Redefining Success

This week has been full of discovery, learning and adjusting. In a lot of ways I am designing a curriculum from square one for each after-school class. In designing each lesson I focus on a few things, teach, observe, and adjust.
I start off by trying to create an environment that is safe and conducive to learning. This involves a lot of songs, silly games, and me making a fool out of myself. Taking my dad's advice, I try to offer multiple chances for Success in the classroom, both in art and in English. This will give the students an energy for learning while encouraging them at multiple levels.
I try to incorporate a lot of speaking and interacting, as much of their English learning so far has been through books and handouts. I hate handouts. They are a sure way to stifle creative thinking, and only encourage "right answers". I understand the draw of handouts, because the students can feel success and check their answers. But all I see the students doing is speeding through the sheets and copying each other. So I try to stay away from handouts.

Encouraging speaking and interacting is my biggest challenge. I battle the system that the students feel comfortable in (rote learning and handouts), and I battle the comprehension gap (I don't speak Thai).
But I will keep on pushing through, modeling, and encouraging. Maybe one of these days my students will great me with more than " I am fine, how are you?"

As far as art goes, similar struggles arise.
In an English-speaking class room, I would have the opportunity to encourage creative divergent thinking, multiple interpretations, and self expression through a variety of strategies. The lack of verbal communication here limits me to modeling, showing examples, and crossing my fingers that someone will think outside the box. Just one student thinking outside the big usually has a domino effect, and all the students rush to create their own unique works.

So far the two staples of my art lessons for the younger groups have been : interesting technique + lots of materials.
Sometimes it works to do a step-by-step example. Sometimes it works to let them loose and hand out new materials every ten minutes. Sometimes it works to give them a huge collaborative sheet of paper and step back and observe.
I'm trying everything.
I spend a few hours planning, load up my bag with art goodies, ride into the village, and prepare to be flexible.

A really helpful study that I've been reading about, was a 6 week after school art and literacy program for children experiencing homelessness in the US (University of Memphis). The program was created from a Resilience Theory viewpoint, and it focused on creating a safe environment for creative expression about the self and the surrounding world, focusing on the strengths of the students.
The researchers had to decide to throw Literacy out the window, due to the inconsiworkncy of classes, and the restriction on time, but their art program was hugely successful. They did not measure success in the traditional sense of good grades and attendance, but instead measured the success of their program in three ways.

1. Engagement with the art making process. If students were engaged and focused on the art work, it was a success.
2. Art creation and Pride. If students created work and took pride in their accomplishments and sought to share their efforts, the lesson was well received.
3. Positive attitude


I am processing these ideas and considering how I will measure the success of this program.
Perhaps this study will influence my understanding/planning.


One thing I'd like to do more is celebrate the student's work. Often they leave the work with me, as they have nowhere to put it, but I'd like to spend some closure time with each student's piece, whether that's a group "discussion" in sign language , or a one-on-one talk.

Painting in Preschool

Once a week I teach art to preschoolers at the Banyan Centre. The Banyan Centre is a Montessori-inspired school for Shan refugees, Thai nationals, and expat children from Pai. It's a really lovely school, with a mixture of energetic staff and adorable children.
This week, as an introduction to painting, I went over colours with a hide-and-seek

game, and then taught a lesson in painting using sponges, q- tips, and pastels. The kids got quite a kick out of using these unconventional materials, and produced some lovely green, blue and red paintings.
I find that with young students, it's really successful to have lessons that have multiple exciting steps that build upon themselves. It keeps the students engaged, but also allows for creative reinterpretation of the steps.
The lesson started with just the non- nappers, but by the end of the lesson, all the nappers had snuck in and begun playing with the paint. It was a teacher's dream to be surrounded by children begging for paper and paint as they dove into the materials.

Check out their paintings!

Sketchbooks

This week was all about handing out the sketchbooks and getting to know the characteristics of each class.
Each group comes with different challenges, surprises and gifts.

