Sooo maybe I should title this post "the LONGEST POST Ever!!!" or "I'm officially OBSESSED with my P1 Munchkins" or "P1 PICTURE OVERLOAD".... :) :)
This post will probably be all over the place, just fyi....so much to say about teaching here in Thailand and the school in general that I may just blab a lot! :) Apologizing ahead of time! :)
This is my classroom!
So big but it also has 36 little munchkins
in it and 3 teacher desks!
I ended up rearranging the desks after the second day. I prefer my little munchkins sitting in groups so they can collaborate and work together. I think that group work is super important at this age. There are now 6 groups of 6 and it is working out pretty well...minus a few little chatterboxes! :) Moving some people around tomorrow so we will see how that goes!
9 of my 36 little P1 Munchkins!!
Theetouch, Bright, Pim
A-Care, Pun Pun Boy, Ping Ping
Gam, Proud, PearWa
<3
Gam working on her ABC sort.
These kids are super meticulous when it comes
to writing, cutting, drawing, etc.
Tonnam was sooo worried that he messed up! :) So sweet!
Boeing and PearWa
Theetouch
Pun Pun Boy - Loves the camera!
Prepping for my Silly Sentences center
This is me...see the resemblance?
Silly lil ones!
Drawing themselves and labeling different
parts of the body!
Such great helpers...constantly at my desk waiting
for me to ask them to help me with something! :)
View of the School from the Front Gate
Teacher Joseph literally being attacked
by my little P1 munchkins
Although it looks like Gam is being sweet...
she is actually still attacking Teacher Joseph :)
Theetouch is such a monkey, and
Kaow Lad is just a lil cutie!
So the students have P.E. once a week...P1, P2, and P3 all have P.E. on Wednesday at 3pm. Last Wednesday was obviously my first Wednesday at school, therefore my first P.E. day... I hadn't been given much information about PE or what was expected of the students or myself during this hour. After talking with two American teachers that have been at the school for 2 years, we learned that the kids literally just run around for an hour on an empty soccer field. Umm, okay...so no coordinated games or activities?? Nope, just chase them around until they are tired and they'll do the same. Haha, well lets just say this was an experience.
I lined up all of my kids around 2:55 so that we could head outside for P.E...I was crossing my fingers that my Thai co-teacher would come back to the room to help me/inform me of what I was supposed to do with these crazy little munchkins...but no hope! So I stuck one of my helpers in the front of the line and just hoped she would take the lead and bring us to the right spot. The second the students crossed this one piece of pavement, they Literally took off SPRINTING towards the field...and here I am, "WAIT...Don't Run!! You may fall!!! Get back in line...ahhh"...typical American teacher... lol they are kids, they are fine.. that is the mindset here. There were literally 100+ kids running ALL over the front of the school with 4 American teachers that had absolutely NO CLUE what was going on! :) We didn't know if they were allowed to be hanging upside down off the soccer goal, flipping off the bleachers, doing Muay Thai and many other unsafe activities...okay so that was a little exaggerated, but that is how it felt to me as I was trying to monitor all of the students while in all actuality, I couldn't even tell which students were mine on the opposite side of the field...
Shogun :)
Every time I glance at this picture I think oh my gosh, I caught them picking their nose...and then I remember... in a soft voice, "If you can hear me snap your fingers...if you can hear me touch your nose..." :)
Reviewing the months, days, and colors with a game of bingo! They LOVED it!!
Jeen and Matthew getting ready for lunch! The kids eat their lunch in the classroom everyday, basically unattended...I know, crazy right!? At noon the teachers go to lunch and the students go right outside the classroom where trays have been plated up for them of home cooked delicious food! Haven't really figured out how this works yet...but all I know is that there are trays lined up for P1, P2, and P3 and the students just walk out there grab a plate and come back into the classroom...oh and they also bring their own silverware (fork and spoon...because we don't use knives in Thailand) and they also bring their toothbrush and toothpaste. Every child washes their silverware and brushes their teeth after they are done with lunch. They have full hour for lunch but most kids are usually done in 20 minutes. I kid you not when I say they literally just run around the classroom unattended for the next 40 minutes until their 1:00 class.
The teachers go down to the "teacher's lounge" (I guess you could call it that...but I think they actually call it the cantina..anywho)...Each day there are some amazing dishes prepared for us....it could be anything from fish, pork, chicken...usually there is always rice, some sort of vegetables, hard boiled eggs, oh and there is always something for dessert. There is so much food provided for lunch...it has been great...but it gets better... :) you have the option to eat at school or you can bring your own or go off campus and pick something up... I decided to do the school lunch as I feel it will be easier than trying to figure out lunch each day... It cost 150 baht for the MONTH to eat every day...which is FIVE US Dollars a month...TWENTY FIVE CENTS a day people!! Ey yi yi!! :) for an amazing lunch!! Pretty snazzy I think!
