A Tough Day

So today was a difficult day, looking back I think it was mostly my doing though. I had three lessons today and I was still a bit tired from the weekend. This had affected my lesson planning as well, and because the lesson plans weren’t as well thought out, the lessons lagged too. I had my G.12 class first. It was on travel, and I knew that I needed to cover vocabulary. So by the end of the lesson everyone, including me was tired and looking forward to the end. After seven weeks I still have a little trouble figuring out what level they are at. Some students do more work than other students but they still make silly mistakes with grammar. I think I need to get them to practice writing and saying sentences with focus on their grammar, hopefully that will help them to improve.

My G.11 class was slightly better. I got them to write guidelines for foreigners to follow when visiting places in Thailand. Some students wrote about Pattaya, others Bangkok and some Ubon Ratchathani. They wrote about what foreigners should wear, how they should act and what they mustn’t do to avoid causing offence. This worked well as they understood it and most of the class wrote down a few sentences and I even got to check a few books before the lesson ended. It was also a good was to practice using the modal verbs that I had taught them in the previous lesson.

My last lesson, with G.10 was definitely well planned. It was because it was the students’ last lesson of the day they were tired and uninterested. But I did get most of the class to write a few sentences. But beyond that the majority of the class did not take part at all. They are the only class I have tomorrow, so I’m hoping that they are more receptive in the morning. But I’m definitely going to adjust the plan I have for that lesson. If I do more learning games then they may be more willing to take part with the following activity or even the lesson on Thursday.

Immediately after that lesson I had to go to English Activity. The other ETAs and Mook were already there with the G.4-6 students. It was a good session today as we were being taught Thai dancing. It was also funny as the students, who were about 10 or younger, were so much better and more coordinated at dancing than all four of us! For Thai dancing you have to be very controlled as you move  your arms slowly and have to twist your fingers into painful positions, as well as coordinated. We had to walk four steps, while doing the arm movements, and then dip on the fourth step. It took me some time to get it! But it did cheer me up. After English Activity we went to the school shop and I bought a Panda Pop. As much as teaching has its low points when either you or the students are having trouble, it’s still a lot of fun and I’m really glad that I’ve had the chance to spend my summer teaching.