The first week of school is over. Monday students had meetings and homeroom in the morning and some classes in the afternoon. Kate, Lovely, and I were taken to the library to use the Internet and/or work. This felt familiar, as that is what my previous co-teachers would do with me when they had other work to do and wanted me out of the way. At 10:00 I was told to go to the 7th-9th grade meeting. I was briefly introduced and the students clapped. The rest of the time I sat. Fortunately, I’ve had lots of practice doing this.
In true Thai style, we got our schedules at about 11:00. I was scheduled to have two classes in the afternoon but didn’t know if we were having classes or not. After lunch, I asked Kru (teacher. Teachers here are addressed as Kru ___ or Teacher ___; thus I am Teacher Jackie) Tang what I should do in the afternoon and she told me I would have classes. So, I taught science and English to the 7th grade class. This was an experience.
Before school, Kru Irene told me that she had taught 7th during the summer Intensive English Program and that they were very weak in knowledge of English. She was correct. It was like teaching 3rd or 4th grade. She also said that many of the 7th grade students are new to the school, as they went to other primary schools and the good students in 6th grade at this school went to better secondary schools, as they do at my village schools. However, there they do not have an influx of new students. So, it looks to me like many of the new students know very little English.
Only a few of the students could answer simple questions. The class has 36 students, which is really too many to do much individual work. The students will not speak loudly enough for others to hear them, which means that, when I ask one student a question, others cannot listen and learn from the response. This may improve with time as they become more confident about speaking. All in all, they did a pretty good job doing what I asked them to do, which was probably different from what they have done in class before.
Anthony from England was hired on Monday. He’s 2 years older than I am. Sister was anxious to have me at the school, as she had wanted a Western teacher; now she has two. Anthony has taught adults before but not children. Last week, when he was applying, I was told that he will be part-time. After school, I asked Kru Tang about my schedule and she said that Anthony will teach 7th and 8th grades. When I asked what I would teach, she told me to talk to Sister. She had parents in her office for the 15 minutes I waited. Then Khun Kuan called to tell me that Khun Toy was not well and was at her house and wanted me to join them for dinner—now. I started to walk there, and she came to meet me in her car.
Kru Toom told me that she is my partner teacher and will be with me to assist when I teach English. So far, that has happened one time, as she is busy. When I will really need assistance/translation is when I teach science, as the students will not understand much that I say in that class. The vocabulary and concepts are too difficult for them to be studying them in English, a language they hardly understand. So, my challenge is to keep it simple. I have spent more time planning science than anything else.
The school reminds me of the Turkish private schools I taught at. It is not one of the “good” schools; so it gets mostly mediocre upper middle class students whose parents can afford a private school. Then they move from grade to grade without necessarily learning a lot, especially in the foreign language.
Tuesday morning Kru Tang took me to the immigration office in Phibun to ask about extending my visa and what to do about getting a non-immigrant visa. Although it is only about 30 minutes from Ubon, the trip took two hours. So I missed teaching two classes. The man at the office said he couldn’t do anything and I have to go to Laos. Before returning to school, we went to Kaeng Sapue, five minutes from Phibun. I’d gone there with the smaller school teachers in March. Now, with the recent rain, the rocks in the river were underwater. It looked completely different. We bought some snacks and then stopped at special places to buy Chinese dumplings. We arrived at school in time to eat lunch.
Wednesday during the opening ceremony, Sister told us she wants us teach a word a day as part of the gathering. This will be challenging, as the audience is 1st -9th grades and most of them cannot see the speaker. Anthony got to speak that day, as he had not yet introduced himself to the students. She also told us she wants us to teach the 9th grade students who lead the prayers to say them in English better. So, we divided the nine students among us and practiced. I have three lovely girls who really work hard to improve their pronunciation and speaking. After we practiced the Lord’s Prayer, a simplified version, they asked me to help them with a dialogue in their English notebooks. Thursday we added Hail, Mary. They were quite interested in chatting with me and worked hard to do that in English.
Wednesday morning we were all taken to a health center to get the medical certificate needed for the visa application. The doctor looked at our visas, copied our names from our passports onto a paper and charged 70 bahts (about $2.30). We guessed that, since we walked into the office, we must have been deemed healthy. I looked at the medical certificate on the website for the Thai consulate in Chicago, and it says that the doctor certifies that the applicant is free from leprosy, TB, elephantiasis, drug addiction, and the third step of syphilis. Some of these can be determined visually; some not.
