I am goose!

Monday was our first day of teaching. We have both had experience as volunteer English teachers, me in China and Justin in Canada as a missionary, so we weren’t too worried about it. We didn’t come into this with any set curriculum, but we knew what we wanted to teach for the day and figured we’d find out soon enough what to plan for next week. We got dropped off at our school and had an awkward couple of minutes where we just stood there before they sent the second grade teacher over to talk to us. Her name is Sumalee and she’s very nice and helpful and, as it turns out, the only teacher who is not afraid to speak English. She told us we would be teaching the 5^th and 6^th graders for two hours each, 5^th before lunch and 6^th after, which sounded great to us. 

We started our 5^th grade lesson at 9 am and it was going really well. We started with the basics of ‘hello’, ‘how are you?’, ‘how old are you?’, and the appropriate responses, mostly concentrating on giving them conversation practice. Just as we were starting to have each student come to the front of the room and introduce themselves to the class, a group of sixth grade boys came RUNNING into our classroom shouting and holding bamboo brooms. They ran straight to the corner and started moving boxes and chairs away from the wall, obviously after something. The kids’ teacher ran out of the other door in the room, and at this point Justin and I were just wondering what in the world is going on. I thought maybe a mouse or a snake, and since the kids didn’t know enough English to explain, we just stood there dumbly and waited for the commotion to end. I made a slithering motion to one of the kids asking if it was a snake, and he did this funny pantomime with his arms and legs and makes a “too-kae” noise, which could only mean it was a gecko! They make the funniest noises at night, and the tones of the Thai name “too-kae” mimic the noise perfectly. I drew it on the board and the kids all nodded yes, and then drew little polka dots on it. We felt better that we weren’t going to get attacked by a vicious creature, and went over to try to get a look at it. We got there just in time to see it had come out of the corner and the boys were mercilessly beating it with their brooms. After it was dead, they brushed it outside onto the front steps of the building and went back to their classes, and we continued with our lesson. Uhhh. What?? We couldn’t believe what had just happened!

The poor little fellow. He even has his tongue sticking out in defeat!

After lunch we watched the kids played a game where two kids hold a rope made of rubber bands and everyone else tries to jump over. They start low and gradually get higher, like a sort of backwards limbo. Once it’s over their heads, they do cartwheels to catch the rubber band with their feet and pull it down for the rest of their bodies to go over. It was fun to watch! It made us glad that Thai mommies know to send their girls to school with shorts on under their skirts, that’s for sure.

 

 

 You can always count on a kid or two asking to take pictures of you with your camera

6^th grade went comparatively more uneventful than 5^th, but we did have a huge rainstorm start up during it so that’s exciting. There are no screens on the open windows and the doors are usually left open, so other than not getting wet it felt like we were right outside in it! English teaching is exciting because you know that it’s a lifelong skill that opens doors to many opportunities (one of Thailand’s main industries is tourism, and English is so universal that it could mean the difference between getting a job or not!), but aside from the warm fuzzies that come along with knowing about that, there is also the humor factor. Kids telling you they are ten instead of 13, mistaking ‘how old are you?’ for ‘how are you?’, the kids all repeating ‘my name is Justin’ instead of saying their own names, and the consistent response of ‘I am goose’ instead of ‘I am good.’ Oh ESL, so many priceless moments.

One of these things is not like the other..

Afterwards we met with the teachers about starting English classes for them. They are all very nervous about speaking to us but we’re hoping they’ll open up with time! It should be a good opportunity to help the teachers develop their language skills, and then be able to help their students continue learning English.

Annnnd pretty exciting, we’ve been married for two whole months today!! It’s crazy to think how much we’ve done and accomplished in such a short amount of time, and we’re so happy to be here having this great adventure so early in our married life. Every day is an adventure for us, but it’s just a little easier to find excitement when you live in Thailand ;) Thanks for all the love and support everyone has shown us as we’ve started our life together and gone on this amazing trip! We love every day of it!