During this lesson we focused on getting the interns to talk and extending conversations. We played a partner game where each intern had to answer a question about how they were feeling and then answer a follow-up question. For example, if someone was asked, “How are you?” they could respond, “I am hot because it is sunny outside.” Then their partner might ask, “How hot is it today?” We had the interns imagine they were in several different locations, such as an airport, a sport field and a party.

Our instruction for the day focused on using correct verb tenses and conjugations and using comparatives. We went over some important verbs for the interns to know. Afterwards we generated new vocabulary words for each simulated location. The interns came up with a great list! We tossed the ball around and used the words in sentences. Then we played the “20 Questions” game with our new words.

Just before lunch, representatives from the organization Euro Burma Office, a major funder of KWAT, and an auditor from the Swedish government visited the intern house to check on the program. We learned about some of KWAT’s other partners and funding sources from them.

At lunch we tried some new Kachin foods, including a bean sprout salad with tofu and a different style of pork soup. After lunch we listened to the songs “Strangers Like Me” and “Black or White” and discussed the lyrics.

We finished the lesson with some dialogue-based games. In groups, the interns had to come up with sentences of a certain length that incorporated the words we selected. We got up to fifteen-word sentences. Our last activity was a role-playing dialogue in front of the class. An intern and a GROW team member asked each other questions pretending to be in a certain place, like at a party or playing soccer.

In the evening, we had our final Thai lesson with Khruu O. We learned about colors, negatives, fruits and the prison that Khruu O lived near as a child. We highly recommend Inspiration Language Centre for Thai lessons in Chiang Mai.