Teaching English in Thailand: Day 9, A Sweet Day!

Day 9: 2nd July

Today was such a good day! I missed breakfast because I was still so full up from last night's dinner, which meant that I had no energy on top of being incredibly tired anyway! Thankfully, my new bestie Rowena made cookies and sticky rice pudding for us! So we had cookies and coffee which perked us all up. I also only had two lessons today, rather than three, so I had more time to eat sugary treats. All I do is eat here! Rowena keeps making fun of me, saying how much I seem to love sugar.....

Rowena and I with her awesome Oreo cookies!

This week, as I am new to the school, I have been starting all of my lessons with introductions. I tell the students a bit about me, very s l o w l y. I then ask them to tell me their name and nickname, one by one. This can take a fair while sometimes, as some students really struggle to pluck up the courage to stand up and speak English in front of everyone.

Today, one class that I took had about 40 students in it, because two classes had been merged together. These two classes are the top classes in the school, consisting of 17-18 year olds who have a fairly good level of English (compared to the rest of the school!) I was accompanied by Thanomsri, the nice lady who collected me from Bangkok. She asked the children to all ask me some questions about me, and as a reward, I would give them an English nickname. As you can guess, some of the questions were a bit personal, coming from cheeky 18 year olds who are full of intrigue! So along with "what is your favourite sport/ colour/ film?" I was also asked "how old are you?" (they couldn't believe I am 21) and "do you have a boyfriend?" I knew this was coming, so I played on it and acted really theatrical about the question, pretending that it was heartbreaking that I am in fact, single. It made them laugh and excitably "oOoOoOhhh" a lot!

I had a great lesson with them, as they were really participative, unlike many other of the students. I think the chance of getting an English nickname really spurred them on! My mind went blank every time I needed to throw another name out there, so some of you will be happy to know that I named about 15 of the students after my friends and family! 

It was by far my favourite lesson as I could tell that the students really liked it. I think they felt that I could relate to them, as we were talking about music and films that we all enjoy alike. I also spoke to the boys about football, because Thai people really like English football! I told them that My team is Liverpool and we had the usual rival/ support arguments!

Its a 'no' from me.

For lunch we went to our usual place, and I had some kind of noodle soup dish. It was a bit funky, and there were, indeed, bones in the chicken. *cries* This meant that I pretty much just ate the noodles, which were a bit odd themselves. Oh, and the two funny looking brown things? That's "blood" as Kanang puts it. My friend and fellow teacher 'Ju' gave me some pink milk (a bit like strawberry Nesquik) which made all my problems disappear! The nice restaurant owner gave us a plate of free Rambutan, which are a bit like lychees and are so beautiful!

Rambutan

In the afternoon I had no classes, so just relaxed in the library, did some lesson planning, researched weekend trips to the beach... You know how it is! We left school early because neither Kanang, Rowena or me had any lessons, and we were all very tired! When we got home, both Kanang and I had a nap (this is becoming a habit!) and then Kanang cooked us some delicious yet simple food for dinner: Mixed crunchy veg and chicken in oyster sauce, some amazingly tasty pork and rice. Simples!

Mixed crunchy veg and chicken in oyster sauce, tasty pork and rice!

I've almost finished my first week of teaching! Roll on tomorrow! :)

Peace,

Olivia