Weekend-centricity: another teaching reflection...finally

I got an email from Ninang Diana (Ninang means Godmother in Tagalog) this morning that ended like this “You make THAILAND sound so exciting. I‘m so glad you’re enjoying your job/vacation (whatever comes first). Just kidding!” Smart woman.

I’m trying to slow dance with Travel, but Teaching’s cutting in.

In almost three full months of teaching, only one teaching reflection. I came to Thailand hired to teach English to nursing students…or did I? I came to Thailand to make money to travel. Big difference. I realized this my first week here when a lot of folks were talking about all the teaching materials they brought and how much teaching experience they had. I brought nothing and the closest thing to “teaching experience” is………does training someone at work count?

I like teaching, but I LOVE traveling. Catch Me if You Can’s weekend-centricity is proof. My interest in traveling over teaching English, though, should not disregard the greatness of the job. Teaching is challenging but being in the classroom is so much fun and not to mention my students are great.

But like any other job there are some drawbacks…like having to sit in a dungeon of a cubicle for 25 of the 40 work hours. By the end of the day, I’m pulling my hair out and silently going ape shit. Or like…having to grade class work/tests; I just finished grading their midterms—155 students, 10 pages of midterm, 1550 pages for me to grade. I don’t know why I did that to myself. The pile sat on my desk for a couple of days because it was so overwhelming. One thing’s for sure their final will be much shorter with scantron. Guaranteed. However, I recently discovered the art of having them grade their own papers. I took it back to elementary school days and have them pass their papers to the person sitting behind them.

Anyway, long story short teaching is cool, but traveling is cooler. Would I teach English abroad again? Absolutely. Teaching is a great means to traveling. I make enough money to do what I want and I am able to learn about the culture on a more intimate level. I’m also fortunate enough to have a coordinator who is willing to work with my travel plans.

Pictures from a lesson on conversations: responses to "How are you?"

After discussing what each one meant, I had them draw facial expressions for each feeling.

*photos are backwards because they were taken with my laptop cam on photobooth*