The last week of July was Summer English School in Hanhongor. Held partly to appease the many parents of bored children in Hanhongor and partly because I wanted to try out some new lesson plan material, it grew from 9 to 16 students over the week and was a lot of fun. The students ranged in age from 9 to 45 and there was always at least two 1-5 year olds in the crowd to keep things exciting (i.e. Mongolian kids don’t wear diapers). We went over the basics like greetings, numbers, weather, time, and the alphabet, but we really focused on speaking. The most popular activities were counting practice while jumping rope,

student generated crossword puzzles,

and anything that involved smacking flascards with fly swatters.

In retrospect I should have offered a longer and less English focused summer camp as the kids were just starving for stimulation. Summer school reminded me just how much fun teaching can be when you have students who really want to learn-to the point of exhaustion!