Andrea's Visit: Physical Education Class

January 18, 2019

Andrea's Visit: Physical Education Class

My sister Andrea is studying Kinesiology at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire, so I invited her to come and teach a gym class to some of my students here in Thailand. As a Peace Corps Youth in Development volunteer, my program has two objectives; (1) Improve Life Skills and Community Leadership Abilities in Youth and (2) Develop Healthier Lifestyles for Youth. Under objective 2 is teaching sports and physical activity, so Andrea's Physical Education class fits in perfectly.

I introduced my students to Andrea as "Crew An." Crew means Teacher in Thai, and An is short for Andrea, which is not a common name.

With the younger students, first through third grade students, Andrea taught Duck-Duck-Chicken (because I don't know how to say Goose in Thai), yoga, dance, and some scarf activities. These activities increased their heart rates, and improved hand-eye-coordination, tracking, and English listening skills (as Andrea taught in English).

With the older students, fourth thru eighth grade students, Andrea taught Kickball, a Wisconsin Elementary playground favorite. Generally, Kickball is an excellent sport to exercise, think about strategy, and practice communication. For these students, where soccer and volleyball are playground kings, it also involved new skills such as catching and throwing. Through teaching Kickball, Andrea also taught about American school playground culture. Even though Andrea has left, my students beg every week to go outside and play kickball.

And how can you say no to faces like these?

Check out this video for a glimpse of all the fun Physical Education activities Andrea did with the students!