It’s been difficult to get access to the internet this past month, which is partially why my blog hasn’t really started up and running yet. Not to mention that since I left New Brunswick on September 20th (over a month ago – holy cow!!!) I have been INCREDIBLY busy. First I spent a few days visiting my brother and the Sharples girls in London, Ontario, followed by an evening playing jazz music with a friend’s band in Guelph, and finishing with a lovely 3 days with Lisa and David. THEN, I was in New York visiting my friend Sahnah, looking into a couple of Master’s programs at various New York universities, and visiting my Aunt Louise. When I finally arrived in Bangkok on October 8th, I immediately left on a two week vacation, the details of which will be the subject of another blog entry. I returned from vacation Saturday October 25th, had a lovely luncheon with Dean Speros, who was visiting Bangkok from Lake Forest College, that same afternoon, spent Sunday resting and recuperating, and jumped into the swing of things at school on Monday morning.
Phew! I told you it’s been a busy month. So please excuse my lack of blog entries and contact to those of you who have been waiting to hear from me.
So. School. Grade 7 English, to be precise.
Monday morning at 8:15am, I left my apartment with Muna and Justin and went to school for the first time. I visited the campus and went to a meeting for all the foreign staff, where I was introduced as Britney Spears (to which I turned a bright shade of red). After turning in my paperwork to process my work visa, I met with the Director of Curriculum and the Director of the Secondary Foreign Staff. I was given an introduction to the department as well as what would be expected of me. I spend the rest of Monday as well as Tuesday getting myself acquainted with the material, the other staff, and my classroom.
Wednesday morning I walked to school with a bit of added nerves. It’s one thing to stand up in front of a group of 8 year olds, and a completely different thing to stand up in front of 13 year olds! I wanted to be cool and friendly, but show the kids that I mean business too. I had been warned by Robert (the director of Secondary Foreign staff) that the grade 7 kids were quite naughty (as a result of having 3 different English teachers in the past year!) and advised to start the semester off strictly so that I could control my class better. And it was sound advice, as Thai kids (like Nepali kids) talk all the time in class and are much more rowdy that Western kids (if you can believe that!). So after having the kids ask me about myself and share a bit about themselves, I laid down the law! Hope it’ll work – I’m not naturally much of a discipliner, but I guess I can fake it.
My first impression of the kids (other than that they were loud and a bit inattentive) was that their English did require a lot of work, but I expected as much. They don’t speak nearly as well as the grade 7 kids I met in Nepal, but I think it’s due to the history of the two countries. Also, they are not as respectful of teachers (which I find surprising since teaching is a much more respected career in Thailand than in Nepal). In class they are respectful enough, but outside of class they don’t say hi to teachers or let teachers through the crowded hallways.
Nonetheless, after teaching again today I did notice that the kids do seem sweet and some seem quite eager to learn and express themselves in English, so I think that things will go well. I asked the kids to get into groups and discuss different aspects of Thailand that they can teach me about, such as food, Bangkok, culture, and places to visit. They seemed to have a lot of fun working in their groups (see – I can work with their natural social instinct) and most tried very hard and with much enthusiasm to describe the different things in Thailand they were telling me about. It was very heartening to see this. I’ll try to remember always to pick topics the kids are interested in and know about so that they are more likely to want to talk about them.
I also noticed that many kids like to draw (and they are AMAZING artists), and after reading some of the work they did last semester, I see that many are very creative (unlike the kids I taught in Nepal). So I am going to use this to my benefit, and did so today, asking them to create a comic strip describing what they did on their October holiday. Tomorrow is Halloween so I think we will act out some scary stories (the kids love drama) and do a few fun Halloween puzzles. Should be fun!
But I’m so tired, I’m definitely happy it’s Friday and I have two days of rest.
P.S. There are seven sections of Grade 7, and I am teaching 3 of them. This makes for about 20 contact hours, as each class sees me between 40-120 minutes per day.
School Days
