Teacher? I go now.
I haven’t written much about class and/or teaching, but that’s because there wasn’t a whole lot to tell in the beginning. We just completed our final week of training (I cannot believe how time flies!) which consisted entirely of “TP,” or teaching practice. It was set up pretty simply; there are 15 trainees, so they split us up into three groups of five. There were 90 lower-level students (14-15 years old) who were split into three groups of 30 and all sat through 3 classes in the mornings. In the afternoon there were 90 higher-level students (16-17 years old) that came for the same thing, but only had to sit through two classes.
What made this especially difficult for the students (and thus the teachers as well) was that not only is this their summer break, but we are all practicing the same basic model of teaching. This means that by the end, they’ve had to sit through 5 days of the same damn thing, over and over again. On top of that, Monday was a national holiday, but we are required to have 5 days of teaching practice. How is that solved? School on Saturday, of course!
I was the first one to go on Tuesday morning, and was more nervous than I’ve ever been for a new job before. Teaching is more or less performing, and I was not only put in front of 30 teenagers (we all know that they can be ruthless, and these particular ones know that I can’t speak their language!) but I also had five observers in the back, pens and pencils poised. It was a challenge because we really had no idea what their English level would be like, so the lesson was going to have to be adapted along the way.
It turned out that going first was the best thing that could have happened to me – the nervousness disappeared as soon as I got going, and the students were super attentive since everything was new for them. As the day wore on, that interested level dropped quickly! There were a couple of kids that could speak workable English, or at least understand my instructions, but for the most part it was very challenging! Just trying to get them to get up and stand in a circle at the beginning was a serious trick, as no one knew the word “circle” or had any clue what I was getting at. My art skills are going to be the best teaching tool I’ve got – I’ve drawn more this week than I have since high school art class!
The second day was a lot tougher. The kids were sufficiently bored and well aware that they were supposed to be on holiday. The girls are all great, but the boys can be little bastards! There are no problems anywhere near what you find in American classrooms, they just get very talkative and distracted, and enjoy plenty of “bathroom breaks.” Every five minutes someone else waves their hand, jumps up and says “Teacher, I go toilet now!” as they run out while their friends giggle. I managed to get through the lesson in one piece and told myself that I’ve got to figure out how to come off at least SLIGHTLY authoritative! Unfortunately a raised voice and a “stern” persona are not things that I possess…
The next two days were fantastic, as I got put with the afternoon groups who are older, speak more English and have infinitely longer attention spans! The lessons went perfectly, and I really enjoyed myself. Today (Saturday) was the final day, and we were all prepared to have it be a tough one. The plan was to just do four straight lessons in the morning and be done with it, as opposed to doing three then going to lunch. On top of that, they had both groups come, enlarging our classes to about 50 students. And then on top of THAT, it is Saturday and I was scheduled to teach the fourth and final class! I was ready for a beating, but it actually went very smoothly and the kids were fine. It was a massive class and they were very talkative, very ready to go, but I made it as fun as I could and made sure that they knew that I knew they were tired of it. I ended up having a good time and am feeling pretty confident about this teaching thing, especially since I’ll be with 20-year old college kids in my real job!
So anyways, about Thai schools…it really is a whole different world. Thai people are very shy, especially the kids. This is not a culture that places importance on individuality, in fact it is the exact opposite. There is definitely a safety-in-numbers mentality, and you’ll never find a student who will volunteer to speak or get in front of the class without bringing a friend along. You can’t rely on someone raising their hand to answer, you have to pick someone then coax them. They don’t like to have anyone singled out, for anything. Kids wear uniforms from preschool through university so that there is no class distinction or anything like that. At the same time, Thais are very fun-loving people and the kids are enjoyable, they laugh constantly and there is always a good vibe in the classroom. That said, English classes are very different from any of their other classes…
Thai teachers are very authoritative and classes are run lecture-style – creative freedom and participation don’t really exist in regular classes. Corporal punishment is also traditionally practiced, and while it is not used everywhere, for the most part it is still very common. Foreign (ie English) teachers cannot lay a hand on students, and a foreign language class relies on participation and lots of interactivity. Understandably, kids can get out of hand in English classes, though if a Thai teacher walks in it is INSTANT silence! I saw this phenomenon yesterday and it was unreal – literally everyone in the room shut their mouth, sat up straight and didn’t blink the second that the teacher stepped in the doorway.
Thai students also cannot fail, ever (going back to everyone being equal, no one gets singled out), so there honestly isn’t much incentive to work too hard. It’s a deeply running cultural thing, something that in one way is wonderful (everyone is so laid back, so friendly, so happy), yet is also a big problem (little to no progress in many areas of society).
I could go on and on about culture, but I’ll save that for another post. There are many contradictions here, and a major one that I’ve seen this past week regards the ladyboys. If you don’t know what a ladyboy is, it is exactly what it sounds like. Guys have to be careful in bars because a good portion of the Thai girls up for grabs (usually the most attractive ones) are NOT actually girls.
Apparently this gets going at an early age… We had at least 5 or 6 ladyboys in our classes this past week, none of them older than 16. Basically they still wear the boys’ uniform, but wear full makeup, carry purses and are extremely effeminate. They hang out with the girls and seem completely accepted by both sexes – there are no strange looks or awkwardness if you pair one up with another boy. My favorite moment of the past week was when I was playing a ‘name game’ at the beginning of a class and one of the ladyboys gave his name as “Beyonce!” Anyways, it’s so strange considering what a conservative and tradition-focused culture this is. Many, many contradictions, but again, I’ll save it for later. For right now, it’s time for a “we-finished-the-course” beer!
Tags: Travel
allisonrae
May 27th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Allison,
I love the blog. Keep it up especially since we all know Gabe can’t type, spell or even think on his own. By the way thanks for taking him.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:42 am
Luckily I’m an official English teacher now, so hopefully I can work on Gabe’s literary shortcomings once he gets here 😉
I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog, it’s good to know that people are reading!
August 29th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
I really love this blog allison. When I’m ready to teach a little of the old english internationally I know you’ll have lots of helpful tips and tricks for me. I knew that they had the lady boys but I had no idea that they were so prevelant.