i am a little embarrassed to return to this blog- it has been so long since i last posted. i am in the middle of week 6 in the school year. that also means i am only one week away from the first exam period. they take their exams very seriously in thailand. even in primary school, they have four exams a year (one for each quarter). not only do they have to take exams in each subject, but there is more than one! for example, in math they have three different exams to take- they are different formats. one is a multiple choice exam, the second is short answer and the third is a problem solving exam. i feel bad for the stress and work these kids have to deal with- it is done in all grades!
but i need to backtrack some to fill in the blanks of the last six weeks. school got off to a running start with just one fairly significant snag: no math books. the publisher had sent the old edition of the math books, and of course this wasn't noticed until the day school started. this began several weeks of suspense. we sent the wrong books back, and struggled to move forward through lessons built around the three books (textbook, workbook, and homework book). in the end, it meant making a lot of copies- so much paper. we were told the correct books would arrive "early june". which is sufficiently vague to make every day full of hope, and eventual disappointment. i did end up getting the textbooks after a week. that saved very little paper though, as the workbooks and homework books are where the boys have all their practice. but we made it through and the books finally arrived week 4. and thus began the process of re-training the kids and myself to use the books instead of the pages of worksheets i had gotten used to.
enough of that, let me talk some about the kids. i am teaching 100 boys (it was 99, but last week we got a new boy so we are up to 100!). overall, they are a good group. each class has one or two boys with a disruptive lack of focus, but in the end they are good kids. there are many excellent boys that are a pleasure to teach. i really lucked out, because math is one of their favorite and best subjects here (fewer esl issues). there are also a fair number of supremely lazy boys, however. it is definitely different to be in an expensive private school. these boys are pampered and babied at home to a great extent. i really can't complain, though, we have a good grade. the team of teachers certainly helps. i am working with four other excellent teachers, and we have a good working dynamic. as i am teaching in level 2, which is run much the same as secondary school back home, we all teach all the boys. that makes for a great source of support or just a sounding board.
at week 6, i am starting to settle into a nice routine. aside from work, i have been going to yoga in the evenings three times a week, and then on saturday morning as well. i am totally hooked. i am going with one of my new friends, emma. cynthia also comes on a regular basis. on tuesdays, i am taking a DELF preparation course at the bangkok alliance francaise. my participation (and even attendance) has been somewhat half-hearted though. next week is the last session of this course, and i am looking forward to it ending. though i enjoy the course, after a long day of work i don't often feel like going to a 2 and a half hour course. if it was just an hour or so i would have no problem- but 150 min. just seems so long. the exam is in november- i still haven't decided if i will take it. we shall see.
unfortunately, my grade coordinator has gone back to australia for a couple weeks after the death of his mother. it is so very sad. in addition to not seeing him in the office, i am helping out by covering his homeroom responsibilities. this has upset my routine somewhat. hopefully things will calm down with his return next week and the exam period will give me some time to gather myself for the next quarter. we have a four day weekend (thanks to a couple buddhist holidays) between the exams and the next test period.
well, i'm going to go ahead and post this. i will try to write more school and life details soon.
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