Julia's Jumble of Thoughts

This entry was mostly written a week ago, but I never managed to finish it. So keep that in mind!

Thoughts on teaching. I'd say what seems like the best advice for teaching is something my Dad always says and that applies to nearly all situations: Have a plan, but above all be flexible! I can spend hours on a lesson plan and have it all fall apart in the first five minutes, so I've learned to loosen up a little and only make a very vague outline that I can adapt on the fly. This ends up being a lot less stressful both inside and outside the class.

For example, here were my lesson plans for today.
Morning: Days of the week, hello song, action game, color flashcards, color song, color game.
Afternoon: Slang, What is "famous", have kids write name of a famous person, review of yes/no questions, put name of famous person on each kid's back, have them ask yes/no questions to guess.

Previously, my lesson plans were very detailed and even included dialogue so I could be sure to explain directions clearly. But really...that was stupid. You don't know how the kids will respond at all, and it's best to just take it as it comes.

Fortunately and unfortunately, I have learned that a lesson plan I would expect to take five minutes will take half an hour. Especially with the older kids. A note on the older kids: These guys have been learning English for at least TEN YEARS. For anyone who complains about how the American school system does not prepare us at all as worldly people, deals terribly with languages, and doesn't take advantage of the critical period to impart language learning skills, I say: yes and no. I would say that after four years of high school French (and even 6 months of Hindi), my classmates and I would be more competent in those classes now than these kids are in English. After. Ten. Years. Not helping their case, every class in the afternoon comes with a Thai aide, who tends to frustratingly, but with good intentions, translate everything I say, no matter how simply I try to say it. The kids just don't have to try, and that stagnates them. I've found the same to be true in other countries. Quality over quantity. If the kids don't care, and don't immerse themselves outside of school, it just isn't going to happen. The school would be better off saving their money, buying good books and hiring good teachers, and immersing their kids in an English program only when they're older. And, oh wait, there we have the American system! So for as much flak as it gets, I think our system is really not the worst way to go about it. We certainly have a lot to learn from Europe, but don't we always?

I'll give you an idea of their level. Here's a common command I give, very slowly, and with gestures, to a classroom of 18 year old Thai students: "Please write....please write...ONE sentence...about yourself. About you. One sentence. Write one sentence...about you." After this, I will write an example on the board, because Thais thrive on examples. I try not to write too many, because then they just copy them all down and don't think of anything themselves (I have also learned to erase them almost immediately after writing them, which is greeted by horrified responses). After I do this, the Thai aide translates the instructions and examples many times. After this entire procedure, I will turn to the class and see everyone staring at me, not writing anything. At this point I will try going up to the sharper ones and, using a combination of main verbs and examples and repetition and pointing, try to get them to catch on, but they will just laugh and look confused and pretend to be busy. I will then go up to the board and write another example, and repeat the instructions in a new way, and have the Thai aide translate. After about ten minutes, 5 kids will have written something down, and it will be the example that I put on the board.

Basically, as useful as my Oxford Seminars training course was, it wasn't useful at all. To some degree, the situation is out of your hands. You're not going to be able to cover much, you're not going to be able to get them all to participate, and no matter how you simplify things sometimes they just won't understand. It's a common question in Thailand: Why, if the Thais take so many years of English in school, do Thais speak such terrible English? The answer is blaringly obvious, now! Government schools are supplied with Native English Speakers who don't really know how to teach, but try their best. In turn, the government schools allow them zero resources, save for a white board and (sometimes) white board markers. There's no way to see what the kids already know, because there are often not any books. The best we can do is try to teach them pronunciation and center lesson plans around things they may be vaguely interested in. But at the end of the day, grade 1 and grade 6 will get the same exact lesson plan, and they will do equally well with it. There is no progression at all, and the administration is really just okay with that. It's deeply frustrating and inspiring at the same time. Much of my free time is now consumed by trying to think of lesson plans that they will understand, and enjoy, and remember. I daydream about four months from now, when my students will be able to describe themselves with something other than "I am student". But then my next lesson plan bombs, but I adapt it, and by the end of the week someone learned what a "hint" was and how to properly say "what's up" and one of my students wrote "I like ice cream and I like cat" and I go to sleep excited about my lesson plan for the next week and a little less disappointed at my lack of teaching skills.