The rock village students haven't had the afterschool Program since last July, but are surprisingly bright in English and are very well behaved. In their sketchbooks on the first day, I had them decorate the front page and back page with " English " and "Art" on each side. We will be using these books as sketchbooks and as visual dictionaries throughout the next months. They got really into decorating the pages in their own personal styles.
Because I had shown them a slideshow about my home/interests/family, I asked them to draw their family on page 1.  It seems that the boys gravitate towards drawing anime-esque characters, while the girls ( perhaps because they're older?) try to draw more realistically.
One student lives with just his grandma, so familt was a sensitive thing for him to draw, which I wish I had known or planned for. He was fine, but I wonder if was the best decision to start the class with a possibly sensitive topic of Family.
You can see their unique drawings below.

Painting and Photography

Saturday was my first day of really teaching!
I spent the morning with  a group of vivacious, charming 9-11 year olds ( with two four year olds joining us as well). These students live in a sharecropper's village, and are all going to Thai school in town. Their village is just off the main road (which is full of restaurants, 7-11,  and guest houses) and down a few dirt roads and all of a sudden the houses are just bare bones thatch huts, kids are running around after chickens, the families are not present, except for some men grinding corn.

The parents in one village all work in the river - picking up rocks from the river floor to be sold for building houses in town. I didn't see them working but it sounds back-breaking.
The kids were sweet and energetic; grabbing mangos off the tree, and ripping into them with their teeth, and then giggling and chasing each other around the village.

We started class by writing our names on whiteboard sheets (a really handy teaching tool ). The kids got into decorating the posters and kept on asking me to spell "I love you" so that they could write "I love you Lizzie" and giggle.
I showed them a slideshow of my family, what I like to do, and lots of pictures of snow in Pakistan- they loved looking at it all and calling out the colours of everything.
We then moved on to tackling nature, and learning about leaves/trees and flowers. Each student had to write the word on their board before drawing it. And before they could move on they all practised speaking. I found that they were really eager to draw the leaves and trees, and that they got really into adding more elements.
I felt like Mary Poppins as I pulled out my paints and handed out huge sheets of paper. They paired up and began painting natural elements on their sheets. They were really into it for a while until they somehow collectively remembered that they had some white plaster figures that needed painting. They all rushed out of the hut and disappeared for a minute. I was very confused. But they soon returned and eagerly started painting their bears, ducks and motorcycles. I hesitated and wanted to ask them to stop, but how can you resist when the creative energy is flowing?
After they had finished their plaster figures they returned to their paintings.
Ten minutes later they all got up again and began washing the brushes and cleaning the floor of the hut.
I, of course, had much bigger plans involving pastels and presentations in English. But it seems like here the kids run the show!  

What a treat to finally be painting with the kids, and to see their creative sides!

First few art days

It's been slow starting classes here this first week. Here are some common issues that have prevented classes so far.

Rain
Because everyone rides a motorbike here, as soon as the downpours start, everything is cancelled. The older students who I teach (age 14 and 15) didn't show up until much later to class on Friday due to the rain. We started late, but still managed to have a decent introductory class as they dried off inside.

Immigration

My students and their families are Shan Burmese, and they haven't been granted refugee status and are here illegally. Their lack of official status as refugees disallows them to legally work, own land, own a home, drive, and more. They are usually ok, and have found ways to continue working despite restrictions. Every once in a while, though, Immigration pays a visit from Mae Hong Son, and the community members have to make themselves scarce. This week immigration was here for two days so Kwah Dao's Thai lessons for the older individuals in the Shan community was cancelled. Additionally, one of our Saturday classes was cancelled because the woman who allows us to use her home was paid a visit by immigration, and she was spooked (understandably).

Kids are kids
Our after-school and weekend classes are coordinated by talking to the students beforehand, and through word of mouth. Needless to say, this turns into low attendance and late arrivals as our program picks up after the school holidays. Many of my students' parents are not around when we visit - either working or unavailable for other reasons.

Despite all of these challenges, classes have begun, and paintings have been painted! More in the next post!

Photos:
After the rain in Pai.

