First Day of School

December 13, 2011

I arrived at school early Tuesday morning. I was excited. I already planned some fun ice breakers for my classes. But I don’t know the kids at all. I don’t know who they are, how they learn, or what they’ve learned. So I figured the first day of each class, I would have the students participate in a ‘get to know you’ activity. Afterwards, I would give them a pre-test to see what they already know about the subject. This will give me a better idea of how to create my overall curriculum and the day to day lesson plans. Of course, I did meticulous planning on each of the classes I was teaching. With a lot of online research and home-made props, I made sure to cater to each student’s grade level despite my limited information about the students themselves. 

I was given a schedule a couple days ago. I teach about 4-6 classes each day. The rest of the hours are planning periods. I liked my schedule. It gives me a lot of late mornings. On most days, my first period was a planning one, allowing me to have more time to set up or just mentally prepare. After settling into my new desk in the teacher’s office, I was ready to put good use into my planning period. 

Then I was given a new schedule. Not only were my classes in a different order but new classes were added to my schedule. For example, I found out I’m teaching an English class in 20 minutes. I didn’t have this English class before. I wasn’t supposed to teach the 12^th graders English. I didn’t prepare for this yet. What was that other schedule they gave me then? I asked the school administration about this new class and if there were any books in the class’ curriculum. They told me they didn’t know and that I should just have conversations with them in English. Bewildered by the lack of communication and knowledge, I quickly put together an English skills activity. This chaotic and unorganized system ended up being the theme of the day (and later the semester). 

The Teachers. Each grade is set up with a classroom and a Thai homeroom teacher. The Thai homeroom teacher is supposed to deal with all the secretarial work and manage the students’ behavior. They all know some English, enough to have a basic conversation. These teachers are only supposed to speak English to the students since they are in an English Program. This rarely happens though. There are six other foreign teachers, including Sarah. They teach the subjects of science, physics, math, and English. I teach social studies. I heard that Sarah and I are actually the first female teachers the school has had in a while. Most of the teachers are veterans at this school, some employed for over six years.

Each classroom is reserved for one grade, M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, and M6. It a bit different but Thai schools combine middle school and high school (M1: 7^th grade to M6: 12^th grade). Luckily, there aren’t too many students in this program. Most Thai schools have 50 students in just one classroom. We are lucky to have the vast range of 2-16 in each class. It’s unbelievable but M5 (11^th grade) only has two students. The subject teachers rotate to each room every 50 minutes. The Thai teachers are supposed to stay in the room, monitor, and assist the foreign teacher. This never happens though.

Just like the States, teachers don’t get paid too well. However, native English speaking teachers are high in demand, especially in private schools and parent funded English Programs like this one. An average Thai teacher gets paid around 10,000-20,000 ฿ a month. Foreign teachers usually get a start pay of 30,000 to possibly 50,000 ฿. It can then progress after some time and experience. They say that the Thai teachers are very sensitive about their low salary so they become covertly hostile towards foreign teachers. Some will avoid you or speak badly about you behind your back. But they will smile to your face. It is the land of smiles nonetheless.

 
Exhausted. This as a tiring first day. Schedule changes, quick adjusting, name learning, subject learning. I wasn’t formally or informally introduced to the school, administration, or teachers. No one showed us our rooms or the teacher’s lounge. It was all a matter of trial and error. You walk into one classroom and ask the student how old they are. Realize your mistake, move on to the next couple classrooms until you find the right one. Process of elimination. The Thai history classes were the most difficult to get through. Trying to pronounce some of those names and asking the students to help me was demoralizing to an extent. I just gave out a bunch of pre-tests. This not only helped me figure out their level and knowledge but it gave me some time to organize my thoughts and plans for the rest of the semester. Or so I thought.

The English Program building