On the other hand, some of the students are great! It's strange going from being that one kid in the class who cares to being the teacher that clings to that one student. You see them sitting there, always finished early, always bored, always impatient with everyone else, and you just want to tell everyone else to go away so the passion in this one person won't die and I can teach them something. I want them to have the chance to be in the /1 classes and succeed, but of course, those are the cons of the tracking system. Anyway, a lot of the students are really cooperative and friendly and I can have full conversations with them and actually feel like me being an English speaker is useful to them. Which is great.

Also great are the little kids! My kindergarten classes are, for the most part, adorable and well behaved. It's a good morning when you come to class and are immediately hugged by 20 kindergarteners and greeted by a chorus of "Good morning khun kru [meaning teacher...we'll have to work on that one] Julia!". Thus, every morning is a good morning. They can be a little rowdy, but so far it's awesome to teach them the simple stuff and have them actually learn. As they get more used to what I want from them, things have become easier. At first some classes would just repeat literally everything I said, which made for some hilarious moments (imagine 30 four-year-olds with hand on hip all saying "You guys are so smart!" in chorus), but now they understand that sometimes they just need to listen. I'm rediscovering my love for kids as I use puppets and silly voices and all that good stuff. But three hours of teaching kids is pretty exhausting!

At this point I feel like I'm just rambling, so I'll move on. Chiang Mai traffic! Driving a motorcycle! I'd just like to mention that when I met Ariel, she was proud to say that she didn't know how to ride a bike and hadn't driven a car since getting her license over 5 years ago. A week ago, we bought our first motorbike, and now Ariel changes gears and goes on the freeway like nobody's business. You never know how things will change! Let me rephrase: When you are Ariel, you can do whatever you want to do because you are hard working and determined and accept that your fate is entirely in your hands. Let me also mention that one year ago, I sent Ariel out to get garlic and she returned five minutes later freaked out because she didn't actually know what it looked like. Today, Ariel makes Thai tea from scratch from her own recipe, makes half of our meals, and is showing an alarming amount of interest in buying a blender. The other day she wanted to buy a book about cooking a variety of things in your rice cooker. I checked her for a fever. Also, for those of you who know about Ariel and clothes, I will mention that her floor is spotless. She puts all her clothes on a shelf after wearing them. In the space of a year, and in some cases just a month, Ariel has become a domestic, badass biker chick. Watch out world. You don't even know!

Oh, I forgot to talk about Thai traffic. Right. Basically, Thais are so good at driving. I'm pretty sure they have some sort of magic Thai-adapted horn that has an effect similar to a bicycle bell. It's just a little "meep!" that says "I'm coming up behind you! Just wanted to let you know!". On a Thai highway, you can drive as slowly as you like if you stay on the left, which is nice if you're scared or just learning or just don't want to be speeding along with the cars. There are traffic lights, but you really only need follow them if someone is coming. If there's room for you to turn onto a street, go ahead and do so! There are always so many things happening on the street that everyone is watching out for them. So it's okay! Go on! This is not to say that driving is easy, by any means, but it at least makes sense and isn't as stressful as it could be.

Our little documentary-esque 3 month experiment with living on the poverty line continues to be interesting. Apparently, yes, you can survive on $30 a month. Without getting scurvy. The secret is: instant noodles, tomatoes, potatoes, rice, eggs, tofu, milk, and tuna. Surprisingly, all of these things are as expensive or more so than in America, but they get the job done. This is also where our free and delicious lunch at school really comes in handy. Also: don't do laundry, be sure to buy food at the local market, thrive on the "reduced for quick sale" items. Make tin foil-lined cardboard screens for your windows (to block out the sun) to save on air conditioning. Use everything that pumpkins have to offer. Limit toilet paper use by doing it Asian-style. Take advantage of all possible ways to make money on the internet. This is beginning to sound a little like the Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen Song. One might think that living this way would get tiresome, but surprisingly no: when you're living with your best friend, poverty can be kind of fun. There are always water drinking competitions, adventures with vegetables (pumpkin soup, pumpkin seeds, watermelon carving, the how-many-dishes-can-I-make-with-a-potato game), Harry Potter book marathons, trips to go window shopping in grocery stores...We have been fortunate enough to spend money on things that will really save us a lot of money in the long run, like our little motorbike Sparkules. We have been very blessed by free lunches at school that give us the majority of our nutrients. And hopefully, in two weeks (pay day), the experiment will be over! Luckily we have the luxury of labelling it as such.

I think we have another blog draft in the works, so I'll go ahead and wrap up this long winded one. Thanks for reading!