Semester 2: Back at It

18 May 2553

So I decided to interrupt the summer travel entries ( i know i know--you're all so sad :) ) to fill everyone in my current life back in Bang Phli. The past week since my mom went back to the US of A has been fairly low key; my days have been filled with meetings and lesson planning and getting geared up for the new semester. It was nice getting back into a routine after so much travelling and be back in the village with familiar faces and to see the other teachers, etc. It's hard to believe that it's time to teach again and that tomorrow marks the 7 month 'anniversary' of my leaving for Thailand!

So today was my first day back and it was actually pretty good. It was nice going into it knowing what to sort of expect and have a better idea of what the kids are going to be like. It was awesome to see some familiar faces and see how excited the kids were to see that I was still in Thailand (it makes you feel pretty awesome when students come up and say they missed you and were worried you had gone back to America!) I also have some new students this semester as my schedule changed a bit so it's fun to get to know some new faces as well as work with some of the Thai teachers I've gotten to know over my time here. Last semester I taught mainly Grade 5/6 Math and Science with a little bit of Health and English-Conversation splattered in there (all for the English Program--meaning the kids take their classes in English everyday.) This semester my schedule is as follows:

-Grade 1-3 (Regular program--all classes in Thai except English): English-Conversation
-Grade 1-9 (English Program): Swimming/P.E. --yes I am now a gym teacher complete with windpants
-Grade 4-6 (English Program): Basic English
-Grade 7-9 (EP): Health

It's strange coming back and not teaching really any of the same classes I taught last semester, although I have many of the same kids, but after having 7 classes today (Yes 7 and I was exhausted) it seems like it will be a pretty good year. I'm excited to be teaching English as I feel like I'll be a little more qualified in that area than Math/Science and working with the Regular program kids is gonna be cool because E-Convo is all about getting them excited and comfortable with English (plus they are really little and a ton of fun!) and less about bookwork and assignments.

There have been some other changes since last semester as the school has downsized a bit and is reworking some financial stuff. Anyway, the English Program classrooms now have 2 grades per room which is going to be an interesting challenge trying to teach English while another grade is learning Math or Thai; today was alright though as most of the teachers ease into the semester with games and introductions. We also have a new office complete with Air/Con which makes an incredible difference during the day when it can reach temps of 107!! It's Emily, Josie and me in the office with a new teacher, Zanie, who is Sinaporean/Burmese and will be mostly teaching the upper level kids and Pop, our new, pretty old, slightly confused coordinator. Pop is a really nice and jolly guy, but he is pretty much incoherent when he speaks and tends to start up on a random high-decibled tangent (usually a yell) in the midst of silence and then stop...and then start again. Today I was working on tomorrow's plan and out of nowhere he just shouts from 2 desks away (NATHAN! HOW YOUR STUDENT TODAY? YOU CLASS DO GOOD?'-oh and he's teaching English classes) Needless to say he provides some comic relief to the day and is extremely nice!

Anyway all is fine and well at Satit Bangna and I'm hoping the rest of the semester continues as such. I'll leave you all with a list of new Thai nicknames from my students today (and again I must reiterate the point that these are indeed real nicknames and I do not alter them for your benefit) Just imagine what it's like to ask a student their name and get these in response! and what's better is when you have 1st graders who can't really spell their names so I have to make up spellings knowing that I'm basically in charge of how they will forever spell Namyeun (yes I created that name today from what my student told me :) ! Anyway, here's the list:
-Guide
-Watermelon
-Foremost
-I.Q.
-My
- View (but they can't say the 'V' so it's said 'Weew')
- Arm
- Popcorn (a personal favorite)
- Film
-Boom
-Moo