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Where Are You Going? As my days in Thailand wore on,
I know I now have
a valid observation,
My students have
difficulty saying
The ing-form of
verbs, as in "GOING"
When they want to
ask, "Where are you going",
They will say
"Where do you go?"
Naturally the
answer will also be leaning
and starting with
the phrase, "I am go..."
I always tell them
that to practice is wise,
Say words over and
over again , not just twice,
They may not all
become certified masters,
but tried and
practiced hard, that's all that matters!
I thought of a
game and soon I devised,
A quick way to
practice saying it nice,
Where the class
will ask aloud, "Where are you going?"
One by one each
student will get a turn answering.
The rule of the
game in the beginning, I told,
Think of provinces
in Thailand, be unique, be bold!
They can
mention provinces in the North tip or down the South tip,
"Just exclude the
small islands, all of that, let us skip."
A name of
a province may only be given once,
Once already
mentioned, there is no second chance,
He who repeats,
gets a piece of tape on his shoulder,
It's a mark that a
punishment will be given when game is over.
The game started,
I was amused, everyone was listening,
What a relief! For
once, they all had quit talking!
They made sure
they don't repeat any name of a province,
Maybe afraid that
the punishment will somehow give a wince.
Where are you
going? I am going to Nakhon Sawan,
Where are you
going? I am going to Samut Prakarn,
Phetchaburi,
Suratthani, Chonburi, Lopburi, Suphan Buri,
Phichit, Chumphon,
Nan, Phattalung, Pattani.
Rayong, Khon Khaen,
Songkhla, and Nakhon Nayok,
Loey, Chiang Mai,
Chiang Rai, then somebody said Bangkok,
Everyone
disagreed, that answer they cannot accept,
Bangkok is not a
province, better say Sisaket or Kamphaengphet.
A nice part of
this game , soon unexpectedly came up,
When one of the
boys in the class mentioned Narathiwat,
"I am going to
Narathiwat", he said, and they all laughed,
Because they know
that in there, there's an ongoing combat.
In some of the
classes where the students are bright,
They paid close
attention and answered with all might,
So at the end of
the game, there were only a few,
who had to be
punished and told to dance on cue.
It was a very nice
game, it brought a smile and glee,
Exciting,
not boring, I'm sure everyone will agree,
A practice in
saying the verb GO + i-n-g
With a little bit
of lesson in learning Thai geography.
As I said goodbye
to the class that I met on that day,
They wanted me to
go on and they said "Please Ms. Jean, Stay"
I had to move to
the next class, and had to leave them on that spot
Behind me,
laughing and asked "Where are u going?"
I said "I'm going
to NARATHIWAT.
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