I’m two weeks into my teaching, and my students are starting to open up more. Even the reserved 201 class is talking more, which is especially great since they are becoming more active even though they aren’t always able to completely express what they want to say. I can certainly see myself becoming more comfortable with them as well, and I think the two developments play off of each other. And two weeks in, I’m starting to make some progress on their names as well, though I have to be honest, it’s difficult to differentiate between already unfamiliar names when half of them start with “s” and the other half end in “-heap,” “-heak,” or “-hea.” I have made a conscious decision to learn their real names, however, unlike in China, where I happily memorized the names of James Dean, Candy, Smile, and Stella. As much as they sometimes snicker at my butchering of their names, however, I’ve finally realized that, to them, I am just “Teacher.” I’ve noticed from previous experiences that Andrew is actually really difficult for many non-native English speakers to pronounce because of the “dr,” so I respond to anything sounding somewhat similar, like “an-joo.” But I finally caught on to the fact that, whether it’s a common practice in classrooms here or not, calling me simply “Teacher” makes everything a lot easier for them.
Some other things that I’ve noticed in class is that it’s sometimes hard to make sure they are speaking English and not Khmer with each other in group activities because the pronunciation is sometimes so skewed that I’m really not sure what language they are speaking in. Also, I’ve realized that I don’t know how to spell spaghetti confidently off the top of my head. We were creating a huge vocabulary list on the board in my 201 class, one in which I would write the words on the board that they shouted out and which they would then have to record in their vocabulary diaries and then draw a picture instead of writing a definition next to the word to help them remember it in the future. Then someone suggested the word “spaghetti.” I thought I knew, but just to make sure I didn’t seem incompetent in front of the class, the vocabulary list turned into an activity where, when you called out a word, you came up to the board to write and draw the word yourself.
Already, I’ve mistaken “goose” for “ghost” and proceeded to correct the class’s pronunciation of “dessert” only to realize that I had just told them the wrong way to say “t-shirt.”
I’ve also realized that anything that involves drawing or something other than just reading and writing gets the class excited, and I’ve realized that I’m a sucker for smiles. There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing students actually enjoying something I intended to be more light-hearted and fun. There’s a certain giddiness and giggly-ness, as if we’re all getting away with something we shouldn’t be allowed to do when I do a game not in the textbook. It’s very addicting to do that.
I’ve realized that, no matter how early they are (5, 10, and up to 15 minutes early), if I’m in the class room already (usually writing some of the lesson on the board), my students give a slight bow and apologize at the doorway of the classroom before entering.
Those are essentially the things Teacher has learned so far.