School: On Tuesdays We Wear Pink!

Sawatdee Kha!

Well I've been in Thailand almost a month and every day I seem to be experiencing something new. Teaching is both wonderful  in a "I'm making a difference in their lives" kind of way and not so wonderful in a "I wish had a taser gun right now" kind of way. Don't get me wrong, the kids are cute and I really like teaching but sometimes they drive me so crazy, I want to pull my hair out I want to pull their hair out:) 

I teach 18 classes a week at Kanchanapisek Secondary School. Each class has around 45 to 50 students and 55 minutes long however they never start or end on time. I'm confused as to why we even have bells. I teach M1 which are 12/13 year olds and M4 which are 15/16s year olds. Although all the kids look way younger than they actually are. The 12/13s look like they should be strapped to a stroller and the 15/16s are equivalent to American middle schoolers. All in all I see about 900 kids a week. So as much as I want to I hope these kids aren't expecting me to remember their name/life story cause chances are it ain't gonna happen! Below is a pic of my fellow teacher Bridget and I before school one day. 

Back to school...back to school...

Some interesting things I learned in my first 2 weeks of teaching English...

1) Thai student names

• Here in Thailand the students are given nicknames so we "farang" foreign teachers who would otherwise have no shot in hell correctly pronouncing their real Thai names because they are straight up ridiculous. I have this theory that people here get a bag of letters and throw them on the ground and whatever that spells out is somebody's name. These nicknames aren't your average nicknames either but I personally think they're awesome. Here are a few my favorite/common nicknames I come across in class: 

1. Ice
2. Pear
3. Inkjet (my fav)
4. Nice
5. Porn
6. Earth
7. Boss
8. M
9. Om
10. Nut
11. Oops
12. Best
13. Mild
14. Tar
15. Donut

2. It is not frowned upon to nap in the teacher lounge. 

• The first week I was surprised to see how many teachers nap at their desk when they're not teaching and I frickin love it! Don't worry I didn't sleep at all my first week at my desk because I wanted to make a good impression and show the other teachers that I'm not some lazy American but now that I'm almost 3 weeks in they all know me well enough to know that I am a lazy American and who doesn't love a 10 min siesta during a hard's day work!? Below is picture I took of my fellow teacher Wanadee eating another teacher's fruit while she enjoys her afternoon nap.

3. "On Tuesdays we wear pink!" 

They really do! (Mean Girls movie reference ha)

4. They weren't lying when they said this was the "Land of Smiles" 

• All the students, teachers, janitors will always smile at you and say hello/sawatdee kha. My cheeks were sore the first week from smiling so much.

5. Thai students love to flatter you...

• The students are always telling me and my fellow American English teachers how beautiful and handsome we are even when we know they are lying because last I checked a sweaty, red in the face, marker smeared on their face isn't considered to be all that pretty but whatever. They suck up more than your average kiss up student. At first when I would hear: "Teacher, teacher beautiful!" I would just roll my eyes, smile and be all "Oh stop it you!" but now I'm like "Stop lying to me! Get to class!" 

Also mad props to this kid, he gets an "A" for Ass Kissing 

6.  Never underestimate the power of Bieber

• I discovered in my second week how much these kids love to listen to music. I realize now that pretty much the only way I can get my kids to work quietly is if I bribed them with music. I tell them I will play music if they shut the you know what up! And eureka! It totally works. My class playlist includes the classic hits of today's best teen bop pop. And if it keeps them quiet, I'm totally down to rock out to the ever artistic One Direction, Justin Bieber, and Gangnam Style.

All in all, I'm really enjoying learning how to be a teacher by...being a teacher. The kids never cease to make me smile because well they basically laugh at everything I say and it's contagious. There are good days and there are bad days, but it's new and it's exciting and I'm enjoying the ride.That's all for now! My next post will be about my fun weekend in Ayutthaya...so stay tuned for more teaching and traveling in Thailand adventures with yours truly! 

“Think left and think right and think low and think high 

Oh! the Thinks you can think up if only you try!” –dr. seuss