Tuesday and Wednesday I had surprises at my house when I got home. Khun Kuan is transporting me this week. Tuesday there were two shelf units inside the gate. Wednesday there were a table and stool. I knew Khun Teamjan was going to find a small table, but the shelves were a surprise. Khun Kuan helped me take them into the house and put them in place and put things on the shelves in the kitchen. She also swept the floor. In the morning, she arrived ten minutes before she had told me she would come. While I got dressed, she swept the outside. After a couple minutes, she ran back to the porch. She had seen a snake—a large snake about 2 cm in diameter—and was understandably frightened. When she brought me home, she called her brother to come put the screens on the windows so the snake cannot come into the house. Khun Toy had told him before to do the job, but it hadn’t happened yet. His sister seeing a snake got him here fast. He arrived in five minutes, and now all windows but one have screens. The fact that a snake can easily enter the house by crawling under the doors was not noticed.
On the way home with Bitoy and Khun Kuan on Wednesday, Bitoy told her mother that her class had waited for me in the afternoon but I hadn’t come and no other teacher came. When I had asked my class what class it was, they said “music.” A few students showed me their schedule that did not say English language; so I assumed that they were correct in saying it said “music.” I tried to ask the teacher in the back of the room when he got the schedule he had, as I knew schedules had changed and mine was a day old. He told me to stay; so I did, and he left. Maybe he was the music teacher. When Bitoy said her class had waited for me, I wondered if the schedule had changed and I had not received a new one. Thursday morning the woman in the office apologized and said there was a new schedule but mine was not ready yet. When I got it, I saw that the class I was in was supposed to have music and I was supposed to be in Bitoy’s class teaching math. Next week. The new schedule also removed one of my 7th grade English classes, as I had three hours with that class and only two with the others.
I have to say I am impressed with the number of students who speak to me. They have had foreign teachers in the past but not Westerners. Even young students greet me. In class some are speaking a little. A number of the younger ones (6th and 7th grades) were eager to go to the board and write answers. And the 9th grade girls in prayer practice try to speak even though they are not accurate. This is more than students at my other schools could/would do.
Thursday evening I walked home for the first time. Khun Kuan had taken me home the other days. I was wanting to walk home to see just how long it would take to walk on the back roads, especially after Khun Oy told me it was about 5 km, which is farther than I can walk in half an hour. I had been told it was about 2 km, which would take about 30 minutes. It did, indeed, take 30 minutes, which is the same as the walk along the busy road. It’s not a bad walk and the time went quickly. I will enjoy walking.
There was a teachers’ meeting Wednesday after school until 7:00. We had not been told about it, so we were not there. Thursday at 4:20, we were told that there was a meeting and Sister was waiting for us. So we went. We were told to sit with Angela or Khun Irene, who could translate for us. Khun Irene said that Sister had told her we could leave at 5:15, which was nice. Khun Irene tried to give Anthony and me a summary of what was being said, but some things got lost in the translation. Mostly we chatted and she asked questions about English words. There really isn’t much point in our attending meetings that we don’t understand and that mostly don’t pertain to us; so it was nice that Sister allowed us to leave early.
The school is trying to take good care of us foreigners. Lunch is provided for us. When Sister asked about the lunch and said I could tell her what I thought, I told her that I eat chicken, fish, and vegetables but the others eat meat. So we have had fried chicken every day since then and vegetables most days. They set up a small room as an office for us. We each have a desk and there is a water dispenser. They will give us a hot water kettle and Anthony thinks we will also have a refrigerator. The office is on the third floor; so I’ll be getting some exercise.
So, the first week was a good start. Friday there is no school because it is a Thai holiday. Tuesday is also a holiday; so the government made Monday a holiday, too. This gives us a 5-day weekend. Not bad after working four days. Kru Tang will take us to Laos to get a long-term visa. I’m a little concerned, as I am leaving in two weeks. I don’t want to pay for a year-long visa that will be voided when I leave the country, as it will be for a single entry. I’m hoping they will give me the longer visa on my personal passport so I can then get a two-week visa on my Peace Corps passport. That will be good until I leave. Then I can return on my personal passport. It’s complicated; so we’ll see what happens. I can always just get the two-week visa and then get the longer one later.
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