Week 3, Krabi Town

Monday, July 3rd

An exciting day! This would be the first day that I’d start teaching at Ammart. But there was more to it. As you might remember from my previous blog, you’ve read that I was to introduce myself in front of the whole school, that being staff and students. No big deal, only slightly over three thousand people. I got up very early, I thought it was six o’clock. Had a quick shower, had my breakfast and got ready for school.

I was told to meet someone at a quarter to eight. As usual this became later, I was already stressing out but then reminded myself of the fact that that is just the way things work around here. I went to an office of where she would most likely be. It wasn’t long before I saw her. She is a very nice person, but also quite firm (in a very good way). “You come here and first anthem, then you talk.” When it was time for me to go, she walked with me, “are you excited, don’t be!” I told her that I couldn’t help myself and said that I was excited.

When I got up the stand I greeted the school with the wai. After that I started talking in English, very slowly because not every student is in the English Programme. I was told to keep it short, and I did. Perhaps a little bit too short, due to the excitement I forgot to state where I came from, where I would be teaching and some other items. But fortunately this worked as an icebreaker when I was meeting new classes. “You might have seen me before, I was the one who was giving a speech, not, that, well.”

The groups here are divided more by age than by level. There are six groups, m1 up to and including m6. M6 being the oldest students and M1 being the youngest students. M1, 2, 3 are divided in A and B or 11 and 12. On this day I taught one M2 class and one M4 class. In general all students here are very respectful towards teachers and staff (also towards each other, don’t worry J).

In my opinion teaching at Ammart has some similarities with my teaching experience back in the Netherlands; The students are talkative, sometimes easily distracted, and some other minor issues not really worth mentioning.

On the other hand, there are differences as well. One major item is respect. The students here are incredibly respectful towards teachers. They would ask you how you’re doing, most of them make a small bow with their heads when they walk by, and if something would go wrong and it’s their fault (or they think it’s their fault) they apologize right away by making a small bow and saying “sorry teacher.”

After class, during the ninth period there are different kinds of clubs. Lately all those clubs have had the same theme: Ammart Open House. Many different bits and competitions such as a spelling bee, debate club, drama and so on. I was asked to assist with the skit. I said that I would like to help, but unfortunately I have never been that much of a screenwriter, but I promised that I would help wherever necessary.

After a long and satisfying day it was time for me go to back to the Orange Tree House. “Hello Little John.” I went upstairs had a powernap and had dinner with some of three South-African teachers who work close-by (not at Ammart).

Tuesday, July 4th

This Tuesday was my busiest day of the whole week, this day I had to teach three lessons to M1A, M1B and M2A. It’s quite curious to see so much difference between all the students. Where some are very smart and understand basically everything you say, there are some who can barely understand a word. Obviously I will be learning a lot on differentiation; at the end of the day, your students have to had any clue of what you were saying! It is going to take some time and getting used to, but I’d like to think that it is going to be manageable.

Flexibility is also a key point. Flexibility /ˌflɛksɪˈbɪlɪti/: willingness to change or compromise.

"the government has shown flexibility in applying its policy"

On this day I had to teach three classes. I planned on using powerpoint for every lesson, and I did….

But unfortunately there isn’t a computer in every room, some classrooms have got a computer but no beamer, the other room has got a computer, a beamer but no cables. So there isn’t much choice but to be flexible. And although it took some getting used to (as it will still be in the future) it was manageable(as I hope it will be in the future).

Fortunately the teachers, my mentors, and the students here are always more than willing to help. Whether it was an IT malfunction (or me being technically challenged every now and then), some ideas for any of my lessons or just a conversation. It’s nice to know that people here are willing to help.

Some other thing that is becoming more clearly to me is the level of the students. At first I didn’t really have a clue about the level of the students, only how old they would be. As I mentioned before there are is M1 up to and including M6. M1 up to and including M3 are divided in A and B. The A’s are of higher level than the B’s. It will take some getting used to and bumping my head sometimes but I expect to manage.

After school I went back to the Orange Tree to take a shower and have my dinner. I went to a small restaurant near my room. I had some spring rolls, and some potatoes with that.

In the evening I met up with an Australian friend who would be leaving Krabi in a few days, at eleven o’clock, I went to bed.

Wednesday, July 5th

I have started sleeping better and better, and at night I would even get tired! I woke up well-rested. Had my morning routine (shower, coffee, breakfast, brush my teeth, drink half a litre of water) and went on my way to Ammart. A very nice thing to add is that the weather has been great the last five days; most of the time it was sunny and it would only rain at night (which caused cooler mornings).

Today I was teaching M3A and M3B, I already heard that the M3 were a little bit more challenging, especially group M3B. I started with M3A during the first period (08:30 – 09:20). In my opinion this group was more manageable than M3B. I already knew one of the students in M3A though, My “little brother” (I will call him C. should I mention him again in the future).

