The biggest change in my life is not only that we have moved to Thailand but also my entire lifestyle due to my surroundings and what is available to me. Back in the day we would hang out at bars and clubs, shop and go to the cinema and eat at restaurants. Now our life is consumed by the school. We would now spend our free time taking part in sport events, swim as we have access to a 25 metre pool, play to touch rugby, badminton, football and of course ultimate frisbee. Our typical day in the week starts with leaving our hut at 7:35/40 and arrive at school 07:45. With 7 periods including lunch and breaks would end at 15:35. Then the students are assigned to clubs which each teacher runs once a week from 16:00 til 17:00 after snack time. Usually my Primary Art club runs on Mondays so I would go for a 40 length swim afterwards and then I would get home around 18:30 (only because I take my time doing my lengths and spend the other time chatting in the pool).
Not that I am making excuses but this has been the reason why I have not been posting that frequently as I thought I would especially wi my photos as I have so many already to go through. The biggest change is not only to adapt to a new country but also to adapt to my job. For quite some time I've been working part time so I had to get use to full time again. Which is a big jump because this is not a typical 9-5 job.
When it comes to teaching I have been thrown into the deep end and I am often out of my comfort zone, at times I feel like I am the student as I am continuously learning about teaching. I had never taught before or even entertained the idea of teaching until this amazing opportunity presented itself to me to do just that. What is so great about the school are the students, they are very well behaved and they want to learn. They are such a far cry away from the typical students that we get at home in the UK. I definitely would not have it easy if the same happened there. What is also great about this school is the number of students in each class. The classes would have between 14-16 students, even though it is a small it is also considered a large class in this school, making it a manageable number for me to teach, anymore would probably be overwhelming especially at an age between 5-8 years old.
Now that this is my 5th week in teaching I am starting to find my feet. I am starting to get to know the students and also the secondary students, even though I do jot teach them I often would end up playing sport with them. I normally join Olly's Ultimate Frisbee club on Thursdays and a lot more of the students are joining each week. At the beginning of term the club started with 6 members now the majority of Year 10 and 11's have joined so we are able to have 7 in each team. They all need to work on towing and catching but have a good grip of the game.
What is so great about my job is that I get to teach what I love doing the most which is Art. Art was always my favourite lesson and one that I looked forward to when I was in school. Now that I get to teach it I get to inspire the students and have fun whilst in class. I think the most challenging aspect of my job is to ensure that the students task that I set them is engaging enough and to manage the classroom behaviour. Striking the balance of having fun and to control the classroom is a fine line, I don't want to be too firm but I also want them to have lots of fun. (That is of course what art is all about especially in primary school which is something I should not forget).
Another aspect of my job is to work for the Big Mountain Outdoor Education Activity Centre with Tony the Outdoor Activity Coordinator. Tony works with other schools to organise courses of outdoor activities, my role is to assist him with the programs, costings and to assist the trips. This role was first assigned to me as my main role but my teaching role has taken the majority of my week. So I work with Tony on Thursdays and Fridays. So far it has been fun as I've been kayaking and I went to the Elephant sanctuary. Nothing much has happened as it is the rainy season and not many schools have booked for the time being. However we should enjoy this quiet period because it will get very busy soon enough. This has given me the chance to focus on my teaching with this quiet period then when it all picks up I will be ready.
This role is also very exciting as I get to work with the children and do the activities with them. Not exactly a normal day at the office.
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