New Teacher Tribulations

I actually have a good excuse for not blogging this time. Being a teacher is definitely harder than it looks! I've been at it for eight days now, and I think I am figuring it out. Here is the situation. I have five classes, two seventh grade, two eighth grade and one ninth grade. Each grade has a textbook, American-made high school books made in part by national geographic. I was instructed to cover certain chapters in the next 20 weeks that make up the semester, and write up a mid-term and final to evaluate the kids. Sounds pretty doable. However, my first day on the job I realized what the challenges would be. The kids have various levels of English, some are nearly fluent but the majority can barely put together a sentence. The kids are also not very disciplined, but that is really no surprise, I remember being a little punk in school at that age. Finally, the real hurdle is that we are not allowed to fail anyone. This seems to be a part of the Thai culture, that everyone moves up no matter what, so they can eventually graduate and pretend to be educated and qualified for jobs. So, while I can give tests and homework as much as I want, the kids know they will pass no matter what. Luckily the kids haven't been exploiting this too much (yet) and seem at least mildly concerned with their grades.

My first day I was thrown right into things with nothing prepared and not even knowing what material to cover. After figuring out in the book where the kids left off, I instructed the kids to read the chapter and then held a discussion afterward, doing my best to make it interesting and engaging for the kids. I did this for a few days before I realized that A. The students can not understand the textbook, B. The student can't really understand me, and C. If no one understands, chaos ensues as everyone is bored and restless. After a couple of days of screaming over them and blank stares, I knew I needed a new system. I would like to be one of those model teachers you hear about who does not use a textbook and does experiments everyday and inspires the kids ect., but my lack of materials, prep-time, and the language barrier makes this a daunting, if not impossible, task. So I have switched to a system where I write them worksheets to be completed in class, with the answers coming from the book. This is working great so far. I do my best to make the questions understandable and easy, but at the same time forcing students to think a bit about the material, and not just copying sentences from the text. Students here are not taught critical thinking skills like we are in the States, and are used to copying and memorizing answers, even if they don't understand what they are memorizing. I hope to make them think about their answers at least a little, and not just be answer robots.

The other teachers have been encouraging. My first day everyone had the same advice: no stress. We know it is a flawed education system and we have to do our best to work under it. I think it must be easy to think you have to be a superhero and change the kids' lives and be self-critical when you fall short. I am starting to realize that just establishing a routine and learning to manage a class are my first steps, and I should worry about changing lives later.

Sorry if all the education talk bored you, I just need an outlet to spill all of my thoughts.

My days are filled with routine now, I wake up at 6:30, have a chicken and rice breakfast at a little restaurant on campus, get to work at 7:30. I teach an average of 5 classes a day, with maybe 3 hours of prep time. Lunch is buffet style provided by the school, eaten with the other teachers in my department. (Think mass produced vats of food. Usually its fairly good, but some days it's chopped up hot dogs covered in ketchup.) I get done at 4:30, head across the street to my school-provided apartment, change out of my work clothes, (who would have thought I would be a person who wears a tie everyday?) and go seek out some food. Bedtime is early nowadays, staying up past eleven is foolish. You need to be on your game and feeling good to teach, being tired or, god forbid, hungover is a recipe for misery.

I will have to fill you in on the rest later. Thanks for reading!

I got a REAL job!

 Great news, I'm employed full-time! It has been a wild couple of weeks, and it is really nice to be settling in to a permanent position. I was joined two weeks ago by one of my good friends from high school, Mr. Forrest Patterson (Patty). I had stayed with him in L.A. for a few days while I was getting my Thai visa, filling his head with talk about English jobs in Thailand. Two months later he bit the bullet and flew to Chiang Mai to join me. I felt bad in the beginning because I had told him how easy getting work would be, only to find the market in Chiang Mai was already swamped with teachers, since it is such a desirable place to live. A few days after he arrived we began sending out applications via email, looking for jobs that would take the both of us, no matter where in Thailand they were. One school called us back immediately, and said they need teachers right away, and that we should come in for an interview at their office in Bangkok. The offer sounded promising, so we made the decision to move to Bangkok (now affectionately referred to as The Kok) because it seemed like thats where the jobs were. We were both intimidated by the Kok's reputation as a giant, hectic, polluted mess, but were intrigued by high salaries, active nightlife, and general excitement and exoticness of the city. We made our decision and hopped on the 12 hour train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. The ride was pleasant enough, but the train was one hour late and we were both losing our minds a bit at the end.

After two nights in a guest house we went in monday morning for the interview. We filled out paperwork, met with administrators, and gave on the spot teaching demonstrations. They gave us a third grade class and just said “Teach about any subject. Go.” I played a game involving names of body parts, and Patty was interrupted halfway through his lesson when they demanded he teach drama. This led to 5 minutes of getting kids to imitate animals, which was absolutely hilarious. Finally we met with the supervisor, who offer us positions. I took a position teaching science to 7-9^th grades, and Patty is teaching drama and math to K-3^rd. We both think the others person's job sounds much harder, so we are happy with what we got. We get a free place to live, a nice salary, and after three months a teaching visa and health insurance.

We were overjoyed with the offer, and thankful to stop job hunting and have some stability. We moved into some temporary housing today, with our permanent house not available until saturday. We start teaching tomorrow, 5 periods of 50 minutes per day, monday through friday. Not bad at all! I am going to have to brush up on my basis sciences, most notably chemistry and microbiology. I will have a Filipino aide to help me, and Patty will have a Thai. It is strange being thrust into a such a professional and important role, and starting with basically no training or guidance. But that's the best way to learn right?

The school is on the outskirts of Bangkok, and doesn't feel like it is in a mega-city. The school is huge, with 8500 students and almost 200 foreign teachers. We will be living on campus, which comes with pros and cons. Wish me luck for tomorrow!