Krabi Town, Week 4

Week 4

Monday, July 10th

On this day there was no school due to the Thai national holiday “Asahna Bucha Day. Fortunately for me because I was still very tired from my trip to the beach. The muscles in my arms were sore from holding on to the motorcycle of my friend. Obviously, I did not want to fall off.

I got out of bed at around one o’clock in the afternoon. I was wondering what I could do for the rest of the day, I didn’t feel like going to the beach again, or like taking a hike along the river, neither did I want to stay inside for the rest of the day. I went out to do some groceries and also decided that it would be a relaxing day. I bought some fruit from the market and got the rest of my groceries from one of the many seven/eleven stores in Krabi Town. I thought of going by bicycle but the streets were too busy at that moment. I still needed to get used to the fact that people drive on the left side of the road, it would be better to try it when it wasn’t so busy on the streets.

When I got back I put all of my groceries in my fridge an started thinking about my lessons for the coming Wednesday. I was to teach grammar, but I had to make it fun. Started thinking of some fun activities linked to certain grammar topics, but unfortunately I left my books at Ammart so it was more of guessing which topics would be discussed.

Looking at the fact that this years had only just started, I figured topics like the present simple, present continuous, and the past tense would definitely have been discussed already. I thought of some games, put them on a piece of paper and decided that it would be better if I worked on them while I had the books.

When I put most of my ideas on paper I went out for dinner. I decided to go a nice place near to my room. I ordered some spring rolls (non-spicy ones) and some kind of pork meat. After that I went out to have a chat with some of my friends.

Tuesday, July 11th

The holidays were over and it was time to go to Ammart again, early in the morning. I decided it was time to try out my bicycle for the first time, I quickly read about the Thai traffic rules before I went out. The roads weren’t busy so I got there quite easily, the only bad thing was the hill near the white temple. It was quite steep and I had to walk up the hill, my next goal was to cycle up that hill in one goal!

When I got to Ammart, everyone was preparing for the midterms (which started on the thirteenth of July). I was finishing preparing my lessons. I would teach M2A, M2B and M3A on Wednesday. I decided to discuss some of the more important topics; present simple, present continuous, past simple and past continuous (of course the lesson prepared for M3 differed from the ones for M2).

For M2 I prepared a lesson consisting of grammar explanation of the present simple and the present continuous, practise through means of a game. I also tried to make them as interactive as I could. For M3 I prepared a similar lesson but they had more grammar topics that needed to be studied. I didn’t know how far I could get, but it’s useful to have a sort of backup plan in case there’s time left.

During the fifth and seventh period I was observing M2B and M3B. It’s a good thing to get a chance to observe. It could give you some inspiration for ideas for your own lessons or classroom management. What I’ve seen from the M3 groups, is that in my opinion, you need to be quite strict with those two groups. They’re very talkative and energetic, they also seem to be easily distracted.

After my observing was concluded, I finished preparing my lessons and helped some other teachers out for a bit for the Ammart Open House. I’ve been involved in the Skit (a short play) have helped out slightly with a debate and I’m on standby for matters regarding grammar.

after that I went home. I was quite tired so when I got home I fell on my bed and slept for a few hours. I had dinner, went back home and went back to bed.

Wednesday, July 12th

I got up extra early this day. I would be teaching my first three “real” lessons. I got up at a quarter past six, had breakfast, had my coffee and took a shower. After that I left my key at the front desk in order to have my room cleaned.

I was on my way to Ammart and this time I got up the hill in one go! I got to Ammart and went to the office, listened to the Thai anthem and started to check the classrooms for equipment. Two out of three classrooms were fully equipped! Which wasn’t bad at all. The first two lessons were set but I had to improvise slightly about how I was going to teach the M3 group.

I taught M2B during the first period and M2A during the second period. The lesson with M2A went quite well, although the children are still very shy towards me. I tried to make my lessons interactive by asking questions about the current subject (present simple, present continuous, and the imperative). For the present simple I had given some explanation first, discussed the three forms of sentences (Affirmative, negative and the question), asked questions, asked for examples from the students and finished with a short game. There was a stick figure already drawn on the whiteboard, and by using different verbs in the present simple tense, the pupils were supposed to finish the stick figure, for example with a hat; “he wears a hat,” and a hat would be drawn on the head of the stick figure.

After that I discussed the present continuous, the explanation was similar to the explanation of the present simple. I wanted to go through all that quickly so there would be enough time to play the games. When I was done with the explanation, I played a game in which four students were mimicking pictures and the other students were writing down all of the present continuous tenses they heard (I was telling a story). And although not a single one of the students volunteered for the game, once I had appointed my volunteers the game was started going and the students seemed like they were having fun. When the game was over I discussed the outcomes with the student who had been writing along. I forgot to do this during the second lesson though.

After the first two lessons I had two periods of free time, I spent that time adjusting my lesson for M3A. I didn’t have a projector available so I had to decide what to write down on the whiteboard and what not, how would it be organized and structured. I made some notes for myself to keep at hand when I’d need them. But when I was done doing that I realized something, I could use the presentation, but then I’d use it for myself. So that’s what I did, it worked okay, but it’s more efficient if you have your presentation on the big screen. The visual support can be very important!

I got prepared and went to the classroom of M3A, the students were being their happy selves,their energetic selves. I let them do as they’d please while I was setting up, after that I told them that I wanted to start and asked them to take out their nametags. As expected there were some students who forgot/lost their name tag. Those students were allowed to make a new one, quickly though.

