Just a little bit across town from my old school, lies the adorableness that is Anuban Chaiyaphum School, primary school, aka my work home for the next 4 months.
Without getting involved with the politics of the situation, I find myself quite challenged as I am no longer just teaching English, but am also teaching Science, Math (these poor kids), and Health now. A giant plus, I do get to have one class of 35 wonderful minions, as I call them, and I mean it in the most affectionate way possible. I am joyed at the fact I will be able to get to know each child and their names, as opposed to last term where teaching 12 classes of 50 students wasn't a conducive environment for learning names.
One thing is certain, if I enter the day with any emotion but happiness, these children turn it around, even if it's for a brief second, with their pure adorableness and love. They misbehave more than they listen, but they're kids, what can you honestly expect from them? They have the attention span of ants but it's those teachable moments when you see some of them struggle, then get so excited when they grasp a concept. This term is also a lot more challenging given the fact I haven't taken a single math course since I was in high school (thank you Bachelor of Arts), so it is an ironic twist, I would teach 4th grade math. All I can say is, Google is saving my life with all the worksheets I could ever imagine.
I am teaching what's called MEP (Mini English Program), and these kids are crazy smart, as in they know more English than most of my high schoolers last term. I find I have to use my "back pocket teaching" to pull out random assignments to the students who finish working before the other kids do. I am also discovering again the kids that disrupt the class the most are usually the ones that either are far more advanced than the subject matter, or don't understand the material at all. Either way, I am so lucky to have a Thai co-teacher to help so we can give those students better attention.
While I do miss my old students, it's Chaiyaphum, which is quite small, so I still see them everywhere. Everywhere being the night market, 7-11, and Tesco Lotus (basically Safeway). It's interesting because some of my current students have older sisters who I taught last term at Satri (high school).While I plan to leave Chaiyaphum at the end of the term, I already know it will be difficult to leave my students, of whom I've already fallen in love with. I mean, come on, they are the cutest set of 4th graders. Ever.
