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Published: April 6th 2008
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Part of the Class
Left to Right - James, Anthony, Mike, and Brian in our training room. So here we are with the course pretty much over and I am now just getting around to writing about our classmates. Oh well. It’s the night before our last day which really is consisting of a volunteer teaching practice at this bar we have been at every week. The girls at this place really appreciate the lessons and a little extra practice is nice for us.
So a lil’ bit about our certification course. To sum it all up it’s been great. The course is solid and we have a really good group of students. There are six of us total. Claire is the only female. All of us but one are staying at the same resort. This makes it really nice. It’s a little community we’ve had for the past thirty days.
The one gentleman that is not at the resort, James, has been living on the island, Koh Samui, for the past four or five years. It’s been nice to have his perspective on what life is like on the island for an extended period of time. Of course we have been able to talk with our instructors and the teachers at the private school that
Claire Teaching
This is at a bar called the office. There's only three girls there at the moment..think that was one of the days when we split the group into two so we could do two lessons at once...or the other girls were on Thai time. That's a true expression. People aren't always punctual in this country. our school is next to…or kind of a part of. Our lead instructor is the head teacher at this private school that has a British curriculum. His name is Phil and he really knows his stuff. He’s fluent in Thai and some other languages and is very laid back. He can also explain the technical grammar stuff very simply and concisely…that is a real skill (in any field). Anyways, I got off on a little rabbit trail there.
Yeah, James is cool. Then there is Mike, he is about the most pleasant and positive person I have ever met. He is a Buddhist. He was raised in England and has lived in New Zealand for the past 30 years. He is off to India (Himalayas area) after the course to volunteer teach for 3 months at a school that takes in refugees and children from the untouchable caste in India. He is planning on not earning a wage for the next five years or so. He spends a lot of his free time walking around the island and always seems to have a big smile on his face. It really is great.
Fred…he’s Swedish but that’s ok. No,
Mike and Fred
Mike is on the left. This is the little hangout/lunch area. seriously Fred is from Sweden and has spent the better part of the past four years traveling. He is planning on going to South Korea after the course. Fred is only twenty-two and he loves America. In fact he loves it so much he gives Claire and me a hard time about America on a daily basis. It’s all in good fun and I really can’t explain it properly because it’s one of those inside joke kind of things. I did tell him that Claire and I have bald eagles on call in case any thing crazy goes down or we just want an apple pie delivered to our door. I think he almost believes us. Fred is a lot of fun. We share many meals with him.
Anthony is the final fellow on the course. He is from Warrington, England. Apparently that is between Manchester and Liverpool. He is a Manchester United fan in case anybody cares. Anthony had lived in Bangkok for sixth months in 2006 and 2007. He taught there but never did a certification course and had to leave because his visa ran out. This time he’s back and doing it proper. In fact he
Teacher Phil...
on the left with Mike and Anthony has really scored because he has obtained a teacher position at the private school where our course is located. It’s really a great opportunity. Not only does he get to stay on this beautiful, but slightly overrun, island. He also gets a great job and Phil as a mentor. He gets to teach the 5-7 year old class and it’s not just English. He will teach a bunch of other subjects too. He is quite the happy camper at this point in time. I didn’t mention before but this school has mostly foreign teachers (except the Thai language teachers). Most of the students are of a mixed Thai background. There are a lot of ex pats here from all over and they want a good education, taught in English, for their kids.
Claire and I have shared many a meal and drink with Anthony as well. I’m sure we will know him for a long time. In fact, he was thinking of joining us in Chiang Mai up until he got the job offer a few days ago. Maybe this will be a reason to come back to this island someday.
The last person I must mention is
Walking to School
It was hot...the clothes did not help. our 2nd instructor Heather. She is an English woman and she is fabulous. Heather has been teaching and instructing for several years and in many different countries (China, Turkey, Spain, and Thailand). We are all going out tomorrow night so maybe I’ll write a story about that. I’ll post some pics from the school along with this blog so you can see some faces and where we have spent so much time the past month. By the way…I can, almost instantly, make a sentence in any of the twelve tenses. Just ask me. It’s great. I also know what a gerund is. Yup, that’s right. I am a whole lot cooler now.
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Andrea
non-member comment
stupid american question
what is the untouchable caste in India?