I had been teaching here and there since November 2008, I was also working part-time for a language school, and then at 11:30 on the 1st May I received a phone call inviting me to attend an interview for a full time teaching position. Two hours later I was at Wat Nuannorodit School in the district of Bangpai. The school had a nice feel to it and I immediately warmed to the Head of English and another teacher who were interviewing, I was offered the job and immediately accepted. I would be teaching IEP (Intensive English Programme) students at Mathayom 1 and 3, as well as conversational English to Mathayom 5 & 6. In total 19 lessons each of 55 minutes duration per week.
Mathayom is the equivalent to secondary or high school, the M1 students are 12-13 years old and M6, 17-18.
On the 12th May, I arrived just before 7:30am to start my new career as a teacher in a government school. With up to 50 students to a class, I wasn't sure what to expect or how to handle it. On my first day I got things quite wrong, to be honest I was somewhat bewildered about handling a class of 50 students and being able to teach such a quantity. On the second day, I changed tack a little and gave the students a game for the last twelve or fifteen minutes of the lesson, things went much better. From then on things got better, okay I've given the odd activity that's fallen a bit flat but more often than not the activity has been a success.
Now I did say, I'm teaching IEP students and I'm also the lead teacher for Mathayom 1. My job is to teach them English as a whole, i.e. grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation. Imagine a wild bunch of 10-11 year olds in the UK, noisy, running around and naughty. Now my 12-13 year olds are just like that, they can be incredibly naughty, incredibly difficult to control but at least I have no need to fear them and almost all of them have a lot of respect for me as their teacher. This class has 40 students, 27 boys and 13 girls and out of each fifty-five minute lesson, I spend at least 25 minutes trying to control them. This is not a problem confined to me, other teachers all find this class exceptionally difficult to manage they have so much energy they need to release. That said I have a lot of affection for them, they seem always pleased to see me and have even asked other teachers why they can't be kind like Ajarn Peter. This means a lot, especially as I can get pretty tough with them, giving out lines, confiscating mobile phones and comic books.
My lessons to the Mathayom 3 students are based on a programme called "English for Quality of Life", that said I'm pretty much given a free reign as to what and how I teach them. These students are 14-15 years old, there are 37 in the class and a great deal better behaved than those in Mathayom 1.
Mathayom 5 of which I teach grades 1, 3, 5, 9 and 10 and Mathayom 6, all grades 1-10 have me for their conversation class. With 50 students to a class, conversation lessons aren't the easiest to give especially as Thai students habitually revert to their mother tongue at almost every given opportunity. My philosophy is to integrate as much fun as possible in the lessons whilst teaching new vocabulary and correct pronunciation. These lessons are usually activity based and range from songs to discussions to making plans.
On 1st September there was a competition between ten schools locally. Beforehand I had been asked to coach Chanatip, a Mathayom 2 IEP student who would be entering the reading competition. I spent about 6 hours tutoring him to read well. We read from abridged versions of Oliver Twist and The Wizard of Oz. Chanatip had to learn to alter his voice each of the different characters that spoke and using stress and intonation correctly. It paid off, Chanatip came second, I was pleased. I was also given the role of quizmaster for the English quiz at Mathayom 3 level. Two of my students, nicknames Benz and Am, formed our school's team. I read out twenty questions, being very careful not to give any clues in any way to Benz and Am. After the twentieth question, the scores were counted, it was a tie between my students and a pair from another school. We started the tie-break, the first question both teams got right, same with the second. The third question resulted in two wrong answers, the nail-biting fourth question "Who was the first president of the U.S.," finally produce the result. Only one team gave the correct answer "George Washington" that team was Benz and Am from Wat Nuannorodit school, I was so proud of them.
Now it is already the end of the first term and exams are currently in progress. I can't believe how quickly these past four months have gone and how much I'm enjoying teaching. I usually arrive at school just before 7:30am and finish between 1:30 and 4:15pm, depending on my schedule for the day. I'm loving it!
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