Classroom Chronicles

Despite the bulk of this blog's content (my crazy weekend adventures), I do spend most of my time in the classroom. My kids (all 500+ of them) are both incredibly sweet and terribly frustrating. They greet me with such polite smiles and give me little candies before turning into Thai terrors who spend more time doing makeup and doodling than learning English. However, I do have some stellar students who make my time worthwhile. They visit me after school, ask me for help, practice speaking in English conversationally, and show genuine interest in exploring life outside Thailand.

As for my teaching methods, I try to incorporate a variety of fun activities with substantive lessons. I wasn't given any guidance from school as to what I was expected to teach. So, I took the broad title of each course (Reading, Listening & Speaking, General Knowledge, etc.) and went with it. I've had lessons centered around songs: fill-in-the-blank for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" at Christmas (the Carpenters version) and scrambled lyrics of "The World's Greatest" (R. Kelly, from Kami's mixed CD). Lessons have featured body parts, descriptions, advice, likes/dislikes, cultural stuff, and more. Activities have included games, songs, dances, puzzles, and worksheets. Nearly every aspect of Thai education is handled differently than US education. Students are hierarchically divided by skill level into set sections for the entire year. The sections of 32-48 students vary greatly in ability, with the M1/1 and M1/2 students greatly out-performing the M1/7 and M1/8 students.

For my M4 and M5 (10th and 11th grade) students' final project, I'm having them creatively retell a fable in English. My M4/2 students rocked my world when they whipped out giant posters, skits, and even a DVD slideshow with hand-drawn pictures and voice-over narration. They truly wowed me. Then, the very next period, my M4/3 students showed up completely empty-handed. Seriously, NO one turned in a final project. I was floored. The other teachers have stressed that I'm not supposed to fail any students (if my grades even matter), but how was I supposed to deal with their unabashed disregard for the assignment? The students (in the most challenging class I teach) finally got the message because they suddenly fell silent and listened. I agreed to give them until Friday to put something together, an attempt at redeeming themselves after three weeks of inaction. They spent the rest of the period working like busy bees, so I think they got the message. There's a brief update from the teaching front. While teaching has its highs and its lows, I am definitely still glad I came.