Teaching Part 2

The kids are getting a tad rowdier as the semester goes on. This is especially true of the boys who seem content to spend most classes battering each other. I constantly ask them questions and make them take stuff down off the board to keep them active in the class and usually stick an activity or exercise at the end of each class to reinforce what ive been trying to teach. This often has some hilarious results like the recent class I taught about Senses in Science. I spent the class going over the basics, how many senses, what organs do you use for each etc. Then at the end I set a few questions from the book to test if they listened to anything I said. One of these questions was: “What do you use to look at a painting” in relation to their sensory organs. Now as with any exercise I give in class there are usually maybe two or three versions of answers which get copied by the others. Usually this works out ok but today some bright spark decided he could see paintings with his ears so about ten of the kids came up to me with this answer. Once I explained to them what they had just written down they were less than pleased with whoever they copied off. They clearly understood what I told them they had written down but they were too damn lazy to work it out for themselves and put their own answer. Most of the kids are quite capable of answering most of the stuff I ask but they are too bloody lazy. These kids spend most of the class talking amongst themselves and ignoring me till I stand in front of them and ask them something about what ive just said. That shuts them up till I move on to another part of the class.

For any games I play they get really competitive and gets the whole class' attention. I had one where they had to guess how many paperclips were being touched to their hands or fingers while blindfolded. One of the girls got all right and there was a great roar! Whenever I try to play a game it can take an age to explain or get anyone to volunteer in order to show it. Thai students are very shy and dont like getting up in front of people especially their peers. This means in order to show games I must pick a student at random. I've found a fun way (for me) to do this. Each student in each class is assigned a number (for MEP 31 students 1-31) so all I have to do is pick a number at random and voila I have a volunteer! This unfortunate soul will get pushed up by their relieved friends and I can get the game underway. Of course once the game has been shown to them everyone gets involved and im swamped by volunteers so it gets easier after the first attempt.

I also gave my first Math test recently which ran a bit smoother than I expected. The results were as I expected with some of the students passing with flying colours while others put anything down and escaped to play outside asap. I had to set an MCQ which I wouldnt have if given a choice. It gives the poor students a chance but doesnt test the good students. I made two copies because I thought cheating would be rampant but everyone was quiet and kept to themselves. If I can get some of the middle of the road students to learn a few things then I will feel like I am making some progress in my classes. The mid-term exams will be the litmus test for that.

What else to say? I havent been bribing the kids just yet though ive been tempted at times. I have also needed to shout in one or two classes because everyone is talking and I even got angry in one class when one of the kids jumped out of her seat and knocked over a glass. She had been fighting with the person beside her for the whole class and it had been annoying me. Once the kids realised I was angry it went silent for a while but once I calmed down it went noisy again. Anyway ive spent the last few weeks holed up in Li because between the netbook and sending a parcel home to roscommon im a bit out of pocket so cheaper to stay home. Im sure i'll spend a whack in Phuket and Phi Phi over the New Year as well. I'm living a pretty spartan lifestyle here in Li, I reckon I survived the last week on about 500-600 baht. Thats a tenner in euros give or take.....