Volunteering with Workaway
With Workaway we were lucky enough to spend 3 wonderful weeks in a Waldorf kindergarten in Thailand.
A completely normal daily routine
Our day starts with a delicious breakfast and fresh fruit such as dragon fruit or mango outside in the garden on a wooden deck. We also practise playing the guitar there using an app, trying to teach ourselves the basics. Now the first children come to us around 8 o’clock and listen to the very few notes we can play on the guitar so far.
Schoolchildren
The first batch of children leave for school at around 8.30 am. This consists of a 1st and 2nd class with a total of 13 children. The pupils have to be driven a short distance to the school by the two teachers, which is sponsored by a nice man so that the children have sufficient space.
Once they arrive at the school, each child goes about his or her task and together they collect and collect the sheets of paper, set out the chairs and, after a short free play time, there is a morning circle together. Songs are sung in English and Thai, movement games are played and the national anthem is sung.
Now it’s off to the classrooms and maths is on the agenda for today. Together with Nammon, the children learn the multiplication tables through movement. The movements and counting are intended to make maths even more tangible for the children and make learning even easier later on. All the children line up in a row, except one. This child recites the one-two while hopping one child ahead. As the languages are not limited to Thai, some children count in English, Chinese, Czech or, as we were doing that day, in German.
Once the one times two, four, five and ten had been recited and all the children had had their turn, it was time for the next exercise.
The children threw a sandbag to each other and had to recite the little one times one while throwing it. Once the children had all understood the concept, a second sandbag was added, making it even more difficult.
Finally, each child was allocated a number from the one-by-two and the children shuffled around. Now concentration and remembering were required, as the children had to memorise who had which number in order to run through the one-by-two in the correct order from child to child. It’s great to see that the children have so much fun and can also laugh, but when it comes down to it they are very focused.
After the maths lesson, there is a short break and then we continue with English lessons from a lady from England, who has brought printed pieces of paper with a kind of search game and the words written on the back.
The children had to take it in turns to pick out a picture and say it in English. For the children who did not know the word, the child was allowed to draw the word on the board. When the term was found, the picture was to be outlined and the matching word was now searched for. To do this, the children wrote the word on the board with the teacher and then looked for the letters.
Once the children had diligently joined in, the teacher handed out fruit from her garden, including the mangosteen, which has a very hard skin and has to be squeezed to open. The children enthusiastically showed us how it worked, as we had never heard of the fruit before. At the point where it opens, it is then pressed open further. While the skin is pink and stains, the flesh is white and resembles the consistency of a lychee. It has its very own sweet and sour flavour and we think it’s super tasty.
Now the subjects were over for the time being and the children went about their final tasks from the lessons. Today is a short day as the last teacher is ill. So the children had to tidy up the classroom, sweep and wet-mop. Outside, it was time to rake again and when everyone had finished together, there was another break during which the children played tug-of-war and skipping rope. Others climbed trees or played races.
Then it was time to head back to the daycare centre, where we ate lunch together with the kindergarten children. Some of the lunch was cooked by the children themselves and was very tasty. After lunch, the kindergarten children went for a nap and the school children had a final session of handwork. Some continued working on their looms and others knitted. I also learnt how easy knitting is and started to make a headband myself.
After the last session, it was time to play again until the children were finally picked up by their parents.
Kindergarten children
Here, too, the children are brought in from 8 a.m. and can play both outside in the garden and inside until they all arrive at around 9 a.m.. The entire facility and all the toys are based on Waldorf education, which means that almost all the toys are made of wood or natural materials, the colours are kept natural and subtle, dolls have no faces and more.
At 9 o’clock there is a repetitive morning circle. One teacher takes the lead every day and everyone else joins in with the children. As the morning circle has a fixed routine, the children usually know exactly what is coming and can sing along to all the songs and join in with all the songs. The songs and games vary from Thai to English and Chinese.
There are movement games, songs, singing the hymn, a ritual in which one child distributes a drop of oil on the hand of another and at the end children form a gate into the centre, where breakfast is then served.
Familiar songs for us were: Aramsamsam, Hippo I tei tei e, If you are Happy and you know it and other melodies, but different lyrics.
Lupin the daycare centre dog is always with us during the morning circle. Either right in the centre or at the side, enjoying the music.
This is followed by breakfast together, where all the children and teachers sit at the table and eat together. Before the meal, table sayings are made, for example thanking the earth for the food. At the end of breakfast, they decide who will help with washing up and cleaning the tables and before everyone gets up, they thank the teachers who accompany and support the children throughout the day.
Here, too, everything is very routine and the children know exactly what to do. While the older children in particular are doing their chores, the younger ones are already playing and after a short time it’s free play time for everyone. Until around 11.30 am. Here, too, some of the children are very interested in playing with us and are very curious. They don’t care that we look different and can’t speak Thai, which doesn’t stop us from playing and laughing together for a second.
The children usually want to play more sporty games with Joshua and let him chase them around the garden or do acrobatic gymnastic exercises. We build or cook something together with sand, watch Manup, the kindergarten turtle, read books or try to speak English. Thanks to the many songs integrated into everyday life, the children can already count, name the colours or even animals in English.
After free play time, the children are divided into 3 groups, roughly 2-year-olds, 3-year-olds and 4-5-year-olds. There is always a weekly theme that the units are based on and one group always cooks a dish for lunch themselves. The children help with cutting, cracking eggs and then frying. We were also allowed to accompany a group of children in English several times for about an hour. So we decided to colour kitchen roll with natural dyes using pipettes with a batik pattern and then folded them into flowers and butterflies after drying.
While the paper was drying, we played a colour movement game similar to Fire, Water, Air, where the children could take it in turns to be the game master. Afterwards, we tidied up together and went for lunch. The children were visibly proud of the meal they had cooked themselves that day and it is always very tasty and healthy. Fresh vegetables, wholegrain rice and little meat.
After eating and cleaning up, it’s shower time. Every child went to the shower, as it is very sweaty and unpleasant in the interior of the country, especially during the rainy season, so that we start sweating even when we are doing nothing. Clean and fresh, the children were presented with a story in the form of a puppet theatre, complete with singing, and then everyone lay down for a nap together.
Joshua usually went to the computer to teach online and I enjoyed the peace and quiet and fell asleep with the children until we were woken up by the singing of the nursery school teachers.
Now we just had a small snack and the kindergarten and school children were able to play together in the garden for the rest of the time until 5.30pm. As the school children almost took on the role of teachers, we adults sat together in the garden and talked about life in Thailand and the differences to Germany, which enabled us to learn a lot.
After all the children had been picked up, we could either explore the neighbourhood ourselves on a scooter, visit waterfalls or go for a Thai massage. But the best moments were also when Nammon took us to the local market or her family for a meal, as we got to see so much from the locals’ perspective.
Our conclusion
Our time at the kindergarten was incredibly good for us, as we had been travelling around for many months and were always on the go, we were able to recharge our batteries here and got much more than a simple place to stay. We got to know so many lovely people and had lots of laughs, especially with the children. We were also allowed to go to an orphanage for boys to help with a painting programme, saw temples, went on a canoe trip with the other teachers, went to waterfalls and had a wonderful time in a place without tourists.
But none of this would have been possible without our membership of Workaway* and we wouldn’t have got to know Nammon. Nammon is a wonderful woman who made us feel very comfortable and welcome right from the start. We are very grateful to her for everything and look forward to hopefully seeing her again one day, as we are still in contact with her and a few others and also follow her latest posts on Facebook.
If you are interested in volunteering with Workaway, take a look at our article – Workaway – How you can travel the world on a budget – or send us a message.
