I'm halfway through my first weekend of teaching (starting out with just three classes per day on Saturday and Sunday; after Tet, I'll be moved up to four). The three that I started this weekend are my permanent classes (as opposed to cover classes, which is what I was doing before), so that's helped a lot in feeling settled into the job. My first class was J2s (Juniors, which means age 6-11, level 2, which is pretty elementary). The class is 13 boys and only 5 girls, and Tyler, the teacher whose class it was, had warned me that they were a rowdy bunch...he said that I should consider it a good teaching day if I could fit 15 or 20 minutes of actual teaching into the 2 hour lesson. Overall, they were a pretty fun bunch. Very energetic and involved, though I could see how it could easily get out of hand.
My next class was S1s (Seniors, which means age 11-15, level 1, or pretty elementary). This class also used to be Tyler's, and he warned me about how shy and unparticipative/untalkative they were. I definitely noticed it, and I'm not sure if they were hesitant to participate because it was after lunch, or they're older and too cool for school. Anyways, I've definitely got my work cut out for me on that one.
My last class of the day, S4s (Seniors, level 4 - intermediate) is by far my favorite. Their level of English is quite good, which makes it fun because we can actually have conversations about things. They all get along and work well together, which will make the class so much easier. Also, the TA for that class is wonderful - very involved, very good English, and really nice. One of the first activities that we did in that class was having each student make a name tent so that I could learn their names. They asked if I wanted their Vietnamese names or English names, and I told them either, but that I would call them that for the entire course, so they should pick something good. Fortunately for me, every single one of them opted for an English name (Vietnamese names are really hard to pronounce, not to mention name tags don't help at all because pronunciation is not what you would expect - for example, I have a student whose name is spelled "Dung", but it's pronounced more like "Yoon"...not to mention my student "Phuc"). Most of them chose actual names (Jenn, Martin, Sawyer, John, Tom, Cindy, Angela, etc.), but I will also be teaching students named: Balloon, T.V., Dragon Sky, and Money (similarly, one of my J2's chose the name "Catfish" for himself). Rather amusing, until I have to discipline them ("Ballon! Sit down now!" or "Dragon Sky! Listen to me! If you don't stop talking, you'll fail your exam")
In other non-teaching news....
Freya and I went to the tailor the other day and chose fabric for some clothes that she'd designed (she got a dress, I got a skirt), and we're picking those up tomorrow, so hopefully they'll turn out well. If they're good, then we plan on going back to fill out our teaching wardrobes - how can one resist tailor-made clothes for only $15 or so?....
I've officially moved rooms (same guest house, but two floors up, so my balcony actually has a nice view - not that I'm ever out there...it's way too hot and humid). I've put all my clothes away and am starting to get everything organized in here, so that's helped a lot with the settling down process.
A few other random observations from my time here:
- People here have tiny feet. I needed new shoes for work since I was tired of wearing heels, so decided to go shoe shopping. First stop was Aldo of course, though everything they had was too small (and pretty expensive). It was quite an accomplishment finding reasonably priced shoes for myself (and I'm only a size 8!)
- The way the shopping here is set up is a bit bizarre. There will be one street filled only with computer shops, another with only furniture shops, another with only sporting goods, etc. I've overheard some of the other teachers referring to the streets by what they sell ("Yeah, just go all the way down Computer Street, cross Hat and Helmet Alley, and you'll find the pho place"). The system is pretty good for comparison shopping if you know what you want to buy, but if you don't know which street has what you're looking for, or are just trying to go shopping for an assortment of things, it's a bit annoying.
- Grocery stores in foreign countries will never cease to be amusing.
- Vietnamese people, in general, are very, very nice. The other day Freya, Marleen and I were having trouble crossing a really busy street, and a Vietnamese man noticed us, detoured from his route, walked across the street with us and delivered us safely to the other side, then turned around, crossed back to the side of the street we started on, and continued on his way.
- I've seen lots of older people here with missing limbs. This is basically the only effect of the war that I've seen, and it makes me feel very sad (and a bit guilty. Maybe I'll start telling people I'm Canadian).
- Everything's really clean here! I'd heard that it was a very dirty city, and was prepared for that, but if anything, I've noticed how little trash there is in the streets. There are tons of street cleaners that walk around with brooms and carts and clean up all the garbage. There are also very few homeless people (that I've seen at least - maybe there are in other parts of the city). Yay Communism for providing lots and lots of jobs! (Another fun side effect of Communism and the low unemployment level here is that each restaurant has about four times as many workers as it needs. This results in waiters hanging around the table waiting for you to decide what you want to order, or standing there while you sort out the money to pay them, or anything else, really. Despite this, you never can seem to get a waiter's attention when you want it (when asking for the check, for example). On the upside, it does result in lots of little, folded paper napkins. Maybe once I finish the teaching thing, I'll stick around here and hone my skills as a napkin folder)
Anyways, I'm getting up at 5:45 tomorrow so that I can be in at school by 7, so I'm off to bed!
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