Burmese Learning Centre Experience

Yesterday, Noon and I went to Burmese Learning Center for a visit. It was my first time visiting them. The school is very colorful thanks to the help of the YOUTHLINC volunteers last June and July. It has made the school such an inviting place for the children to play and learn! The students are Burmese migrant children and they hardly speak Thai or English. So, communication was a barrier between me and the children. However, that did not stop me from engaging with them during class. I had the chance to teach them English even though it was just for a short period of time. There was no teacher in the classroom so I took the opportunity to communicate with them and teach English phrases that were written on the whiteboard. They were very active in participating in class! It felt like an achievement when they call me “Teacher”. Although I still have a long way to go but teaching these children helped me through the process to become a good teacher. What I remember most is that they were very excited to show and teach me some of their hand games that I find really amusing! Some are the same hand game I used to play when I was a kid. These children are also very polite with teachers. When they saw me walking outside of their class, they would immediately ‘wai’ and greet me out of respect. When I wanted to take pictures with them, they just joined along and made up all the silly and cute poses that they could think of in front of the camera! The kids would run up and hug me when I would take pictures; it was so sweet of them! I also found it interesting that they shredded recycled colored papers and soaked them in water. Noon told me that they will paste them on a piece of canvas or paper and let it dry under the sun. Making this recycled paper is one of the projects that the Burmese Learning Center does. There was this little girl who eagerly called to me to sit next to her and we shredded the papers together!   It has been a great experience for me even though it was just a short visit. I’m looking forward to seeing them again in the future!   Munirah