Well it has been about 2 months since I started my work as an English teacher, so know I know a little bit more about it and have some stories to share.
It is both rewarding and exciting being a teacher, but can also be extremely draining and frustrating as well. Some days the lesson plans go well and you feel like you are getting somewhere, and other days you feel like your time was mostly wasted. These feeling are the most fluctuating in my class of 3rd graders. Sometimes they love the activities and get all their bookwork done, but sometimes I can’t even get them to sit in their chairs. I will discard the lesson and revert to a game, only to find that some of the students are even uninterested in that! Sometimes you just have to surrender to failure. The problem is that they are just too dang cute!
It is sad when half of the students really want to learn and the other half are too loud and rowdy that I can’t even hear myself speak. I love it when a little girl gets all worked up and yells at the others to be quite and listen to me, although that usually just adds to the general noise.
My older grades are much more behaved, but the chore is getting them interested in the lessons and to do their work. Sometimes I have to act really goofy to get their attention. They are also shy when it comes to practicing speaking English in front of their classmates and I have to beg them and give them imaginary “extra points” to get them to participate.
Every once in awhile a girl will start to cry, or a fight will break out between two friends. I never know the reason, because I do not understand Thai, so I usually just stand there and rub their backs while continuing with the lesson…these are things TEFL doesn’t prepare you for.
I finally got my uniforms for the days of the week. Monday we wear black pants and a grey polo with a green collar, Tuesday we wear a dark purple suit (not kidding, Lizzie says it makes her feel like Barney). Wednesday there is another purple suit with a skirt, but we don’t have those so we usually wear a polo they have for sports days. Thursday we have a light purple suit, and Friday it’s black pants and a green polo with yellow collar. The children all wear uniforms as well and they change depending if they are in elementary/middle or high school. Sometimes they wear their girl scouts uniforms too and everyday they wear their hair in french braids.
On Mondays I’ve started going to a yoga class in the mornings on campus. It goes on every morning, but that is the only day I have 1st and 2nd period off. They do it outside under a covered structure that is very beautiful. Now I’ve done it about 4 times and I really like it. It is very relaxing and the routine is always pretty much the same so I can follow easily, although since it is outside I work up a sweat instantly.
Last week was midterms so I have 3 days of no classes and just grading tests and recording them. It was exhausting, but I didn’t go traveling last weekend so I actually got some rest. Lizzie and I went to the gym (we also go most days after school), we went into Bangkok to go to Forever 21 and have lunch, and went out to dinner Saturday night with a Thai teacher and a Chinese teacher. We had fresh seafood and since it was too early to go out we went back and played cards in the apartment and had a few drinks. Noi, the Thai girl, does not drink, so she played with water. We had so much fun, but when it got later I was too tired to go anywhere so we called it a night and went to bed. I was really fun to get to know the other teachers better that are around our age and I think they had a lot of fun too.
This week Christmas has overrun the school! Every morning and in between classes there is Christmas music playing over the loudspeakers, they put up tons of decorations, there are games where the children can win presents, and each teacher had to buy a gift that gets raffled off and given to a student. Even the older students go crazy over stuffed animals. Some of my students requested that we have a Christmas party in their classes, so I’m letting them. I bought some tins of butter cookies to bring and they bring anything from chips to spicy octopus snacks—a little different than snacks in America.
For my 9th graders I will show them the Christmas episode of Glee during the party because I think it will be fun for them to see an American TV show, although I don’t know if the sound will be loud enough on my computer… there are no working TVs in the classrooms.
Thats just a little look back on how teaching is going for me, I'll be sure to add more later.
No comments:
Post a Comment