When I was about to start, the students settled down and were ready too. At that moment a student came in late, this was a distraction so other students responded to her right away and started talking as well.

After everyone settled down (for the second time) we could start the lesson. We discussed the grammar (present simple, present continuous, past simple, past continuous). After the explanations we played some games as well. It certainly took more energy to teach M3 than it took to teach M2, but it was worth it and still a lot of fun.

I also still have to get used to the fact that you not only get greeted at the beginning of class but also at the end; “thank you teacher.” Imagine that but then really slow and monotonous “thaaaaank youuuu teaaaa-cheeer.” I wished them the best of luck for the midterms and I was on my way back to the office.

I spent the rest if day working on my blog and journal and of course, reflecting with one of my mentors and another teacher who was present while I was teaching.

When I got home I went out for lunch straight away. I went to a little place of which I’ve forgotten, but they had the best fried rice with chicken, and even better; it was not too spicy! After dinner I went to Arty’s and made some plans to go to the beach again on Sunday.

Thursday, July 13th

Midterms have started… It’s wasn’t the most exciting day to be honest. I got there about ten to eight and started working on my blog and log. But there wasn’t much else to do, I was helping some teachers out with minor things but those didn’t last all day. I’ve been helping out with stapling tests, assisting for the Ammart open house (the debate) but there wasn’t much else to be done.

In the afternoon when I was returning from my lunchbreak, I encountered some of the students that I taught.

After a long day of helping people out, doing some chores and working on my blog mostly, it was time to go home. Although it wasn’t an intensive day at all, I still was exhausted. Some sort of brain malfunction I guess.

At around four o’clock in the afternoon it was time to go home. I took another route this time, a quicker route and a route with better roads.

When I got home I had dinner, worked on my blog/log and went to bed.

Friday, July 14th

This day was similar to Thursday, I got at Ammart at about a quarter past eight and went to the office. There weren’t any tests ready for marking yet so I started to figure out what I could do. I could make a start with some of the lessons for when the finals would be over, I could help out some of the teachers with anything.

During my lunchbreak I went out for some fried rice with chicken and a lemon soda and I went back to Ammart.

When I got back one of my mentors came to me to talk. We discussed activities that I could do the coming weeks. I’ve been assigned to discuss listening and speaking, the second unit of the book.

The unit is called “In Class.” The students will be learning how to describe people and they can talk about: where they are, what they are doing, and the way they look (e.g. expressions and moods). I am allowed to create/use my own material. I thought of using pictures to teach them how to describe something/someone and more ideas will come up as I prepare my lessons.

Something that I need to bear in mind is that the students are of a much lower level than the M2 and M3 groups. Talking slowly and clearly and adjusting my vocabulary will be of great importance.

When I was done at Ammart I went for some noodles at a small place and went home. I had my powernap and woke up at seven o’clock PM. Then I took a shower and went to Arty’s. Many people came out and we had a lot of fun. We made some new plans with a group of people to go to the beach again.

Saturday, July 15th

I’ve started to sleep better and better, I went to bed last night at about eleven PM and slept until half past eleven this day. As a result I’m rested and more energetic! I went out for some groceries at the market and 7/11. I got some fruit and biscuits from the market and bought lots of water and other food at 7/11.

When I was done with grocery shopping I went out for a little walk. I chose to go to the river and decided to follow a little bit further than last time. I got invited for a boat tour to the mangrove only four times so that wasn’t bad. I turned right after I passed a hotel (of which I can’t remember the name) and went into Krabi Town. I basically walked in a big circle back to the Orange Tree House.

I got home at about 4 PM. During the last few hours in the afternoon I prepared my bag for the beach, I wouldn’t want to forget my sunscreen again because that is really expensive around here.

Needless to say, the first thing that I packed was my sunscreen, threw in my towels and water. I also made sure I had a more comfortable ride to the beach as well.

At night it was time to go to Arty Bar, a friend was going back to Dublin after two months so it was his goodbye party. We’ve had great fun and talked for most of the night. At around half past eleven it was time to go,Mr. Wow had left the building. I went to sleep and was excited to go to the beach again.

Sunday, July 16th

Woke up early and quickly went to the 7/11 to buy the other necessities for the beach. I got some cookies, soda, and one or two beers to share. We gathered at Arty’s at around eleven o’clock. We ended up leaving at a quarter to twelve because not everyone was there yet, we also said our final goodbyes to our friend who was leaving today. We took some group pictures and were on our way.

I was happy that I asked H. for a seat on his bike, it was more comfortable and his bike was more trustworthy than the previous bike a sat on the back on. We were on our way and N. was making another video with her Gopro camera. Which was fine, but all of a sudden (with only five kilometres left) they decided to stop and take pictures. I just wanted to go but there wasn’t much we could do about it.

After the photoshoot we drove to the beach, we picked up one friend who lived near there and set up our “camp,” which came down to three mats, five bags, six bottles of water to hold down the mats and was it.

Unfortunately, the wind was blowing very hard and the sand went everywhere, my bag was filling up nicely. The water stood higher than normal as well and slightly colder but it was still very nice.

At six o’clock we went on our way back and stopped somewhere to eat something. I had some sort of spiced meat with chips and it was actually really good. When we were finished eating we went on our way back, but someone insisted on visiting his place. Most of us were tired and just wanted to go home but we still went. He invited us inside but someone said that we needed to go back, and fortunately we did.

When we got back we stayed at Arty’s for a few hours, but I didn’t last half an hour. I was too exhausted and went to bed.