It feels good to finally be busy. The 5 weeks following the completion of my CELTA drove me crazy(-ier??) by the day. Being cooped up 45minutes from the hustle and bustle of the city with no income was not the business. I'm glad it's all behind me now.
The first week of my new job for the next who-knows-how-long just wrapped up and it was like I imagined it to be: messy. I don't understand how going through a CELTA course to receive a certificate in teaching to adults enables me to handle a dozen 6-11 year olds for 3 hours a day (some days, 6 hours!). I think I got progressively worse as a teacher as the days crept on. But, I'm not worried. Of course, there's the learning curve for a brand-spanking new teacher, plus, I'm still getting over a slump of being on slob mode for the past 5 weeks. I mean, who wants to spend time prepping when they could be out drinking 70¢ beers and listening to some live Diplo?
I kid. I'll get better. This is what I came here for. Anyway, I'm enjoying the job (for the most part). The school I work for is pretty bad-ass. Specifically, my centre (look at that shit. I hang out with too many English people and it's rubbing off on me). We've got quite the assortment of characters here. I think more than half are from the UK, with a handful of Americans and a sprinkle of the random Aussie & Kiwi. I'll admit, I wanted to be at a different centre initially - the one I started training at because it was my home base, yo! I made friends with the people there and the students and I wanted to be back with them. But, since arriving at centre 5, I've been glad. We've got quite a decent number of teachers here (~30 vs. 60-100 at the biggest ones) and it's a lot more personable since everyone knows each other. That and this:
That's Kelly. I know teachers are supposed to be fair and all that shit, but dude..this girl is crazy. She barely level tested into this class I think and she's at the youngest end of the age admitted into this level. She's bright, but way shy. But that's not why I think she's dope:
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| Word searching like a boss. |
Screw the rules, Kelly! You forge your own path and make them words however you damn well please, hah.
Then there's this girl:
Yup, that's right. I prefer to call my students by their proper Vietnamese name, but if they ask, I'll use their English names. This is one of those cases - Magic Milk. Her sister bestowed this English name unto her, and that's what she wrote on her name card, so I greet Miss Milk as such.
Also, I made one of the students cry the other day. I didn't expect it to happen so soon, but I'm sure teachers go through a few sometime over the course of the career. Let's not make a habit of it, tin.
Other than work, not much else going on yet. Random outings at night, practicing my Vietnamese with the TAs at work (with my Bac accent which, for some reason, they find extremely hilarious). Buncha racists...
Oh, did I mention I'm entered in a 4-person band/air guitar competition? More on this later!
'til next,
xoxo
tm
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