WHO HAVE TOUCHED MY LIFE:
I HOPE YOU READ THIS ANGEE BRATFACE BATES
TO MY FRIENDS THAT HAVE SEEN THE PICTURE OF ME OPENING MY EYES...
AND TO THE ORIGINAL EYE OPENER DREW BEAR... I MISS YOU!!
SA-WAT-DEE-CA!!! I LIVE IN A JUNGLE DURING MONSOON SEASON!!
GEEEEEZE DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HUMIDITY DOES TO MY LION MANE??
I LOVE THE STUDENTS AND THEIR UNIFORMS!!
CUTEST BOY SCOUTS AND GIRL SCOUT!!
WAIT! THE PRINCIPAL LOOKS REALLY SNAZZEY IN HIS BOYSCOUT UNIFORM!
Two days before I left home, I got an email from Ralph stating; I was no longer staying in the dorms at Maejo University or teaching English to the undergraduate students. I was a little disappointed by this news but I was very excited to live with a host family. My mom and I are both English teachers at Buakkhang, it’s a government school. I did not know my mom spoke English until learning about her position (several days after I arrived) at the school; once we start talking her English comes out.
My first week of school, I learned how much I can’t explain English and just how difficult teaching a foreign language can be. I felt completely comfortable teaching at West Jordan High School and lecturing my business class of 100 undergrad students at the UofU. Most days I speak English well (or is it good) but trying to explain why and how words should be use is difficult. I decided to work with the younger students and Stanley, who speaks a lot more Thai words, teaches the older students. I teach classes 1-6, my students range from 5 to 11. The first day was very difficult because I did not receive any help or assistance from the teachers. I cannot understand anything the students say and they can barely understand simple English words. It may sound so lazy but Teaching more than 3 or 4 classes a day is exhausting… I blame the heat.
Once again I am constantly sweating; luckily my students love me so much that they bring me tissue to damp my face and neck and lots of water. My students and the teachers tell me I’m beautiful every time I walk pass them… I feel vain but I don’t want to come home cuz I LOVE this attention!! I also get a lot a heart origami that says “I love you” in English on the front and back. I also get love notes from some of my younger boy students. They all want to hold my hand and give me hugs when they see me. The students also like to put their arm against mine but before we touch, they pull away every quickly. They don’t like to see how dark their skin is compared to mine. SO I WILL NOT BE COMING HOME WITH A TAN!!
The second week of school, I developed lessons and class structure for the 6 classes. All of the students can say and write the alphabet but most letters they cannot recognize if they are out of order. The students parrot everything I say. When I ask them “say A” I get back “say A”; so I decide to start teaching basic conversation. I start every class by having two students hold a greeting conversation. They have a hard time answering ‘how are you doing?’ I get the response ‘how are you doing’ or ‘how are you dong? I am fine.’ I review the alphabet and have the students practice writing each letters 10 times. I have a few girl students in every class that are way more advance than the other students. I always turn to them to help to get the class started with any assignments or projects. I started finding that the teachers would always leave 10 minutes after I started teaching. This would have been fine but I often need simple words translated into Thai because I honestly think that the students forget what hello means! The students quickly became comfortable with me and started getting out of their chairs to give me hugs and origami. I tried not to develop favorites but some of the kids have the cutest faces and most polite personalities!! I really want a Thai baby one day!! I quickly learned that Thai students are way more obedient that American brats!!
The third week of school got boring for me. I got sick of teaching the same thing every day and the students were not picking up conversation as quickly as I wanted. I had to reevaluate the situation. Luckily, the thought occurred to me that my teaching effectiveness is not to blame for the students learning English. It is going to take the students a life time to speak perfect English and they are not going to understand the fundamentals of English in 4 weeks or 12 weeks. It took me three weeks to learn that there is one English teacher for the younger students and I have replaced her. She gets paid to come to school and socialize. The other teachers are the students homeroom teachers so they get the time off while I teach. The teacher I replaced just comes in long enough to strike a child that is acting out and answer her cell phone and leave. It is very difficult to see children being hit. In Stanley’s classes they have a hitting stick. In my classes they do not hit the children hard but when the child cries, it is all that I can do not to cry. I have to turn away from the teachers so they don’t see me get emotional. I developed unkind feelings for my co-teacher. I got very angry because I need her help translating but I decided I would rather her not be in my classroom.