The students here seemed quite eager to learn about me and my country. But as usual they were quite shy at the beginning, I expect it to pass in a few days/weeks.

After the first period I was to help/assist a teacher during the second period. This would be the first time I would meet group M3B. When I got there, I immediately saw why M3B was described as one of the most difficult groups regarding classroom management. It was not as if there were some evil kids in there but they were talkative, energetic, and also quickly distracted. Oh and they can be loud, very loud. Needless to say this was going to be a challenge for the in the future.

After the second period I had some free time and went to my favourite coffeeshop/beverage provide WakeCup by Max. At this place you could get the most delicious sodas and ice coffees. I’ve been there quite often so far and the owner has been saving my spot for this day. “Welcome teacher” is the usual greeting and then he asks where I have left my friends. He’s a rather funny guy.

Once I came back I had one period left until I would be teaching M3B. When I went to the bathroom I student talked to me and said that if I would get hungry I could get some food from the school’s cafeteria, I thanked him for pointing it out to me, “No problem teacher.” When I went to my desk (Yes I have my own personal desk, as long as no other teachers needs it) a student came to me and he was holding a plastic bag; “Teacher I bought you lunch if you get hungry.” I thought this was a very kind gesture and thanked the student for it. He really wanted me to eat it but I wasn’t feeling hungry at that moment. He occasionally returned to check if I had eaten the lunch. By the end of the day I was about to walk home and have some rest. I was carrying my bag of lunch home with me, when I encountered the student who bought it for me, he was looking somewhat sad. I told him not to worry and that I would eat it for dinner. And that’s what I did, it actually was quite good too! Especially the sweet pork meat in it with the noodles.

At night I met some friend at Arty’s and went to bed at half past ten.

Thursday, July 6th

After a good night’s sleep I got up, had my morning routine and went to Ammart. When I got at the office, the student who bought me lunch the day before, came up to me and all of a sudden, gave me a hug. It was quite strange to me because I never had this experience before, quite awkward actually… But I wished him a very good morning and asked him how he was doing. “I’m doing great teacher, and you?” I was doing great too, after that I went into the office.

I was teaching two classes this day, M5 and M6. They are the older students of the EP. My mentor advised me to vary with my lessons for the M1 & M2, M3&M4, and M5 & M6. I made three different lessons and today it was time to teach the lessons for M5 and M6.

I was curious about how an older age group would respond to me (everyone has been a bit shy towards so far but I think that will fade as time goes by). I started with M5. I prepared my lesson just about the same as the previous ones, but I had some more difficult questions and more interaction with the older groups. The older students seemed more interested in the facts and opinions about the Netherlands than the younger students and also less interested in silly games.

As my lesson continued the students seemed more comfortable around me, that was fortunate for the last exercise I had planned; “predict the future.” I told my students to predict my future about my time in Krabi Town, it could be whatever they wanted it to be. They worked in groups of three for about eight minutes. I didn’t tell them what I was going to do with the short stories and when the time was up I collected them all.

Some students looked shocked when I said I wanted to see them but they handed it over without any trouble. I read them out loud in front of whole class. There were many funny stories and we had fun with them, after that it was the end of class.

During my break I went to Wake Cup for my lemon soda and went back to Ammart. When I got back it didn’t take long for the student I mentioned before to show up. “Hello teacher, you know Bergkamp, van Persie and van Basten?” I said that I knew them but was quite surprised that he knew them as well. Then he mentioned some legendary goals of those football players. We watched some videos together on Youtube and then I told him I had to continue with my work. “Okay teacher, see you again!”

After about half an hour, it was time to teach M6. It was a little bit chaotic as almost no classroom has a complete system of PC, beamer, monitor… with some good help of my mentors, I managed to teach my lesson as good as possible (technically).

Fortunately, the students of M6 were also eager to learn about the Netherlands and gathering more knowledge. It was surprising how many things the students already knew about the Netherlands. The tulip fields, mills, cheese and so on. I also thought it would be nice to learn some Thai (as I did during every lesson so far) but the pronunciation was so difficult for me that I can barely ask how some would be doing or ask what someone’s name would be. I want to keep practising to learn some more phrases but It’s not easy..

When I was done with my lessons I went back to the office to work on my administration and after that I went home. I got home to the Orange Tree, had dinner and went to bed early.

Friday, July 7th  

I didn’t have to do any teaching on this day, I was assistant/observer. I observed one M3 lesson (the toughest group there is at Ammart at the moment. It always is interesting to see how a group reacts to different teachers. With this teacher, the group was quite calm, they actually listened to her. It was the first time I had seen this, so it was nice to see that it was possible to manage, difficult but possible.

After all my observing/assisting I worked on my own for a few hours and helped some of the teachers out with the stapling of midterm exams. They are next week so it’s nice for them to have it done with. We turned on some relaxing tunes and started stapling, some seventy staples later (on my account) the job was done.

