all about the teaching :)

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Wow, so much has been going on these last few weeks I haven't even been able to keep up in my journal. Shame! I hardly know where to begin... I think I'll start with the teaching.
I wasn't sure I'd be able to get up in front of a classroom because I'm not terribly good with public speaking and this is a room full of teens and adults whose language I can't understand. we were split into teaching groups and given a class. My group consists of myself, Ashley and Amy-Kate and we teach the 7:00 pm class. On the monday we observed Penny, our trainer, teaching the class that would be ours. She was amazing. Lessons run for 90min, but for our very first lesson we split the lesson and taught for 30min each. By the luck of the draw (insert sarcasm here) I ended up being the first one up. Buggar! I was shaking while walking to the school and I thought I was going to pass out and/or vomit when I actually got into the classroom. Then the students filed in, I said hello, introduced myself and off I went! It was amazing. when my thirty minutes were up and I had to sit down for amy's turn all I could think was how great it was that I got to do it again tomorrow!
For the next few lessons we split it into 45 min each, so two people taught and one just observed. then it was on to full 90 min lessons all on our own! I'm pretty good with talking, but 90 min is a long freaking time! I wasn't real confident with my lesson planning at first, but by the end I like to think I got it sort of figured out. teaching a whole lesson by yourself is such an amazing feeling, and at the end I'm drained and at the same time excited that I get to do it again! Obviously with three teachers and one class I don't get to teach every day, only every 3 days, but that will change in the next five weeks!
I also had to do a 1:1 in order to get my certificate. I was more nervous about that than I was for my first 90min lesson, but it went smoothly and we ended up having this really great conversation. Bank (that's the student's nickname. they use nicknames here because real names are a-hard to say and b- powerful) seemed like a weaker student in class but after tutoring him I've come to the conclusion that he knows it, he's just bloody lazy.
Last night was my last observed lesson! This thursday we'll be giving a test to see which students should move up a level and which ones could use some more time in the level they're currently at. I'm teaching level two, so it's very basic, and I love it 😊 after this five weeks is up I'm going to be handed my very own classroom to teach all on my own 😊 nobody observing my lessons, no input sessions in the morning, no feedback in the afternoon. so, while there will be more lessons to plan for, it seems like I'll have a bit more time to explore and such. Yay 😊
Thai students are so different from Canadian students. they're so helpful and really want you to do a good job. apparantly I chose a good place to start because teaching english in other countries isn't always such a pleasant experience. there is no heckling the teacher here. and the great thing about where we're teaching is that it's a free class after regular school hours. this means that the students are there on their own initiative and really want to learn. that makes such a huge difference! It took a while to get their names down, but i've pretty much got them.
I love my students! It's such a diverse group of people and they all can mingle and work together. we have the oldies: Lop, Charan & Sooni. then there are the boys: bank and bank1, chang, nut, meen (who is so unbelievably gay it's adorable). we have a police officer who comes to class in uniform with his gun! his name is Yak and he thinks he's sooo cool 😊 there are the girls: Ae (she's so pretty), Kwang, beer, fern. those are the students who show up to every class. there are a few more who come sporadically. the first time I had to call on Kok I had no idea how I wasn't going to burst out laughing, we have to pronounce it with a "g" sound, thank goodness. It's kind of sad that this thursday is my last time with this class, for the next five week session I'm going to get a different one because level two is reserved for newbies 😞
goodness, I just remembered my one class where I was sharing some resources with another teacher and they didn't bring them all to class! So I show up and start teaching my lesson and when i go to put up my gap fill poster I'm missing half the wordcards to be put up beside it. I was trying to elicit the answer from the students and they were throwing out all these words at me because the right word wasn't even on the board! that was embarassing, but it was also the worst thing that happened to me this whole time teaching. I didn't freak out during a lesson, no tears, nothing horrendous like some other teachers have had. I must be one lucky girl 😊
Kerry is the current intern here and she's thinking about staying on for another ten weeks. I'm very tempted to stay as well. I had hoped I would enjoy myself and learn a lot, but I didn't expect I'd love it this much!

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Comments

[Family]

wishing you well...
Heey cassie this is Dalton,Mom,Dad and Maddy, We were just thinking about you and hoping your having a blast :) just looking at your blog sounds like your having fun cant wait to see ya! LOVE: the hole family :]<3