Friends
Wonder of wonders, school is complete! It was everything they said it
would be, and worse. But now that's its over, of course it doesn't
seem that bad. Nah, it was that bad. [Hey, the building is shaking.
Earthquake? Hmmm. Stopped now. Interesting.]
The CELTA (Cambridge English Language Training something) is an
internationally recognized training program for teachers of English.
The course is four weeks long. During that time, you have teaching
practice – actually teaching students – 9 times, and there are 4
written assignments. There are 6 hours of observed teaching, where you
observe a qualified teacher giving a two hour lesson. When one of the
other teachers is teaching, we are to observe and make notes on our
observation forms for feedback after the lessons. School is in session
between 9am and 6pm. We had a half hour break in the morning, and a
one and a half hour lunch. After a couple of days, what was an hour
and half lunch becomes 15 minutes of eating, and an hour and 15
working on lesson plans, making photo copies or working on written
assignments, and waiting for a computer or the copy machine. We had
Saturday and Sunday off – but you end up being in the teachers room
those days also, working on assignments and lesson plans. Friday
nights we did feel a little relief, and the teachers would get
together and go to a pub or dinner together
In the mornings we had presentations from the tutors about lesson
plans, parts of English, etc. That was the "academic" side. In the
afternoon from 2-4 we had real students that we would torture with our
attempts at teaching. We had teaching practice the first day- but only
15 minutes. Then we taught 40 minute lessons, then 55 minute lessons.
When we were teaching 40 minute lessons, three teacher trainees would
give a lesson in the two hours; two trainees would cover the 55 minute
lessons in two hours.
The students paid only a small fee to take the course from us. They
know that we are in training. We had quite a mix of people in the
class… Thai, Laotian, Cambodian, Shri Lanken, Chinese, Persian. Many
of the students are refugees, waiting on placement by the U.N. Some of
those students are here illegally, visa's long expired and their
resident status is tenuous. Most of them want to learn English to
better their lives, help them in employment or residency in another
country. It was most enjoyable to experience these students, and get
to know them a little.
They tell you in the documentation of the course that it is very
intense. I had talked to several people who had taken a CELTA course
and the common phrase was "It was the most difficult thing I have ever
done" now I understand why. And I'm inclined to agree. The teachers in
my group all shared a common bond in the difficulty and intensity of
the course. We rapidly came to know each other and form friendships.
When the course ended, we all felt a kinship based on our shared
difficulties and experience. I now have friends in china, Taiwan,
India, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Korea and England. Many of the
teachers in my group have been teaching English for some time. They
took the program to improve their knowledge and to qualify for better
jobs. Quite a diverse collection of people.
These were the people in my group:
Rose – English. never taught English. She is in mid-life, and decided
to pack it all in take the course and live in work in Thailand. She
had never been here before.
Richard – he has an aunt who lives in Hau Hin in south Thailand. He
took the course so he can teach there. He's English.
Pam – American. She has been living and teaching English in rural china.
Doug – American. He has been living in Taiwan for 15 years. Has a
Taiwanese wife. They want to establish their own English school.
Lisa – English. She just wanted to do something besides make cheese
sandwiches back in England. She plans to teach in England and maybe
later….
Jennifer – Canadian. She's been living in Thailand for 6 years,
teaches a drama class at a Thai school. She's moving to turkey to
teach English in a few months.
Chandra – Indian. English is Chandras second language. A great guy
with a good attitude. Well educated. He hopes to work in America or
Canada. He got sick in the middle of the course, fell behind and as of
the end of the course, they told him it was doubtful that he would
pass. We were all very dismayed to learn this. He will do well, even
without the certificate. He's getting married in June. I asked him if
he'd met his bride yet. He hasn't. Hasn't even seen a photo of her.
But he is confident his parents have made a good choice for him.
Jansinthe – New Caledonian. Where's that? You ask. It's a French
island off of Australia. English is her second language, but you
couldn't tell. She was the quiet one of the group.
Mat – Australian. Mat has been living in Japan for six years, teaching
English. He came here with his Japanese girlfriend. Mat likes heavy
metal music and had a very economical style.
Karl – American. That would be me. I have never taught English. I want
to live in Thailand or elsewhere. Teaching English is a way to live
and travel outside the USA and make a living at it. My Thai girlfriend
Tok, came with me to Bangkok and enrolled in the student's class.
Thus, she was my student for the 2nd two weeks of the course. Tok was
a teacher herself in the past, so was very helpful with the course
concepts and was a great help trying out the teaching plans. Not to
mention that she made sure I was awake, washed and ironed our cloths
(we had to dress "smartly" for teaching practice – slacks, shoes,
dress shirts and ties), ordered food for me and was generally
supportive of everything I did. She waited hours at the school while I
worked on my lesson plans, brought me lunch all ready to go, and
helped me shop for things I needed. What a bonus!
We went by ECC school yesterday and i picked up my provisional letter.
It says I PASSED the course. woo hoo!
So, now what? A bit of R&R! some sightseeing, sleeping later, going to
bed later, shopping, getting to the dentist. We are returning to Toks
home up north in Lom Sak when we finish the rent on the room we have.
On the 16th of March we fly to Phenom Pen Cambodia. My 60 day visa
will expire on the 19th. I have to leave the country. When we return
10 days later, I will receive another 30 day visa. We're going to
holiday in Cambodia! Plan is to take the boat up to Siem Riep and
visit Angor Wat for a few days. We might have enough time to pop into
Vietnam for a couple of days. Then back to Thailand and home to Lom
Sak.
That's the short term. In the long run, I will have to return to the
united states and start generating income. I will look to start
teaching English, gain some experience. I have to reduce my life to
two suitcases and no debts before I can leave the country. I want to
bring Tok to the US to visit, so I'll have to get that together. I've
been funding my life with credit cards, so that has to be taken care
of. I have years of accumulated 'stuff' to dispose of- motorcycles,
guitars, computers, recording gear, band gear and the usual collection
of books, clothes, CD's etc. All of this will take some time. I'm
going to start buying lotto tickets. Might get luck – that would speed
the process up immensely!
Onward!!!
We went by ECC school yesterday and i picked up my provisional letter.
It says I PASSED the course. woo hoo!
So, now what? A bit of R&R! some sightseeing, sleeping later, going to
bed later, shopping, getting to the dentist. We are returning to Toks
home up north in Lom Sak when we finish the rent on the room we have.
On the 16th of March we fly to Phenom Pen Cambodia. My 60 day visa
will expire on the 19th. I have to leave the country. When we return
10 days later, I will receive another 30 day visa. We're going to
holiday in Cambodia! Plan is to take the boat up to Siem Riep and
visit Angor Wat for a few days. We might have enough time to pop into
Vietnam for a couple of days. Then back to Thailand and home to Lom
Sak.
That's the short term. In the long run, I will have to return to the
united states and start generating income. I will look to start
teaching English, gain some experience. I have to reduce my life to
two suitcases and no debts before I can leave the country. I want to
bring Tok to the US to visit, so I'll have to get that together. I've
been funding my life with credit cards, so that has to be taken care
of. I have years of accumulated 'stuff' to dispose of- motorcycles,
guitars, computers, recording gear, band gear and the usual collection
of books, clothes, CD's etc. All of this will take some time. I'm
going to start buying lotto tickets. Might get luck – that would speed
the process up immensely!
Onward!!!
--
my epitaph will be: Oh Well....
i am in thailand at the moment. to be added or deleted from my
travelogue, send request to this address.
