Reflections on Teaching

March 13, 2011

Well, I’m officially on vacation for about the next 2 months! Simply fantastic.  It was a long 5 months or so, but it was for the most part a great time and good learning and teaching experience.  I’m sure by the time school starts up again I’ll be eager to get back in the swing of things.  For now though, I’m happy to be on a break!

My last week of school was quite busy for it being the last week.  Other teachers in my program only had to report to school, sign their names, and sit around for a few hours and then they left.  I had a good amount of work to finish for the MEP- Mini English Program at my school, so that kept us busy.  We- me and the three other new foreign teachers- had to create an exam for Mattayom 1 and 4 students who wish to take part in the MEP program.  The MEP program is a more intensive English program- not only in conversation or grammar, but also content subjects.  Those who are a part of the MEP program are held to a higher standard and are expected to perform well in their regular Thai subjects, science and math classes taught in Thai, and biology, chemistry, physics, math, conversation and grammar classes taught in English.  It can be quite a tough program.  After we finalized this test and wrapped up a few loose ends for the MEP program, we were free to leave.  I was ecstatic.  I really enjoyed my work experience, and like I said, I’ll be eager to return after so much time off, but for now I was very happy to get a rest.

So I think at this point, I can share some general reflections on the past 5 ½ months living in Rayong and teaching English at a Thai School.  It has been such a rollercoaster to say the least.  The beginning was exciting and new, and then routines started to set in which was a blessing and a curse.  Then towards the end of the term I was able to look forward to the holiday and being planning my adventures.  With the routine came stability and comfort, but also homesickness and some anxiety.  My joy and happiness ebbed and flowed in the middle and sometimes I found it hard to find the motivation to enjoy my work.  Luckily, I’m not a quitter so that was good motivation.  To be honest, some days I counted the hours until lunch, then counted the hours until 4 o’clock, then counted the days until the weekend when I could go off exploring.  Not because I didn't enjoy my work- but because I felt a little anxious to get out and see something different and meet new people.  Being the only farang made me feel lonely sometimes.  Then some days I had so much fun with my students that I didn’t really want to go back to the office to sit and grade papers or create a test.  Those days flew by and were wonderful.  I’d be lying if I said my only motivation was that I’m not a quitter so I have to continue- truly my motivation was the students.  Being with them- even on rough days, was fun.  Actually, some of the tough days are the most memorable, because as soon as I flipped that switch in my head to think positive and laugh about this stressful teaching moment, everything was fine.  No use getting upset about the fact that it might be pouring rain so hard, so hard that the building is being pelted and thunder is crashing so no one can hear me even with a microphone, let alone the person sitting next to them -and the windows don’t close…in those times I just had to smile. 

Thai schools are run much differently than American schools of course and administrators and teachers have different goals or ideas for how schools are run here.  Of course, the students and their success is always at the heart of the matter, that goal is just reached in different ways.  Here it feels sometimes those ways are a bit circuitous, but I wouldn’t want to say anything else that might sound offensive.  So I’ll stop right there.  The point here is that, no matter our cultural backgrounds, its no use to superimpose these values onto another culture.  It won’t help you feel better or adjust any quicker.  It’s best just to accept that the ways of another culture are much different especially in a work environment, and different does not mean bad.  Only different.  Once I learned to understand and appreciate these differences a little more, I felt more at ease and didn’t worry so much about the work.  I started out feeling anxious that I wasn’t accomplishing everything, or teaching everything correctly to my students, but once I realized that not only is this an anxiety of young teachers worldwide, it is certainly understood that in Thailand this isn’t always the goal.  The goal is for the students to learn something new, practice their English, for you to enjoy the students, and for the students to enjoy their teacher.  It’s really quite simple…

I don’t want to go on much longer on this subject; I feel it could get a bit tiresome.  But I do want to express the idea that working here is quite enjoyable and interesting.  I felt like everyday brought on something new and exciting, whether it was a change in schedule, tremendous rain that got the students in a tizzy, news of a day off from classes the following week, or an upcoming evaluation (there were I think 5 or so school or particular program evaluations during the term).  The tough days weren’t necessarily tough because of tough students- sometimes this was the case, but tough days were also tough because of outside forces.  Sometimes I felt more isolated or homesick than usual, or maybe I was just plain tired.  Good days were good because of my students- they always made me smile even when they were naughty or goofing around in class, but also because most of the time I was able to turn around the down times into opportunities to practice Thai, or interact with locals, or just enjoy the fact that I’m here in Thailand and that this is a very unique and valuable experience.  I also learned to appreciate the time I had to myself for reflection and meditation.  I am now much more at ease with just being by myself.  I think that at all in all, these are very good things- the ups and the downs.