6:30 a.m. Wake up and get ready.
6:50 a.m. Catch a taxi.
7:10 a.m. Arrive at school and sign in.
7:12 a.m. Walk to 7-11 and buy breakfast or eat something I brought.
7:20 a.m. Plan lessons or check email. I'm still sort of waking up at this point.
7:50 a.m. Students and teachers assemble for flag ceremony. Thai staff give announcements in Thai. I stand there, but I don't understand any of it.
8:00 a.m. The Thai national anthem is played. One of the students leads the school in singing the anthem.
8:02 a.m. Two students raise the Thai flag to the top of the flagpole. 8:04 a.m. Most of the students and teachers are Buddhist. They say Buddhist prayers facing the statue of Buddha. Buddha statues in Thailand are slender unlike the plump Chinese Buddhas. The one at our school sits with his legs crossed in a meditative postition.
8:10 a.m. More announcements. Sometimes one of the foreign teachers has to give an informal speech or lesson. For my last speech I asked the students questions about the World Cup. The time before that I made up a rap about the school. It was right before their school spirit camp (think pep rally not religious retreat), so I thought it would be good to come up with something like that to get them excited about the school. Some of them liked it. Of course, I didn't expect them to learn to rap. I said it too fast for them to repeat it.
We're keepin' it real at Daroonpat.
Learin' English, Thai, Math, and hip-hop.
Art, swimming, science, and geography,
Dancing, cooking, health, and even "Monopoly".
Teachin' you sports, it's Teacher J.T.
He says, "Let's have lots of fun, but dress properly."
And don't forget science.
Teacher Bill, represent!
Show us another mad experiment!
The doc is in the house. It's Dr. Nontiwat.
Follow his example. You can learn a lot.
So let's get excited.
Show some spirit for your school.
Let everyone know, that it's really cool.
(Dr. Nontiwat is the school director.)
8:15-8:30 a.m. Homeroom. Students have to present their contact books to the teachers. They write down their homework assignments in them. The teachers sign next to the assignments to check that they wrote them down. Then the parents sign them to show that the students did the work. It works well. It lets the parents know their kids have homework. Also sometimes I write notes about the students' behavior in the books. I usually make the students sit quietly and read or do classwork/homework. Sometimes the Thai assistant teacher watches them instead of me, so I can have more time to prepare for lessons.
8:30-9:20 a.m. English class for grade 6. This time I taught them about possessive pronouns. We played a game. I had students put things that belonged to them in my bag. I told them to put something that others wouldn't know was theirs. Then I had them reach into the bag one by one and pull out an object. The students guessed who it belonged to and they had to ask "Is this yours?" I had a few objects that were mine. One of them was a pink umbrella that I got as a gift. They didn't know it was mine. :) Then we did fill in the blank in groups from the book.
9:20-10:10 a.m. Math class for grade 5. I taught them how to multiply fractions.
10 minute break. Usually there is a sugary snack like a donut with a glass of milk.
10:20-11:10 Math class for grade 6. I taught them how to find the duration of time when given a starting time and ending time. Then I introduced them to speed, time and distance problems. They had to fill in tables and do some word problems. It was tough for most of them. But a few of them are sharp and they get it really quickly.
11:10-Noon I have a free period. I planned my next lesson.
Noon-12:50 p.m. Lunch. Fried rice with pork.
12:50-1:40 p.m. English for grade 6 again. I gave them a short quiz about possessives and then I taught them about pastimes and using "go" and "play" with them in sentences. Go swimming. Play soccer. Go bowling. etc.
1:40-2:30 p.m. Free period.
2:30-2:40 p.m. Home room again. Students write down their homework in their contact books. Then they go home or stay for an extra English class.
2:40-3:30 p.m. Extra English class. Our classrooms have projectors that can display what is on a computer screen. I showed the students some on-line short stories from the British Council website. The stories are animated flash programs with sounds and characters' voices. The students liked it.
3:30-4:30 p.m. I have free time until the end of the day when we sign out and leave.
4:30-5:30 p.m. I travel back home in a taxi.
6:00 p.m. Tan and I meet for dinner.
However, I usually go to tutor some kids with Tan. It takes about 30 minutes to get to their home. Then I tutor for two hours. After that Tan and I eat together around 7 p.m.
With a schedule like this on most days, it's no wonder that I get worn out. Sometimes Tan and I tutor on Saturdays too. And on Sunday I hangout with friends. So I'm kind of tired at the end of the weekend too. I come home and I usually watch mindless TV or play solitaire. I have cable so I don't have to watch Thai TV shows. I can't stand them. Well, this was a long post. If you read every word then you're probably my mom. Take care.
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