So far this semester has been a lot different than last semester. For starters, I really enjoy teaching now. I think this can be attributed to a more consistent schedule; I actually see my students every week because there are very few holidays or trips that cause class to be canceled. My new m4 students are great, absolutely adorable. They are SO nice to me, unlike 5/4 and sometimes 5/3. As m4 students they're in 10th grade, so they are teenagers, but they're still young enough where they respect me as a teacher. They even say hello to me OUTSIDE OF CLASS! It’s a miracle. In class, they even say “teacher Leah” not just “teacher”. I just love it, and them; they are just SO sweet. Even the “bad” kids really aren't that bad, just a little loud and noisy, but they still listen to me (most days).
New this year is the structure of classes. I now have six m4 classes instead of four, which means less kids in a class. I also have two mahidom classes (AP class) and two EIS classes. So mahidom is now 4/1 and 4/2 with 24 kids in each, EIS is now 4/3 and 4/4 also with 24 kids in each, and 4/5, 4/6 are regular classes with 30 kids in each. It makes such a difference to have smaller class sizes; I feel like I know more of my students in each class.
This semester I feel like I'm actually accomplishing things with my students. At least with m4. For my mahidom classes there is A LOT I am supposed to cover in my 1 hour a week class. Covering all of the material is actually impossible and it is clear that the individuals who create the national syllabus are not actual teachers, because if they were they would know that teaching students how to write an essay takes more than just one 50-minute period.
So far this semester, I have taught my mahidom classes (4/1 and 4/2) how to summarize an article, how to write a 5-paragraph essay, and how to research and give a presentation on a global issue. Did I mention I've done all of this in the last 6 weeks? This is a drastic change from last semester when every other week my classes were canceled or we didn't have school. Last year I felt like my job was to put on a song and dance for my students; I didn't really know what I was doing, nor did I follow the syllabus because it was extremely difficult to stay on course when I was only guaranteed to see 4 out of 8 of my classes each week. Yet this semester is different. This semester I need to have my shit together; I have to walk into class knowing what's up and knowing the topic at hand. For my mahidom classes, the challenge has been being able to explain things in clear, simple language. This has been hard because I've been teaching them things that are so innate for me. How old was I when I first learned how to write a 5-paragraph essay and summarize an article? I was definitely younger than 15-16 years old. How do I explain something to them that I've had to do countless times before, and, furthermore, why are they just learning how to do this now, from a foreign teacher?
It's been an interesting experience teaching my students “real” stuff. I have had the chance to really reflect on my own educational upbringing. I've realized how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to go to a good high school and have teachers in elementary school and middle school who put great emphasis on writing. Knowing how to write an essay (or writing anything down in English for that matter) where one's ideas are written in an organized matter and flow in a logical way, is important in getting one's point across and writing a substantial argument. When things don't flow, it's difficult to understand what the writer is trying to say. At first I found this strange that my students didn't already know how to write an essay in English. I assumed the format would be the same in Thai as it is in English. Yet, in Thai, there are no punctuation marks, nor are there spaces between words. I think this is why my students don't already know how to write an essay in English; because they don't have the same structure in Thai, but not I'm not exactly sure.
What's been the most difficult aspect of this process is plagiarism. I didn't try hard enough to combat plagiarism when my student's were researching their topics for their projects. Plagiarism is a huge problem in Thailand. Students are constantly copying and pasting from the internet, and this includes college and grad school students. Students even plagiarize on their thesis! When I tell my students that such actions would get a person kicked out of college in the U.S., they're shocked, but of course it doesn't motivate them to do better. And yet reflecting back on this now, I realize, how could it? English is not their native language nor are they fluent, so how can I expect them to “translate” their research into their own words? However, at the same time, I know for a fact that when they do copy and paste, they use big words (because they're straight up copying) without knowing what they mean. I would love to teach them how to paraphrase, but right now that seems just a bit unrealistic. Instead, I'm just going to be happy with what I have accomplished.
