NO THAI LEFT BEHIND

When parent teacher conference came around every semester, my parents would receive the same complaint (if any, cause I'm an angel) from all of my teachers. Lisa talks in class. That may not come as a surprise to people. I enjoy the art of conversation. A lot. I always have. If I could go back and apologize to every single one of those teachers, I would. I know how frustrating it is trying to talk over someone when teaching. It is not only rude to the teacher but it's unfair to the other students. I sound like a real teacher and I'm only a pseudo one.

My job is to teach English. I teach 3 classes everyday Monday through Friday. My students have a good knowledge of the basics of the English language. Some are much better than others. I've started to notice a pattern in the classes I've taught. They are either great and productive or extremely difficult. They are difficult because I feel like I'm babysitting and not teaching. It's completely frustrating. It's not just me. It's the same for Thai teachers too. I picked up on some things the other English teachers would say when they would ask me which class I had. They seemed to know right off if they were going to be good or difficult. I didn't understand how an entire class could be defined like that.

This will probably be difficult to follow, but this is how the high school works. The classes are categorized as M 1 - M 6. 1 being the youngest and 6 being the oldest. Students are then sub-categorized as M 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6 etc. Each class the same. Students are placed into a class dependent on their ability by testing them. 1 being the smartest and 6 being the students who struggle. I hate to phrase it that way, but that is how it has been described to me. Other teachers have been so frank to call them "stupid". That may just be for lack of a better word. English is their second language. For example, 4/1, 4/2, and 4/3 would be considered the "smart" ones. And 4/4, 4/5, and 4/6 would be considered the least intelligent students. It's in a descending order too. I'm not sure if it is coincidence but the classes that I find enjoyable and productive are the 1's, 2's, and 3's. The ones with the behavioral issues are the 4's, 5's and 6's.

I'm not here to change the Thai educational system. It is irrelevant whether I feel it is fair or not the way things are done. I'm here to be an English teacher. I'm not so naive to believe that my students are going to be remotely fluent in English by the time I leave. I'm not preparing them for the exams they need to take in a few weeks. I'm more like a substitute teacher. I have different classes everyday. There are over 50 English classes at the high school. My job is to make learning English fun. I am here to help them feel comfortable talking to a foreigner. If they leave class with a smile on their face - I leave with a smile on my face too and I feel as though I've accomplished what I came here to do.