1st class : Introductions with art and English

I met my first class yesterday, at The Banyan Center. The students are the oldest group, aged 12 to 14. Yesterday there were three boys and three girls in the class, and all of them were very polite and eager to chat.
Since class started late, we did a simple introductory art making activity with some English conversation tied in.
I had the students use coloured pencils to draw one thing about themselves, or one thing that they liked.
After drawing, the students introduced themselves and explained their drawings. It was a really nice simple way to start getting to know the students and sharing interests.
Following this, each student was told to ask me one question in English, and I would ask them the same question back. This was a fun way to encourage conversation and to build background about each other.

One student in particular was a strong character. Instead of drawing on his paper, he spent the ten minutes fake drawing in the back of the room. When it was his turn to present, he showed his blank paper and said " Hi! My name is ... And I like Paper, because you can do anything with it, like draw, and write". Very clever, yeah?
And when it was his turn to ask a question he was the last student so all of the easy "where are you from?" "How many brothers and sisters do you have?" questions were all gone, so he was at a loss. He kept on asking "how are you?", but we wouldn't let him off that easily so my coteacher let me ask him five of my own questions, which he did very well at answering. Apparently he has "many"  girlfriends and his favourite colour is black because its dark. :)
Here are the photos of their drawings of things they like and their explanations
1.  " I like trees!"
2. " I like computers and playing video games"
3. " I like birds" (picture of him with his bird in a cage)
4. "I like cars and fixing cars. I want to be a mechanic when I grow up" ( picture of her in the car shop)
5. " I like listening to music"
6. " I like paper..

7. My coteacher: she likes her baby!

8.Me:  I like being outside!

First days in Thailand

After three days of travelling I've made it to Pai, where I will be teaching for three months.
Although I haven't met the students yet I wanted to share some photos and thoughts to provide some context to these next few months.

I spent two days getting over jet lag in my old stomping ground, Chiang Mai. The city has changed tremendously in ten years - with a host of new malls, endless congestion, and a sense of rush. But, it's still the same charming city that I loved as a teenager. Full of color, hidden temples, and beautiful architecture.

As I wandered I attempted to pull some basic Thai from my memory: and promptly failed. This is the first time I've experienced a country without a basic language background. It's alienating, but a true learning experience. As I stumbled through the embarrassment of my bare-bones Thai I couldn't help but think of my future students, and others who have resettled into foreign countries. What is it like to arrive in a new home and be unable to communicate? How do you cope in this new unknown world? I'm sure everyone has their own strategies and techniques, and I'm curious to learn more as my research continues.

I was happy to find two art stores that carried a lot of wonderful supplies. (See photos). But what was most exciting was meeting with Sarah Lovett, the director of Art Relief International , an art outreach Program in Chiang Mai. We met at The Free Bird Cafe, a non profit café that supports Thai Freedom House, which is an educational and cultural-preservation focused group that works with Shan refugees in Chiangmai. It was wonderful to chat with Sarah about her work with Thai Freedom House, and other groups including orphanages and juvenile detention centres in Chiang Mai. We are working on getting a team of ARI volunteers out here at some point in the summer to teach a workshop!

On Saturday I took the bus to Pai on the road with 726 curves ( yes someone counted!) and was immediately blown away by the beauty of the mountains and the landscape surrounding Pai. It's a small quiet town with only a few stoplights (maybe three), lots of Chinese tourists, a lovely Thai market with fresh fruit,  mountains all around, and rice fields by the calm Pai river. I'm excited to paint this awe inspiring landscape and to work with the students in thus setting.

This morning I met with my coteacher\boss to get a better sense of my role within Kwah Dao. The students have just returned from Summer break so it's apparently a nice breaking point for the start of a new program. I'll be teaching three different groups twice a week each,  for six days a week. I'll be focusing on English lessons during the week with arts integration, and the weekends will be art focused. The students are all Shan refugees who have settled in the villages surrounding Pai over a range of time. On a motorbike tour around town, my coworker told me that some students have grown up here while others have just recently arrived, fleeing from conflict in Burma.
A lot of the Thais in Pai are also Shan (the Shan lived in this area long before borders were established), but there can be some animosity towards the Burmese Shan. Some feel that the Burmese Shan are taking jobs that are meant to be for Thai's. I don't know much about this and am curious to learn more and perhaps use art to explore some of these issues.
I'll start on Wednesday and can't wait to meet the students and make some art with them!