Teaching is tough

This pool gets hardly any use from us CELTA nerds.

The smokers are the majority, but hold your prejudices; they're a nice bunch.

I quite like the idea of showing pictures without necessarily going on for ages about them. So, the picture theme of this post will be our beautiful countryside resort, and you can enjoy the photos through the captions. The text theme of this post will be a recap of this very difficult and interesting week.

First off, a general feeling to share: this course is hard for me. I remember hearing in anecdotes and the initial CELTA interview that sometimes the people who have it the hardest are the ones who have taught before, because their methods get turned upside-down. I figured I wouldn't have any trouble there, since I don't have an official credential or anything like that. But what I lack in certificates I make up for in experience classroom time and lesson planning, which nonetheless appears to have been child's play compared to the real science of teaching EFL (English as a foreign language).

Our amazing administrative wizard and a peek at the library/computer lab.

I was confident in my first lesson on Tuesday night; I taught an extensively planned 45 minute lesson first, and then two of my classmates followed suit. I didn't really have a framework of what to look out for, besides two days' worth of learning about teaching, but the course trainers went relatively easy on us. My lesson execution was deemed "to standard" on a scale of not to standard/below standard/to standard/above standard. We've been getting tons of feedback and new techniques, as well as a slew of papers and terminology, which so far has really been one of my downfalls. My memory isn't the best, so I have to rely on pitch perfect organization to remember what I need to do — thus my Googling "weekly planner print cute" to tidy up my to-do lists. (The "cute" was made fun of a bit by classmates, but I say, what's the point in having a boring planner when you could have a cute one?)

My room has two beds, but not every room does.
I'm quite unsure what to do with the second one,
and I don't think I should move it. Suggestions?

I yearn for organization to a fault, though; it makes me feel bogged down in details so I lose sight of the underlying goals for teaching. For instance, we're supposed to improve each week on classroom management, our probing teacherly question formation, and various other teaching techniques. Tonight, many of my students had a hard time with my instructions, and that led me to feel very discouraged. My teammates told me the lesson went well, but I still felt very disappointed and thus generalized to myself that the lesson didn't go well. For homework I'm supposed to do a self-evaluation, and hopefully sleeping on it will remind me of a few positive things I did.

I do really feel like everyone around me is a good-natured person at heart, and they're always there for a laugh or a kind word when I need it. The Brits especially have such a unique sense of humor that I love. I look forward to every meal and break time, because all of us manage to talk about such roaringly random things, sometimes funny but often serious and deep as well. It's a testament to these folks' natures that we all get along. I'll have to remember to revisit these sentiments when I start taking them for granted, as I expect will happen...

The poolside eating area, where we're served four times a day.

The latest in my non-course adventures was a trip to the doctor this morning. Our lovely admin helped me tremendously by calling the office yesterday when I asked her, and we set an appointment for 9:30, since breakfast is from 8:30-9:30 and then class doesn't start till 11:30. The office is about a ten minute ride away in a song thaew or red multipassenger cab, which is our resort's proffered contract vehicle. I rode with our fearless driver and his adorable baby boy, who dryly refused to acknowledge my English baby talk, in favor of a fascinating Hamtaro clip on the vehicle's DVD player. The driver was kind enough to wait for me and return at the end of my appointment, while I discovered that I'll be just fine but need to drink 4 bottles of water per day and purchase some papaya, pineapple and other safe fruits to improve my internal... systems.

Looking a little scrubby in the posh bathroom
(look at those fancy double doors!).

I was so grateful to have a doctor who spoke perfect English and had a bedside manner to rival that of any doctor I've had in the States. She explained everything perfectly and sent me on my way, meds in hand, to ride back with driver and baby. Before I remembered to drink my daily dose of perspective, I felt a little miffed to spent 750 baht on the medicine and 250 more on the cab ride, which amounts to about $40. Lord knows that's better than I'd get in the US without insurance. The CELTA folks and I chatted about how absurd it is that, until the healthcare reforms kick in, Americans have been forced to live with illness because they can't afford care. What an unnecessarily vicious cycle.

 Today I leave you with a linguistic riddle, much debated between the "posh English crowd" (Brits and Aussies) and... well, me. The other American was demure enough not to argue. Here is the riddle: You are inside for some time, working or whatever it is that you might do indoors, and other people are inside with you. You glance out the window after a while and are surprised to see puddles on the ground, but sunshiny skies. You look at someone in the room with surprise, not realizing the change in weather. What single sentence might you say about the weather to your friend/neighbor/coworker? Give a few examples! Think of your first natural reaction; don't overanalyze it! I really do want to know your thoughts, so leave a comment! ;)

The view from the shower really underlines the remoteness of the place.