27 May, 2006

Hello, and welcome to the wonderful world of teaching at Marywitthaya School in Prachinburi.

Well......we have just finished week 2. And what a week! I can proudly say that it was much, much better than week 1, so that is great. By Thursday things were pretty bad with the year-2s - but are only 2 weeks into the year, and things are still new. The year 1 students are really warming up now, but I think they're also feeling the burn of "real" school life! They absolutely LOVED the topic this week, though - I've been teaching them about classroom commands (sit down, make a line), and I found an ideas in a book: robots. So we sang a robot song that they loved, and I gave them all a paper plate, with a slot to see out of, to make into a robot mask. They really enjoyed that, and there were some beautiful ones! It was a great topic that lasted me 3 or 4 lessons, and they were desperate for Friday to come so they could wear their masks.

Hope you enjoyed the photos! Those teddy bears were Winnie The Pooh! -as drawn by my year 1 students.

We got bikes the other day - yet more equipment supplied by the school! They have kitted us out good and proper, with our house and its contents, our cooking stuff, my uniform (I wish the 80's fashion revival hadn't reached Prachinburi........) - it's brilliant. And Rob has been given the confidential information that his bonus from his last school is waiting for him. A month's wages! Sam, who he used to work with, rang last night and told him. No WAY would the school have told him. So that's fantastic! And yeah - a bike ride is in order tomorrow, along with a massage at tha hospital, where it's meant to be really good and half the price of one in Bangkok.

As well as the week's school time, Rob and I are both doing extra classes after school - 1:1 with some of the kids from year 1. So that's extra cash, and not very demanding. We have some CD-Roms at school and last week I used one for one of my after-school boys. He got right into it and it worked really well. So they're a good tool.

So are the campfire songs that I learnt over the years at diabetic camp. I'm finding Auntie Dot's amazing performances to be an endless inspiration, and the kids adore the songs! "Boom Chick-a-boom" and "Tongo" currently top the charts. I'm going to start nominating some of the kids to lead the songs!

In a couple of weeks' time we have a lovely 4-day weekend! It's the King's jubilee - 60 (count 'em!!) years on the throne! So we shall be heading somewhere nice for that. And then the floodgates will be open for all the many national holidays of the school year. I think it's Wai Kroo (Teacher Worship Day) next, as it is titled on our school calendar. Teacher Worship!

Still mayhem with the year 2 kids, but I have to say that it was better this week. I did read them the riot act on Thursday morning, as it was unbearable in that classroom, and they seemed to take notice..........but when I taught them again that afternoon it had not really made any difference. It's a hard slog trying to find out what will work. And the classroom assistant has got to go. She appears to actually hate children (though she's about 28 and looks all dainty and nice) and has been doing some things that I really won't have in my classroom. they make no bones about hitting the children in Thailand, and it's really shocking! So hopefully they will get rid of her and hire someone good.

I had a contest to see who could guess how old my granny is (97 this August!), which was funny.........don't tell Granny........

It's not all bad with those year 2s. They are actually ok sometimes. Krystal, who taught them last year, could apparently never control them. I want to direct their energy into something, because they have buckets of it! Don't want to dismiss them as a complete nightmare. Well, not yet. I do have a Superstars system going now, with a book to stick stickers in for good behaviour, etc., and many of them do actually take notice of that, so maybe it will eventually filter through into their collective consciousness! If they were like that last year, though, then 1) at least it's not ME! and 2) it will take more to try and reverse it. The 1st years aren't like that, so they won't be going into the next year as wild animals!

La di da.........such is life. It's all exciting and good, despite the setbacks. I'm finding I'm very tired but really content here, what with the good food I'm cooking, the fresh air, the lack of traffic, the local shops, the fact we can walk or bike to school in no time at all, the community feeling.........just my cup of tea!