So my first week at Assumption is complete. Most of the week was spent observing and settling in to the routine but next week is when the reality really hits. The beginning of the week started off well, I was able to observe a multitude of classes lead by other English teachers from the UK and the Philippines. It was really interesting to see my colleagues' different teaching styles and to get a feel for what works and what doesn't.
One thing I have been finding amusing this week is that whenever I go into any of the classes I observe, the teacher always tells me that this is the 'naughty' class. My heart always sinks when I hear that but you soon realise that in Thailand, their definition of naughty just means they don't listen; in comparison to the same age group in the UK, where you can potentially expect violence and backchat, the classes here are very tame. The biggest issue right now is being able to grab their attention and maintain it throughout the class, but also realise that some students are there to genuinely learn and improve their English and some are just there because they have to be. In Thailand, they adopt of policy of 'no student gets left behind' so you are not allowed to fail anyone - even the ones who literally don't do any work...this does make it hard to control the class because the threat of failure has no hold whatsoever. Also, some kids haven't quite got the hang of saying Matthew yet - the 'th' sounds doesn't exist in the Thai language so its more like Mat-t-ew right now. So cute.
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| Students gathering for morning assembly. |
Like I said before, every morning we have to stand for morning assembly and throughout the week this can entail different activities. On Fridays, the school holds a meditation session where music is played and there is just complete silence. Also this week we witnessed some Buddhist monks come to campus to receive some offerings from the students; it is just incredible how much respect and honour they are given by the Thai people. Assemblies like that you'll find are so long that they actually run into lessons, as well as other activities the school has arranged. I've been told that it is not unusual for me to walk into class with no-one there because of an planned activity that no-one bothered to let me know about. Perhaps the greatest of these activities I have witnessed is a giant dance aerobic session that the teachers have to partake in every other Friday afternoon (I wish I had my phone on me to capture that moment because it was certainly a spectacle!) and it is just hilarious to watch; its so nice to see the teachers having a laugh and enjoying themselves in what can be a stressful environment.
By the end of the week, I was dying to teach my own classes so I was able to teach 2 of them on Friday morning. With halloween falling on that day, I decided to do something around that so I bought a bucket of candy to class with the hopes that if they understood the concept of 'trick or treat' (which they did!), then they could get a treat if they got the answer correct or if they were well behaved. I was absolutely bricking it going into my classes but I've learnt you've got to fake it until you make it so I went in with confidence and tried my best to let them know my boundaries whilst at the same time having fun with them. My first lessons centred around introducing yourself; name, age, where they are from, favourite things etc. and then having them write it about themselves whilst being able to form sentences aloud to tell other people. I had 46 students in both my classes so I was nervous that I wouldn't have enough time to ensure everyone had finished or understood the activity because everyone is at varying levels in all my classes. Despite my nerves though, I felt my classes went well even with the minor issues of attention and not listening. I could definitely tell some students were better than others so I hope in time I can create activites to keep them engaged as well instead of thinking it is too easy for them. Because of the number of students I'll be teaching (close to 500!), they are all given student numbers in their class, so I've now learnt to just call them by their numbers and in time, really make an effort to learn their names to show that I care and pay attention. The names they've adopted are so difficult though and not always what you would associate in the western world; each student here has a 'nickname' which they pretty much have with them for the rest of their life and what they are predominantly called around the school. At the end of each class, I have to fill in a log book which reports there students who were absent and how good my class were on a rating between 1-5. For my first class I gave them a 3 which other english teachers thought was harsh...I guess I should be a little nicer next time! My other class though (and perhaps my favourite and most memorable so far) I gave them a 5 because I honestly thought they worked well and did what I asked them to do.
Due to only teaching 3-4 classes a day, I am finding that I do have a lot of free time on my hands. I have been filling an hour in the afternoon going to the gym and will continue to do that during the week. Apart from that, it has been spent playing games, getting photos taken, and signing contracts for apartment hunting. We took a couple of trips to have a wonder around the apartment complex near the school and to try and find a room to rent. Luckily, there were enough rooms available where all of the new teachers could live in the complex without leaving anybody out. We viewed about 9 rooms and 1 jumped out for me and I just had to get it. It's located on the 9th floor and it feels incredibly 'homey', I have a little kitchen area, dining table, double bed, 32 inch TV, sofa bed and to top it all off, a pretty sweet view of the city. Monthly rent comes to ฿5000 (£96) a month plus utilities (ridiculously cheap right?!) and it is located about a 5 minute walk from the school grounds. We have yet to acquire any wifi so hopefully we should be getting that at the beginning of next week.
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| My new crib. |
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| Some Assumption Teachers out for Halloween. |
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