Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a great holiday season. I know I enjoyed my trip to Laos and then coming back to my room in the teacher's dorm and just relaxing for a few days. But today was back to work day. And just like in my old school back in the states, attendance was low and tardies were high. But by the middle of the day things were back to feeling kind of normal. But normal for here in Thailand is not too much like normal for me.

Take my schedule for instance. I'm used to the American system where I have a classroom that I can be found in all day long except for one class period where I might be in the workroom making copies, or having lunch, or some other teacher-type function. The other 5 class periods of the day would see me standing at the doorway greeting students as they entered the room with each class being a different group. Here, I can be found at my desk in the teacher workroom preparing lesson plans or grading student work. That is until it's time for me to teach a class. At that class period I take the books and materials I need to present the lesson and I walk to the classroom where those students are waiting for me. In other words, the teachers rotate classrooms, not the students. And each day my schedule is different. Some days I teach more morning hours while other days I teach more afternoon hours. And while it does feel a little strange still, I have to admit that keeping the students in the room while the teachers move makes for a lot less hall traffic between classes. And having a varying daily schedule is nice for breaking up the monotony. I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to figure out the schedule!

The other odd piece of information for me as an American teacher is the idea that we are beginning the final quarter of the school year. Yes, our school year ends the second week of March and students don't return until May 15th. The month of April is a summer school program and the rest of the time teachers are writing new lessons, workbooks, etc. for the upcoming year. Some of us will even take some vacation. Again, it feels odd but I think I can get used to it. And even though the timing is different, I could sense a little of that "we're almost done with this year" attitude in some of the older students today. I think that some things about teachers and students are universal. We all look forward to reaching milestones whether it's moving up from P6 to M1 or being around "next" year to greet the new teachers.