The Final-ish Goodbye

Yesterday was my last day of school. I’d finished classes the week before, making over 400 Thai-English Apples to Apples cards so the students could play this super fun game while I snapped photos of them.

Apples to Apples (Thai Style) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Teacher’s Day

Today was Teacher’s Day, not be confused with Wan Wai Kru. From what I could tell, teachers celebrated by kicking the students out of school, playing bocce ball, and drinking whiskey. Not too shabby.

Oh Yeah...Teaching

I realize I don’t post a whole lot about teaching, you know—the main reason I’m here. It definitely has its ups and downs. It is incredibly difficult yet incredibly rewarding. You ride the highs as long as you can because you never know when you’ll hit a wall of frustration and communication breakdown. Believe it or not, it’s totally worth it for me.

Most of my students are at a very low level of English. That might surprise you since they have been taking English classes every year since starting school. There are many reasons for this, some of which I probably don’t even know about. One reason they have such a hard time speaking is that their education doesn’t primarily focus on communication. Most time is spent prepping them for national exams which don’t have a speaking/listening portion. At my school, the other teachers teach grammar and I spend once a week with them working on communication.

I’ve Reached a Turning Point…

My perspective has changed since arriving here 4 1/2 months ago. It wasn’t an overnight switch, but a gradual shift from an American consciousness to a more Thai-ish consciousness. I’ve got an entirely new “normal.”