WEEK IN REVIEW

We've come to the end of another long week.  I did a bit more substitute teaching — Language Activities for a P4 class and English for P5 — in addition to my regular Reading classes for P3.

On Monday I was in charge of the lower-Primary Cub Scouts during which I (tried) to teach them the Scout Motto ("Be Prepared"), Oath, and Rules.  I'd made a worksheet that explained each of these — both in English and Thai — but this group of Scouts just don't seem interested at all.  The Thai Scouting program is a big part of teaching morals to students in the schools here but I'm finding it difficult to reach the kids in this way.  Perhaps my co-Scout teachers (Tony and Ted) will have more luck this coming week.

During my lunchroom break duty on Wednesday, a P1 student came up to me saying he'd lost his shoes.  When we began to look for them I asked where he'd last seen his shoes to which he replied in all innocence, "On my feet, teacher."  File this under "the funny/cute things kids say..."

Friday was extremely eventful as I was given a Homeroom, sort of.  The teacher in P3 Yellow had had some problems so the school's director decided to move him to another level.  I've been given the responsibility of teaching all the English-related courses (including Phonics, Language Activities, etc.) for that class in addition to my P3-level Reading classes.  Two very experienced teachers will teach the Math and Science courses in P3 Yellow (one has been at the school for eight years now), sharing the class with me.  Unfortunately, I don't get to take over the Extra Lessons in the afternoon (which means more pay) but at least I'll be learning more of the homeroom routines and have a chance to tackle the administrative duties (paperwork) as well.

That evening was the P3 Parents' Night.  Our school's director personally came to the P3 Yellow classroom so he could explain the change in teachers and introduce us to the parents.  I was a bit nervous at first but the parents soon warmed up to me when I answered their questions about how long I'd been in Thailand (virtually every Thai I meet are very impressed when they find out I have a Thai wife and family).  One of the mothers invited me to her son's birthday party the following day.

The party was held in a very nice house in Land & Houses Park — a gated community about five minutes from our home in Chalong.  Upon arriving at the clubhouse I heard some children call out, "Hello, Teacher Mark."  The more I teach, the more I run into my students at all sorts of places.  Teachers Dave and Donna were there waiting for Teacher Cornell.  When he arrived we made our way to the parents' home.  It was a very nice get-together.  The father is from America; he and his (Thai) wife had laid out a very impressive spread of food that included guacamole with chips, baby-back ribs, and fajitas.  I gave everyone a crash course in how to prepare and fold a fajita.  There was cake and ice cream for desert and I'm still full almost 24 hours later!

My wife had a good time as well as the hostess's mother is from Lamphun (Tim's home province) and they spent sometime talking about that area.  We did have to leave earlier than I would have liked but we needed to check on Alex who'd been left with a couple of Tim's friends.

I've been fairly lazy today — working on the computer (some school-related work, some music-related tasks) and watching a bit of television.  I think I'll try to read for an hour or so before going to bed.

SUBSTITUTE TEACHING

With under a week of real teaching under my belt I'm already being farmed out to teach at different schools.  Actually, Kajonkietsuksa's original campus — Kajonkietpattana — was in desparate need of an English teacher to fill in from Monday to Thursday this week since the regular instructor had to go to Bangkok unexpectedly.  Since I've been "co-teaching" with Timmy it was natural that one of us would be the substitute and I was given the opporunity; they asked me on Friday if I could do this.

All weekend long I dreaded going to work at the other school.  Afterall, I'm still a complete "newbie" and still trying to figure out the routines at Kajonkietsuksa.  I needn't have worried as today was a piece of cake.  I do have to go to my "home school" in order to clock-in each morning and return in the afternoons to time out but that's the only real annoyance — since we live so close to Villa 5 we don't have to drive too far out of the way.

