Well it’s not often
Well it’s not often I can say this, (so I’ll say it cos I can), but I had a truly delightful class today and yesterday. You may remember my earlier displeasure with the fact that we have been given summer classes at a time when I’m more planning to sod off to Koh Samui.
Well, actually it’s not been that bad at all, with most of the sullen faces I ususally have to teach absent and replaced with a small gaggle of the more intelligent and thoughtful students in fairly small class sizes. I’m really like teaching the M4-5 class which varies in size from 6-10 people.
It’s the kind of class you can really get your fancy lesson plan ideas out, you know, the ones in those expensive Cambridge University Press speaking activity books you bought (or the not so expensive books you photocopied). The ones which sound really interesting were it not for the fact that every one is doomed to fail in the average Thai highschool classroom. The reason being that firstly, the class sizes are way to big to control the activity well, ie give conversaton prompts or just plain ensuring that everyone is speaking the target language and not L1 (that’s English and Thai to non-TEFLese speakers).
The other problem is the complete lack in these books of pre-intermediate activities that these books contain. Keep Talking by Friederike Klippel (Author), Penny Ur (Editor) is a prime example of this. I have been using this book all week with my M4-5s, and it’s been working like a dream. The speaking activities are creating some fascinating conversations and the kids are all leaving with smiles on their faces, but the problem is that this fatasy world I’m currently living won’t live past those heady, glorious (and waaay too humid) days of summer. The reason for this is because these intermediate level activities assume that that the student has the vocab to initiate a conversation to the extent that the activity requires, and that secondly they actually want to do anything but sit at the back of the classroom and pick their nose. It also has next to nothing for pre-intermediate level students and only a couple of activities for elementary students.
The class size issue coupled with this makes meaningful speaking classes a struggle. The best I can hope for in everyday class life is to find the lowest possible denominator and try to ensure that as many of the class can join in on stuff that maybe the cleverer kids will roll their eyes in frustration at, with the only time they get to show their potential is when they are isolated from their dozy peers, and not shy about really showing what they can do as with the recent Youth Guides day when about 15 kids (many are in the group I am teaching at the moment) took some Japanese short-term teaching voulenteers around Songkhla province with commentary from the students. We all had a great day out, and the kids confidence in speaking English can only grow as a result of activities like these.
So this is why it is nice to see a very cozy small class full of the school whizz kids. My contract is up on Monday which will be my last day with these kids but I’ll be teaching their class next semester (all 40 of them!). I’m hoping it will be a class where I can raise this common denominator for a change.
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Well, here goes with another
Well, here goes with another set of pristine islands about to be sentenced to Lonely Planet-style doom. Still it increases the holiday options somewhat and it’s not that far from me, lets hope these islands handle the increased tourism wisely and don’t turn these islands into a Koh Phi-phi style freakshow.
Thai airline to open up Andamans with first charter flights.
Currently accessable through India only, the islands traffic has been restricted up until now to national operators..
One of the world’s last outposts of virgin rain forest islands, the Andaman & Nicobar Islands are a string of 300 odd islands in the Bay Of Bengal. Remote, not easily accessible, it has been preserved the way it had evolved, still inhabited by tribes considered to be the oldest living communities in the world. A fantasy world of silver sands, clear blue seas, coral reefs, swaying palms, tropical forests, volcanic mountains and a gently undulating landscape. Boasting of an idyllic landscape and immense natural attractions, it is one of the popular tourist destinations in the country.
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Hmmm, so I get to
Hmmm, so I get to the end of semester and I’m thinking ahhh, no work, Koh Samui, and drinking cocktails, when this morning the bombshell gets dropped that the school want us to do summer courses till the end of March. Wasn’t happy. Fortunately I remembered my contract mentioned something about paid holidays, and I rushed to get it and lo and behold there was the offending clause. Boss didn’t like that but as a contract’s a contract and she wants me back next semester, so she couldn’t argue, only to say that this clause would be removed in future contracts. THe problem was that they couldn’t be bothered to write their own contract and borrowed the one from my wife’s University. University have 12 month contracts, our school has 10 month contracts so the theory goes that we have our holidays unpaid, but thanks to this over sight I have 2 weeks paid plus the unpaid month in April. Sweet.
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