One tired teacher...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Amazingly full day and nights. Last night the Amsterdam teaching team came over for dinner along with 3 or 5 other people. The “Amsterdam” team is not from Amsterdam, but that is the name of their school. Apparently, the city of Amsterdam donated money to start this school many years ago. It was pizza and ribs and Coke for dinner, so the college students felt right at home. They were here until past 9:30, which doesn’t sound that late, but I was completely exhausted!!!

This morning I got up and got ready for my full teaching day. I was up by 6 am, at breakfast with Sandy and waited for my ride. I wore pants and had my laptop, etc. in my backpack because Sandy said I would probably be picked up by motorscooter. This time I was ready for that. (Just for reference, I realized that I was SO surprise on Monday because I had only seen 1 scooter and 2 people. I was trying to figure out how we were going to get 4 people on that bike. I’d seen it done, I just wasn’t seeing how Sandy and me being 2 of the people was going to work.)

Lan called to say she was on the way and get the address from Sandy. When she got there, we asked something about the motorbike, but she said “no, we will go by car.” It turned out that the principal of the school had sent his DRIVER with Lan to pick me up and that he would also bring me home. The principal’s car is a very comfortable (and new) Toyota Camry. It is not what you normally see on the roads here. Lan took my arm and walked me down the alley, chatting the whole way. At one point she took my hand and walked me hand in hand the rest of the way to the car. While that’s not something we’d do in the States, it was a very sweet gesture.

We actually left by around 8:15, so my thoughts of starting “on time” in my Western mind, were quickly ended again (though this time I was expecting it, so not as anxious). When we got to the school, we were not dropped off on the street. Rather, the gate at the school’s entrance that is guarded was opened and we were driven right through the courtyard to the door of the classroom. If you’re going to be 35 minutes “late” for presenting, I guess driving up in the head master’s car is the way to “apologize.”

We spent a great morning on a variety of vocabulary instruction techniques, including 2-column notes, mind maps, and vocabulary cartoons. Before lunch, we did some phonics instruction, but the teachers really wanted “rules” for syllable stress. How do you know which syllable to stress? How do you know when to say RECord and when to say reCORD? We had some conversation about it, but I hadn’t prepared that, nor had I brought the books that I would need. I told them I would look up what I had at the house, but when I got home tonight, I realized I hadn’t brought the book I thought I had. I’ve sent emails to a couple people who might be able to help, but I’ve also found some great internet sites that I’ll use tonight.

At 11am, we broke for lunch. I was just going to wait for the other Americans from ELI down by the gate, but the young women from my class, ushered me upstairs to the English head’s air-conditioned office. Specific rooms here have “aircon” and so we waited. While there, someone made me glass of iced tea and we chatted a bit. I am SO amazed at how young all the English teachers are. I think a few are older, but most of them are in their 20’s and look even younger (14-17). At 11:30, I met the team for lunch. One of the teachers walked me down and then introduced me to some of her English students who came to see her.

After lunch, I was stopped by one of the teachers and told that the principal’s office was open for me to go in and have my rest. I went over there and knocked, but no one was there. He was at home having his noon rest. I had the room to myself and looked over some things for the afternoon and then listened to “Wait, Wait. Don’t Tell Me” on my iPod. It was relaxing, but an odd disconnect to hear an American news quiz show in a Vietnamese principal’s office. At 2pm, I went downstairs and, on my way, stopped at the faculty restroom only to discover my first restroom without toilet paper. It wasn’t “out” like at my school at home, but rather there was no place for it and it had never been a thought. Fortunately, Sandy had warned me and I had a travel roll in my bag!

The afternoon session was nice and we talked about and practiced reading strategies. We also had some classroom management questions that we talked about. This was something I was very familiar with. After the session, we went back up to the English chair’s office and then the driver from the principal met us up there. He will also pick me up in the morning (at 8:15, even though we said we’d like to start at 8!). One of the teachers rode with me to Sandy’s and communicated with the driver. I was surprised she was going with me, but very grateful that she did and could help with the questions.

When I go home, another of Sandy’s teams was here, hanging out, checking email and doing laundry. Some of the locations are very expensive for laundry, so the teams use Sandy’s washer. The team from last night was doing a ton of laundry and, when it got picked up, some of mine went in the pile. I rescued some, but I don’t know if I got it all! We had Indian food delivered for dinner and Sandy and I ate with a friend of hers who was having a meeting here tonight. Sandy and I were supposed to go see one of the teams do a culture presentation on Christmas tonight, but I decided I needed some down time this evening. Tomorrow is the last day of teaching, so hopefully, I’ll feel more rested after that.