How teaching has changed me

Our first semester is pretty much finished. Last day of classes was Friday and this week we are administering finals. Time has flown by so fast! We are close to our halfway mark... hmm...weird. It doesn't really feel like it. Well, our school gives us a month-long break between semesters so we are currently planning huge trips for October. We are heading to the southern region of Thailand (the Phuket area) for a week and then exploring China for 3 weeks! It's a lot to plan for but it's exciting!

So I thought I'd take this moment to wrap up how our first semester went. If you haven't read our previous post, you can read it HERE - it's all about what teaching in Thailand is like on a day to day basis. But on a more personal note, our first semester here was pretty special. At the start, it was definitely overwhelming and rough. We were given a list of 4 bullet points as our assigned curriculum to teach for the full year. We were thrown for a loop when we were assigned to teach different subjects than what we were originally told. We had to pull lesson plans out of nowhere with next-to-nothing materials. We had no idea what was going on from one day to the next (and still do!) and after I got over the original shock of it all, it started to become frustrating and hard. However I do need to say that I have learned so much about myself and hopefully have changed for the better in the process.

 

For those of you who personally know me, I'm naturally an up-tight character who always has to know what is going on, when and where, and it usually has been written down on my calendar for weeks. Because I like to be on top of things and ultra-organized, this has historically made me very effective in school and at work. [I don't want to sound too proud, but I do have a point.] I have usually excelled in these areas of my life and I relished that. I like to be busy and I like to get things done in the most effective way possible. You might say that is my strong suit. So although I had never done formal teaching in a school before, I wasn't too nervous about this Thailand experience. I thought I would be able to handle it well. Boy, was I wrong!

If there is one thing I've learned from this experience, it is humility. This is definitely a 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of job experience and I failed at it, at first.  All of my natural qualities that had made me effective and successful in the past were really my downfall. I had to plan for 3 different subjects, at 3 different grade levels, with literally nothing to go off of, and no materials at my disposal. I tried to over-do it. Making powerpoints for each lesson, putting together quizzes and projects, and trying to teach the kids as much as I could. However that led to some frustrating days. Classes would get canceled, half of my students would be absent for some reason, or they were all too tired or preoccupied with the next school activity to really listen to my lessons. I became not only frustrated, but angry at the system, and disappointed with myself that I wasn't good at this.

Then around midterms, I realized I just had to let it go. (And no, this is not a Frozen reference). A bunch of my students weren't performing well and I knew that a big part of the problem was me. I was trying too hard to teach them too much. I was trying to instill in them what education is like in America - it's rigorous, requires self-motivation, you can't turn in work 3 weeks late and get full credit, and no matter what anyone says, you can't just keep re-taking your final until you get above a 50%! (A 50% is passing here... and the school system makes everyone pass). However, me trying to be too over-productive was coming at the expense of my students' learning experience.

So what if Thailand is academically ranked the lowest in Asia? That's not something I can control or something I can single-handedly change in a meager 11 months. What really mattered were my students here and now. I want them to enjoy my classes. I want them to want to learn. So I had to change myself. I had to take it down a notch and learn to not care about how ineffective I thought Thailand's school system was. I needed to give my students not the most education possible, but the best education possible - which (I had to accept) would be different than education given in the States. I focused on less amounts of material, but incorporated more games and activities (they LOVE games, almost too much haha) and I tried harder to get to know them personally. I have to say that it is working! For my students and for me. I'm actually enjoying teaching, it seems like my students are more eager to learn, and therefore are actually learning more. I hope so. If not, at least they are having fun.

I am so happy that we decided to extend to a second semester. Although we really do miss our families, I feel like I've just gotten settled and things figured out. We still have so much to see and do, and I don't want to leave our students yet. They really are a BLAST and I have come to truly love so many of my students.

The Thais love extracurriculars. Like to the point where they surpass academics in importance. Don't get me wrong - I am all for supporting the fine arts and sports. I participated heavily in orchestra, choir, dance, and the tennis team when I was in school. I think it is very important not only physically, but mentally to receive a balanced education. However, you would not believe the extent to which the schools here take it. They literally shortened the school day by almost 2 hours, every day, for a month in preparation for something they call 'Sports Day.' And even though the students were given extra time at the end of the day, they would still miss class and ask for free time. School was basically a joke for a month and a half. But they committed to this ... and it showed! The Sports Day activity took place over 2 days and it was more like a mini-Olympics. The student body was divided into 4 teams: blue, green, pink, and yellow. You would not believe the banners, billboards, t-shirts, cheers/chants, dances, costumes, and parade coordination that went into this! And it was all done by the students. It was legitimate and I was impressed. Here are a few pictures of what the students put together.

 

The first day they spent the whole morning doing a parade, more like opening ceremonies. They even had a torch which was run around the field and set flame to a fuse which lit up the Bowl of Fire (whatever it's officially called in the Olympics) which then set off an impressive amount of fireworks. Haha, it was awesome. Then, they turned the football field into a track and started the actual sports. They had competitions in sprints, relays, tug-of-war, and basketball, among others.

I felt like we were back in medieval times. (I'm referring to both the historical time period and the popular dinner & tournament experience.) We teachers got to sit in a fan-cooled booth on the sidelines and eat free school lunches while we were entertained by the students competing in the hot sun for two days. Ha, I kind of felt like royalty. Here we are in the 'president's box!'

The next day, the games continued! Here is my personal favorite: the 15-legged race. This was hands-down the most entertaining event to watch. I think there was only one team that actually made it to the end in one piece. Hahaha!

One of the most highly-anticipated and most-practiced event was the cheer competition. Which actually turned out to be more of a 'let's sing, chant, and clap' competition. It was a bit anti-climatic, but still entertaining. Plus, it was fun to see what 2+ months of dedicated work from the students yielded. (I can't help but wonder if they were this dedicated to actual school work! Oh well...)

To finish off the craziness that was Sports Day, they put together a football match (soccer for us, Americans) between the teachers and Jonathan was asked last minute to join! He rocked it even though like none of his teammates spoke English. [See awesome shot of Jonathan below] It was super fun seeing all these older teachers, running around and having a ball while their students cheer for them on the sidelines. Best 2 days of school!

 

So I guess that is what happens when you let go. You embrace everything about the culture, even the things that you don't necessarily agree with, but you end up having an incredibly fun experience and fond memories to keep with you forever.