First Week of Teaching

The first week of teaching was...rather hectic. It was a lot of adjusting, getting used to the way the school is run, getting used to the students and getting used to the teachers. Monday, the 21st, was really overwhelming. I got to school and then I was meeting teachers left and right, none of whom were my co-teachers, but half of them so conveniently happened to be Neil or Jacob's co-teachers. (Neil and Jacob are two Americans teaching at my school as well.) And half is a bit of an exaggeration, that was just the way it felt at the time.

So, the first day, we met teachers, got our schedules and taught. I had no co-teachers that day, mostly because they were busy doing other first day things, but it was still a bit of a harrowing experience to go in there, still unsure of how exactly the school worked and to be all alone. I ended up scrapping most of my lesson plan that day, when trying to let the students talk in English simply degraded into talking in Thai. Which they do anyways. I went with a super simple lesson plan, just self introductions and a game, it was a pretty boring idea, but it worked and was easy so I stuck with it for my first week.

Most of the classrooms don't have air conditioning. The ones that do are the gifted classes...basically the smartest kids. There are about 50 kids in each of my M5 classes, and in my M2 there are about 55. It's insane...I don't really know how they expect to learn with such large classes, but you've gotta try. I guess I'm not very good at discipline...I don't really try too hard to control them. As long as they pay attention when they need to, I'm not gonna yell at them for talking in class...

Umm, let's see. I think the worst part of my schedule so far is that I have 7am gate duty on Wednesday, where we have to come in early and stand at the front gates and be all like "Hi, Hello, Good Morning" to the students as they walk in. The worst part is that I don't have class until 10 on Wednesday...but I'd have to be there at 7:30 anyways...I have a pretty nice schedule. I have one day with 5 classes, two with 4 classes and two with 3 classes. 10 are M5 level and 9 are M2 level. I'm done with my classes by 2:20 every day, even if I don't get to leave then. I still end up feeling like students do though...eager to get out of there by the time 4pm rolls around.

They have a nice cheap cafeteria to eat lunch in with some yummy fruit and ice cream...the prices are probably about half of what you'd pay on the street. The school makes it cheaper basically. Let's see...it gets really warm during the day, even with fans and wind going everywhere. The worst part is when you get so warm you don't realize it until you step into air conditioning and you're like "omg this feels wonderful". Then you step back into the heat and you're like "omg this is terrible"! I don't know that I'll ever truly get used to the heat...it always feels better after it rains though!

It was a pretty quiet weekend. We had a half day on Friday because the King was coming to Ayutthaya. It was pretty nice. I didn't go, but I watched it on TV. Everyone here gets super excited over their King. Friday night just hung out with the other teachers. We went to a club, where the bass was so loud it felt like it was literally thrumming through you. I thought it was pretty cool in that aspect. There's something neat about feeling music like that. Saturday was some shopping and an attempt to see the Avenger's...which didn't work out so well since it was only showing in Thai language that day...and because Men in Black 3 had just come out. We went to see Men in Black 3 which was pretty amusing. Sunday was more chore shopping.

Today, the start of week 2. I am pleased to report that I am at least feeling more confident about teaching. I think it can only get better. The rain pouring outside my room right now sounds really awesome and is bound to cool down the temperature for the evening. Anyways...I think that's my report for the week! All nice and typed up. Until there is more to say....