This day was a make your own soup kind of day...still learning all of the dishes and how and what to plate together... I normally try and follow in line after some Thai teachers to see how they do everything... So for this you put the noodles in your bowl (dry) and then there were some balls (we thought they were pork but Ashley thinks they may have just been something egg related...they were good tho..) and then you go over to this big pot and pour the broth on top... oh and you can add chilis and scallions and other little toppings...pretty nifty! :) Oh, I guess I forgot to mention my lunch experience on the first day of school, which was last Friday...I signed up to do the eating at school thing, seeing as it was super convenient and inexpensive...day 1 I am super excited to see what the set up is like and what kind of things will be offered..Will it be like a bunch of different options like a food court or just one selection each day...blah, blah, blah... so we walk in at noon and my belly is GRUMBLING!!! I breathe in and all I can smell is that fishy fish smell....we turn the corner into the kitchen (where we make our plates) and the protein for the day was fish...great, I enjoy fish....but I have never been a WHOLE fish person...I don't like seeing the eyes and the head and whole body of the fish before I eat it...I have always been like that and feel like I always will be (maybe not tho since I am living in Thailand for the next year)... Anyway...you are supposed to get your rice, veggies, etc and then your WHOLE fish...sooo lets just say I ate rice and veggies and prayed that Monday would be chicken! :) Everything has been great since then...and dont' get me wrong, I am sure the fish was great I just have this thing....and I just can't seem to get over it! :)
Words can NOT describe these pictures...and I know they are somewhat blurry but let me start by saying these were taken FRIDAY around 3:50...and let me also say that Friday was a really CRAZY day... Gam was celebrating her birthday so all of the kids were hopped up on sugar and crazy after lunch...well they are always energetic and silly, but Friday was a million times worse! AND I have to teach 2 classes after lunch on Friday... My goodness I could not wait to get out of work and have a beer that afternoon!!!
Clearly my kids were SUPER EXCITED it was Friday also!!!
Woooooo!!!!
Teachaaaaa Lauren, TGIF!!!!
My little birthday girl...who brought me 4 little DUNKIN DONUT MINIS that were the most AMAZING THINGS EVER!! Gam, you know the way to my heart!
My kids will be Trilingual... Thai, English, and Chinese... This is the Chinese teacher...it is so neat to hear her teach and to watch my little munchkins learn another language... I am a teacher in the English Program, so my kids get all of the subjects in Thai and English... So I teach English, Math, Science, and Health and then they have Thai language, math, science, social studies, computer, art and music... These kids are BUSYYYYY! :) and so smart and Sweet! >in love< ...anyway...with this full schedule they have, I only teach 13 hours a week... :)
English - 5 Hours MTWRF
Math - 3 Hours MWF
Science - 3 Hours TRF
Health - 1 Hour W
P.E. - 1 Hour W
:)
Sooo the most I teach in one day is 3 hours :) Well I guess technically speaking I teach 4 hours on Wednesday, but I don't think my hour of P.E. really counts as "teaching". :) It sounds great, and it definitely is...the free time I have during the day is spent planning lessons and prepping materials for future centers and lessons.
Today was my first day of "real lessons"...last week was more of a get to know the munchkins, assess them, find out where they left off, what they know/still need practice on, etc. So I have decided that I am going to do a lot of phonetics and word families and things like that that are extremely common (and expected) in the states...but aren't really focused on here... My kids can read a lot of "common" words but don't really know letter sounds and things of that sort...this will make reading harder for them when they come across words that need to decode words...
I introduced some word families today...simple stuff to see how they responded to the new style... -at family, -ap family, -an family, -am family, etc. After a whole group mini lesson I explained all of the centers that they would be rotating to throughout the week. This sounds easy enough, but is still challenging because a lot of them don't speak/understand that much English. Once they see what/how to do something they seem to excel at it. A little guidance never hurts! :) My Thai co-teacher snapped some shots of the kids working in the new centers!
Cutest thing ever, the students stand up and say good morning (in Thai) before every Thai subject, and stand up and say thank you (in Thai) at the end of every Thai subject... Whenever it is an English subject with me, they stand up and say, "Gooooooood morrrrrniiiiinnnnnngggg Teachhhaaaaaa Laurrrrrrreeeeeennnn" Nice and slow and drawn out like that :) cutest thing ever!
Okay, well like I said.... that was a LOT of rambling and it may not make sense...not sure because I am not rereading it!! :) It is wayyyyy past my bed time... but know that this post was LONG overdue! :)
Love and Miss Everyone Back Home!!!
don't forget.....VISITORS are ALWAYS WELCOME! Seriously!
-LD
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this!!!!! ♥ ♥ ♥
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