When I got home I took a shower and prepared a night out at Arty Bar, before I wanted to leave there was someone knocking on my door. “Jost, Juus, Little John!” I opened the door and one of the employees of Orange Tree was standing in front of me with a helmet and a key. “You get bicycle.” I wasn’t sure if I got it right so I asked him if I really got a bicycle. He said yes and I followed him downstairs, there stood a nice white mountain bike ready for me to use! When I got back to my room I received a messaged from my Thai mother; “Joost!!! Papa brought you bike, you see?” I replied that I had seen it and thanked her for the bicycle, “I will try it on Tuesday when I go to Ammart!” My Thai family really seems to be making an effort to make my stay as pleasant as possible, and it’s working!

 At night, I went to Arty Bar for a few hours to relax and meet up with some of my friends. There were plans being prepared to go to a beach on Sunday, Pan beach. I thought that that would be a very nice thing to do and told them to count me in. We would gather on Sunday in front of the bar at eleven o’clock.

Later that evening I was summoned to the back of the bar, a very friendly guy nicknamed “new” had prepared different dishes. There was a very, very spicy mushroom soup (only had a little of that), some rice, fish, and a very, very, very delicious omelette. It was kind of sweet and very well prepared.

After dinner I had two beers and went home, I was excited to go to the beach.

Saturday, July 8th

I woke up quite late this day, about 11:30 AM. I slept very well and was thinking about the things I could do today. I went for a short walk down by the river, bought some groceries and went back home.  Due to a national holiday “Asahna Bucha Day” most shops and bars were closed and it was quiet on the streets. During these days the people commemorate the first sermon that Buddha ever gave.

In the late afternoon I got a message from someone to go to a small get together. I thought I knew the way there, at least some kind of a shortcut. I did not. I was walking around for about one and a half hour before I found my way again…. Then, I had to walk for another twenty minutes because I hadn’t made any progress whatsoever. I finally arrived (the last one to do so of course) and fortunately we could start eating rather quick. We have good food, a good time, and made the final plans for Sunday.

After that someone dropped me off at Orange Tree and I went to bed.

Sunday, July 9th

Beach time!!! I got up at 07:30 AM and was very excited to go to the beach. I haven’t been to a beach here so far so I was every eager to go. In the morning someone had created a group chat on facebook messenger and we quickly went through who should bring what. I brought a big can of 5L water and some crisps, someone else brought snacks, someone else a little bit to drink and so on, and so on.

We met at Arty Bar and hung out there for a short while before we were on our way, we went with eight people and I sat on the back of New’s bike. New is a very kind guy and I trust his driving skills but I was anxious to go because of the notorious Thai traffic. It was a nice ride between all the cliffs and forests, until it started raining. As soon as we felt the rain, which hurt, my driver hurried to some house and we took shelter there. It wasn’t a house of anyone any of us knew. But the people there were very friendly to us and we were allowed to stay. Their dog however was not so keen on us, it was barking and growling most of the time. The owner of the dog, an old lady, took at her stick and guided the dog away from us.

Once the rain had stopped we were back on our way, we drove for another twenty minutes until we were there, my buttocks were getting soar because of the not so comfortable seat… But when we arrived that was instantly forgotten.

When we drove to the entrance of the beach I saw a thing that I have never seen before (see pictures of week 3). Such an amazing sight it was, blue water, green and brown/grey rocks and cliffs that stood out of the water and the beach of fine almost white sand, and our spot was at the forest’s edge.

We unpacked our bags and got ready to swim, unfortunately it started raining again for a few minutes so I waited. With the rain gone I went for a swim. I asked a Brazilian friend whether the water was cold, he said it was very nice. I got in, and it was nice, so nice… I think the water must have been at least about 25 degrees Celsius.

After a short swim I went out to dry, someone noticed that a small island was not very far and that it would be cool to go there. So when everyone was out of the water we talked it through and were on our way. It took about ten minutes of walking and three minutes of swimming to get there. From the Island there was an even better view of the ocean. We stayed on the small island for about half an hour and got back to our spot.

Some people went back into the water and some (including me) stayed behind. It was low tide and the people who were getting in took about fifteen minutes to reach the water. On their way, they suddenly stopped for a few moments, I wondered what it could be and decided to join them real quick. Apparently there were lots and lots of starfish and tiny crabs that stayed behind. I think I saw about thirty to forty starfish and the crabs were uncountable.

At about four o’clock we decided to go to a small reggae bar and after that, to go home. When we got there we got treated to another amazing scenery (see pictures). Everyone was clearly very tired but also very satisfied with the day we’ve had so far. Our friend from Brazil taught us how to walk on a tight rope. Needlessly to say, we failed. But it was a lot of fun to do.

We got back home at called it a day, a perfect day. We said goodbye to each other and I went back to the Orange Tree. I was exhausted from the long day and fell asleep immediately when I laid down on my bed.