I do have to be at Kajonkietpattana each morning before 10am but the first English class isn't until one in the afternoon.  Upon arrival this morning, I was given a stack of lesson plans to choose from each following a different theme.  I chose "water" and then spent an hour expanding on the given outline — I began with a brainstormer of different uses for water (drinking, bathing, swimming, etc.) and added vocabulary for different forms (liquid, frozen, hot, cold, etc.) before throwing in a word search using most of the vocabulary.  Anyway, the remainder of the downtime before my first class was spent checking email in the school's computer room and perusing various books looking for games and other activities I could do.

I also spent some time talking to the other teachers in the English Program office — there are four Filipina ladies and one gentleman from England.  Teacher Jeff has lived in Thailand for nine years now and has taught at Kajonkietpattana for the last three.  He told me how laid-back the school was compared to Kajonkietsuksa and the ladies kept asking if I was going to stay there for next term rather than going back to Villa 5.

I'm not even sure of the level of the class I taught.  Judging by percieved ages I'd say the kids were about as old as my P3's at Kajonkietsuksa but I do have a difficult time telling ages of Thai children.  The big difference came in the level of their English comprehension.  Where my home school is bilingual and the kids receive four or five lessons in English daily and only one of Thai, the kids at this school only have two English classes each day.  I'd planned to use the first 50-minute period talking about the different uses for water and then given them the wordsearch during the second lesson.  But I lost them with "drinking"; although I recovered a bit by mentioning the Thai word for "swimming" (wai nam) I decided to just hand out the wordsearch.  This brought forth a big cheer from the students (all 30 of them — another difference as I only have eleven in my class at Kajonkietsuksa when they all show up); I'd been coached that they really love the wordsearch sheets.

This kept them busy for the remainder of the period although the second half brought forth plenty of cries of "teacher" as they begged for help on the few really elusive words.  Luckily, I had an answer key that help enormously.  They went on a break at 2:00 and I searched through my backpack looking for an idea for the last period.  I found a wordsearch I'd printed out at Kajonkietsuksa and even though the subject matter was aliens and outer space I decided to use it.  Unfortunately, I didn't have an answer key and couldn't find all the words before the kids returned from their break — this was a really difficult puzzle as many of the words were backwards and upside-down.  But it did keep most of the kids occupied until about fifteen minutes before the end of the period (it was a major victory once I'd found the last few words myself).  I did let the noise-level get a bit loud at the end as I helped the few stragglers and allowed the others to play at the back of the room.  Right before everybody ran out of the classroom, I did get them seated and they yelled a "Thank you, teacher.  Have a nice day" in chorus (the first period began with "Good afternoon, teacher.  How are you today?" to which I said, "I am find.  How are you?" and they all responded in unison, "I am fine, teacher.").

Even though I relied on the wordsearch puzzles, I think my first day at Kajonkietpattana went very well.  It was much easier than I'd thought it would be and the "crowd control" was much easier than at Kajonkietsuksa (poorer parents equals better behaved kids, perhaps?).  Also, my four days as substitute is really just two days of work — the kids are going on a field trip Wednesday and then they have a end-of-summer-course party on Thursday.  I'm sure Timmy and the others will be jealous once I report back to them...

YOU CAN CALL ME 'AJARN'

I got a job!  I start Monday as a Reading/ESL instructor for P. 3 at Kajonkietsuksa School, just five kilometers or so north of our new home in Chalong.  It was the first kindergarten and primary bilingual school in Phuket and is one of the highest-regarded schools in the province.  I'll be coordinating with the Thai P3 teacher and an English reading teacher who will send me students in small groups who will read for me while I correct pronunciation and test for comprehension.

Summertime hours run from 8:30am to 3:30pm so it gives me a good chance to get my feet wet before the new term begins in mid-May.  It sounds like the first day will consist mainly of paperwork; the school will handle my Teachers License application and Work Permit and these costs are deducted out of my first three paychecks (3000 baht each time).  It certainly helps that I already have a Non-Immigrant (O) visa as I can remain in the country on that until the end of next January.

There is plenty of cause for celebration in Casa de Jochim tonight but a proper night out will have to wait until next week while I wait on a money transfer (too many moving-related expenses this past week).