning the Thai names for the colours. These children have a lot to catch up with so it is very important to get the kids into school as soon as the reach the school age. They simply can't fall behind any more. At home they speak their tribal language so school is the only place to learn Thai.