First day!

My first day as a teacher in Thailand was over several weeks ago but I promised that I would post the story. It’s a tragic tale, a calamity of errors.

The day started at 8:00 – that’s when I was told to arrive. I walked in and was asked to wait for the principal to come. I waited about 15 minutes and the secretary received a phone call saying that the principal’s grandmother had just died and that she would not be coming into the office. It took another 15 minutes for anyone to tell me but I was able to follow the Thai to understand what was going on – at this point, these ladies did not know that I spoke Thai. When they finally told me in broken English, they added that they did not know what I was supposed to do. So, I was asked to wait again until they could figure that out. It took another 15+ minutes for a Thai teacher, who teaches English at the school, to come and take me to my desk. Of course, I still didn’t know who or what I was going to be teaching, so I sat and waited some more. I read all the text books on ‘my desk’ and had many people comment on how impressed they were that I could read the Thai.

Another 45 minutes passed. It’s now 9:30 (1 ½ hours into my first day). The head teacher came and asked me to go with her and with this Thai teacher of English grammar. We went down to the 1st grade classroom and I was told (in very broken English) that this time was for interviews. A slight take-back for me, seeing that I thought I had this job already! But, never-the-less, I started thinking of answers to basic interview questions as a way to prepare myself for the upcoming interview. Another lady came in and the first two told me to move to a different, farther away chair. I did so and was trying my best to be invisible as this 3rd lady was interviewed. After maybe 10 minutes, the head teacher asked me if I had any questions. Yes, I was supposed to be interviewing this lady too! 1 ½ hours into my own job!!

Once that interview was done, I went back to ‘my desk’ and waited some more. Finally, some English materials arrived and I was told that I would at least be teaching English to the 1st graders in the English Program (where the parents pay even more money for everything except Thai to be taught in English). I started looking through this and started thinking of the plan for the 2nd semester (although no one knew how far the previous teacher had gotten in the 1st semester!). Another interview came and went – oh my goodness, people who graduate from university with a degree in English cannot speak any English!!

And then it was lunch time. I had forgotten my laptop at home so I used that as an excuse to escape and surprise Boy for a lunch with him.

I arrived back at school in time to see everyone else leaving. They told me that they were going to the first day of the funeral for the principal’s grandmother and asked if I wanted to go. Not wanting to offend, I said ‘yes’ and joined them in the car. We drove basically across the street to the principal’s home and went in to view the body. Everyone except me (and a handful of others who abstained for unknown reasons) did their Buddhist prayer to the dead grandmother and then we went back to the school.

The rest of the afternoon was a little bit more normal. I planned for English as best as I could without knowing where I needed to start. Then, at 4:30 I ran home to watch Boy play football (soccer).

I think that this was the oddest first-day-of-work experiences that I have ever had. Unfortunately, the rest of the days have not gotten better. It’s a very disappointing school (so expensive and supposedly such a great education, yet truthfully, so very weak!). If you ever think of me, please pray that I will be able to endure, that I will be able to enjoy, and that I will be able to make a positive impact in these kids’ lives and in the standards of the teachers.