My Impressions of School

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So I've now been at school for three days. For the last two I've been observing and helping out a tiny bit so I'm beginning to get a good idea of what things are like there. My first impression is that this is going to be a great experience. Not only do I have an easy schedule (I only teach for half of the day and I have the other half off) but my coops are incredibly helpful and seem like they'll do whatever they need to do ensure I succeed. The schedule at the school is set up very much like a college would be. Students arrive around 7 or so and depending on the day of the week, they have morning assembly at 7:15 where the kids all gather and the principal or Father (it's a Catholic school) will make announcements, they'll play the Thai national anthem and raise the flag. There are 4 periods each day and each runs for 80 minutes. After first period in the morning, they have a morning break, where the students have about 20-30 minutes off before second period. I have lunch after second period at 10:50 and then there's 3rd period around 11:30, another break after 3rd period, and the day ends at 2:35. Taxi rides to and from school haven't been too bad. It takes about 20-30 minutes each way. In the afternoon the school has shuttles which take students and teachers to the main road and then we pick up a cab from there to go back home. And I was very surprised because most (or at least a lot) of the teachers there live in the same complex as I do so now that I know who they are I've seen them around every now and then.

The school itself is beautiful. It's actually a campus so it's set up very much like a college is, and the atmosphere is extremely relaxed, like a college is. There's probably about 10 buildings and all the hallways and everything are outdoors. Classrooms and offices are the only things fully indoors with air conditioning. The school has a lot of support services which provide teachers with everything they need. The other student teachers I'm here with said that they have staff that sets up and cleans up all the gym and science lab equipment so the teachers just have to tell them what they need and then they just take care of it for them. The tech department set up my computer so I can use the internet while I'm there and so I can print off the printer in my office (yes they gave me an office with my own desk!). They also have an office where I can send and receive both regular mail and packages via UPS and stuff. This office will also organize and book any trips we want to make so it pretty much means that if I want to take a weekend trip, I can just tell them what I want and they should hopefully take care of it for me. The cafeteria (canteen) is like a big food court. They have probably 10-15 different places I can buy food from, each with a different kind of food. Some is pre-made like it would be in schools back home and other stuff you can order and they will make fresh for you. And I haven't spent more than $2 on lunch yet.

The students seem to be pretty good. The school is mostly Asian students, with about 60% of them being Thai. Outside of that I don't know what the rest are, but I have seen a lot of Indians. I've seen a couple Western students but not nearly as many as I originally expected. They all speak and write English pretty well but sometimes it's hard to understand them when they speak just because of their accents, but I should become used to it after a while. Overall they're not very different from students back home. They're very respectful and do what's asked of them but they're still kids and complain and are reluctant to do some things. But unlike students in the US, they recognize that teachers deserve respect and they follow directions and do what's asked of them. My coop was telling me today that teachers are held in very high esteem here in Thailand. Today was actually National Teacher Appreciation Day and at morning assembly the students went to all the teachers and gave them flowers and a card to show their appreciation. It was really nice to see that teachers are highly respected at least somewhere.

I teach my first mini-lesson on Friday and then another one on Tuesday and hopefully by late next week I should begin teaching full time at least in one class, if not more. I'm still sort of feeling my way around with things and am unsure of what specifically I would be teaching next week (if I begin full time then) but hopefully I'll know soon so I can start planning. For my modern history class I think planning should be easy because they're learning material that I am relatively familiar with right now, but for my Asian studies class I have already been doing a decent amount of work on my own to learn the material that I'll be teaching because I really don't know any of it. But it shouldn't be too bad. Since I have half the day off I've been sitting in my office in my free time and trying to get some work done so if I use my time well I shouldn't have to take any (or much) work home with me at the end of the day. Whether it turns out to be a lot of work or just a little, I think my time here is going to be really good for me as an educator because the atmosphere is so different from any school I would be teaching at in the US and I think my coops are going to be very helpful and will help me to refine my teaching methods. I'll try to update again Friday night or Saturday to write about how my first lesson went.

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Comments

[cassie]

the school that you are at sounds really interesting. i'm hope this experience is really enriching and provides you with a nice comparison for your student teaching back in the states