(Written around noon, halfway through my first day)
I didn’t sleep well last night. I was too nervous about today. Unfortunately so much of today has been outside my control, so it was a useless kind of nervous. Just idly nervous, but I couldn’t use that as motivation to prepare myself more. Nobody told me much about what I’d be doing here. I was told I’d get a syllabus, but that didn’t come in until last night around 10pm.
So I laid there for an hour or two, distracted by how today might go, without the slightest idea how today might go. Then I woke up every hour or two, until my alarm finally went off at 6am.
I had to punch in (that’s no figure of speech, I have an actual punchcard) by 7:30, a deadline I almost missed because they first gave me a punchcard that said Jacqueline on it. Then they took me to the school director’s office and we chatted a bit. One of the English teachers (I think there are 8, all of them Thai) was to introduce me at the morning assembly, so he took down some notes.
For the assembly, the director, the English teacher, a couple students, and myself stand out on the balcony overlooking almost 1000 students standing in rows. Apparently there used to be almost 4000 students, but I’m teaching at a vocational school, and I guess the government has been pushing university-track-high schools over these vocational schools recently. Three of their four classroom buildings are unused now.
The national anthem plays (note to self: learn this so I can sing along), the flag is raised, and we do a Buddhist prayer. I think there were a couple announcements, but I don’t really understand announcement-style-Thai. Then they hand me the microphone. So much for him introducing me! “Just talk to them,” they prod. Ok!
“Good morning!” (students echo: Good morning!) “My name is Alex Burrell. I come from Michigan in the United States. I studied linguistics and computer science. I am very excited to be here to help you learn English better. Nice to meet you!” (students echo: Nice to meet you!)
They seem happy with this. Phew! Survived my first spotlight.
Then they tell me it’s time for my first class. I have nothing prepared, as I didn’t have any information about how today would go. What the hell, let’s do this!
It went… ok. Not phenomenal, but not terrible. Right before I entered the classroom, they told me this class is on the Business English track. This (incorrectly) raised my expectation of their English level, and I didn’t really recover from that. I spoke too much and too fast for this class. I told them a little about me, they seemed to understand that. I also wanted to know about them, so I had planned to have them write some answers to a few basic questions and turn it in to me. On the board, I wrote:
1. Name + Nickname 2. Age 3. Gender 4. Something you like about English 5. Something you don't like about English 6. Something you wish you could do in English 7. Favorite candy
I explained each point, but it was becoming clear I was way over their heads with this. I was a little surprised and disappointed, to be honest – this is a class of 18-year olds who are specifically studying English. But that just means I need to adjust my approach, find a way to connect with these students better. They did eventually answer all seven questions, but struggled a ton with 4-7. Almost every paper I have says things like:
I like read story. I don't like study grammar. I like speak English. I favorite candy lemon. Yes I like it.
And my personal favorite answer:
I don't like a cat.
For the rest of the class, we talked about Halloween and costumes, but with 6 minutes left I was out of ideas and flustered, so I kind of just let them do their own thing.
Now I’m sitting at my desk in the Teachers Room, getting ready to teach my second class. It’s been a rough day so far. I was supposed to get something to eat from the cafeteria, but I chickened out and now all I’ve eaten is 3 jellybeans that another teacher gave me. I don’t know how the cafeteria works, and I didn’t want to go by myself, but so far the other teachers just smile at me and don’t talk. Between shyness, tiredness, and nervousness, I don’t feel confident at all here on my first day. But I keep reminding myself, it’s ok if the first day isn’t great. It’s ok if the first week isn’t great. It’ll keep getting better as I get settled here.
I have 3 back-to-back classes this afternoon, and I’m more nervous now that I was this morning. But I do have a better plan for the class (planned in the couple hours), and a more accurate understanding of their English level. สู้ๆ !
(Written after finishing my first day – I survived!)
The second half of the day was definitely better than the first half. My plan for my 3 afternoon classes worked pretty well, the students and I both had more fun. I lost my voice part way through the 2nd afternoon class, but that was a good lesson for me too. Trying to speak over these kids (they’re very talkative!) isn’t too effective, so in the last class, when I physically could not raise my voice, I just waiting for them to quiet down. It worked much better, and it saves my voice! Then after work, which left me completely energy-less, my very very sweet roommate/husband/hero had one of my favorite Thai meals waiting for us at home.