Week four, I was given a teaching curriculum. It was written on scratch paper and was 4 words; greeting, body, animal, and about me. I wanted to laugh, I just decide to take the paper as validation that I had correctly guessed the right lesson plans. I thought it was amazing it took month to get me the list but I am just taking this as a South East Asia efficiency thing. I decide to have my students write a book about themselves. I bought the materials at supply store in Chiang Mai, my school doesn’t even have the paper to support my book project. I was told to have the students bring paper from home. I want the students to be proud of their work. I want to use the books to help the students practice the words and sentences I have taught them over the last month. When the books are completed I am inviting the principal into the classrooms to listen to the students read. I also forgave the English teacher in my heart, I thought that she didn’t like me but she has been very kind to me and the students. The teachers enjoyed a ‘teacher appreciation day’ and receive elaborate flower arrangements made by the students. The assembly was definitely a cultural experience. The principal conducted a respectful offering and lighting of candles on the Buddha shrine. (The Buddha shrine is on the stage, every home and business has a shrine.) The teachers bowed to the Buddha. The teachers sat on the stage, and two students from each class bowed to the Buddha before walking on their knees to deliver their flower arrangement. There was one older girl student on the stage to place the flowers in an ascetically pleasing arrangement on the edge of the stage. Stanley and I were invited to sit on the stage but the Thai student teachers were not invited so we declined the offer 20 times from 10 different teachers.
Week five has been the best week of teaching thus far. I started the book project and the students LOVE making their books. I live on the opposite side of the world; I often forget how far I am from home. Then little moments happen I am shocked by the cultural differences. When I passed out the heavy paper for the book covers, the students said ‘thank you’ and Yed me. In America I don’t think any student takes a piece of paper and is even grateful for the nice facilities they have to facilitate learning. The difference in the education systems is a whole another post. I must confess I say hello to all of the students constantly just so they will Y me. It is the cutest thing in the world when children bow their heads to you and put their hands up to their heart. I gave them plenty of time to draw a picture of themselves, color and decorate. The Thai students are excellent at drawing and art work J Teaching has been so easy and enjoyable because I easily keep the students attention and have lots of work for them to accomplish.
Lunch is usually very gross, its bland or too spicy to eat. I have decided that Thais have no taste buds left and that is how they eat the spicy and grossness so well. I found a specialty bakery in Chiang Mai, I bought peanut butter, jelly and bread!! Hahahah I made my favorite, most missed food and FORCED the teachers to eat my yummy sandwich!! I loved every moment!! I think they hated it because before it touched their tongue they said it was delicious but they did not even have time to taste it!! I only had 4 sandwiches; Pinton and I shared one before lunch, and Stanley was a fatty and ate his own. The other 2 sandwiches were shared between 10 teachers. LOL Thai people eat the weirdest food!! Stanley and I enjoy internet access during our breaks between classes. I usually have 10 emails, I love all the attention but it takes me hours to respond back. I love this blog because everything is so different I want to share the unique experience with everyone.
Stanley and I became friends with the computer teacher very quickly. Pinton is 24 years old and I thought he was a nice guy even when he calls me fat or put spiders in my hand. All the ladies seemed particularly interested in making us boyfriend/ girlfriend.
On this particular day, Pinton had a computer class with some of the younger students, but decide to play his guitar. I'm not sure why the older boys were not in class but I guess they didn't feel like going... I guess slutting happens in High School but I think they are a bit young to start this bad habit... but then again who am I to talk? I missed class to go to the mall way to often... Oh the days without responsibility.
I wrote Chase, told him the bad news about my new boyfriend Pinton. I told him to write me a love note (actually said undying admiration note); this is one of my brainwashing tactics… Luckily for me Chase told me I didn’t have to brainwash him because he already feels the same for me as I do for him. I hope he know what that means!... He is going to be shocked when I bombard him with a lot of attention and energy; some may say I am extremely high strung when it comes to Chase and they are probably right. It’s not my fault that in business school you have to go to extreme lengths to get attention; so I am very good at knowing how to work hard to get what I want. I think this story overlapped another blog but whenever possible I am going to talk about Chase!! Stanley does not let me talk about him enough but all of the students like to look at Chases’ pictures!
THE FANCY BUTT SPRAYER... INSTEAD OF TOILET PAPER. I ONCE TURNED IT ON AND IT SPRAYED THE WHOLE ROOM!! OFTEN TIMES THE WHOLE FLOOR IS WET INCLUDING THE COMMUNITY FLIP FLOPS. one day at lunch I learned you can use your hand to double check if the sprayer actually cleaned your butt.... I ALSO LEARNED THAT THE DOCTORS HERE TELL THE PEOPLE THAT TOILET PAPER CAUSE CANCER... I STOPPED EATING AFTER THIS NEWS!!
THE SAME BAR OF SOAP FROM A MONTH AGO... YES WITH ALL OF MY FREE TIME I MONITOR THE SOAP USAGE IN THAILAND.... WHAT THEY ARE MAKING MY FOOD!! AND MY MOM WONDERS WHY I GET THE STOMACH FLU A LOT!!!... MY THAI MOM BLAMES THE WEATHER!!!
THAILAND EDUCATION: I'm not sure what this poster is promoting!! but it makes me giggle!
How do you know for sure that that is a condom? Maybe it's a finger puppet. Probably not...but I'm tryin' to be optimistic. I wish I could read Thai. I'm too scared to ask my Thai mom to come and translate for me. haha. Wouldn't that go over great? ;]
ReplyDeleteP.S. I had a great time bondin' at the oil massage with you and Kimi!