SHERRI A TEACHER?!?!

CELTA SURVIVOR SEASON PREMIERE

i had been wondering for awhile whether i should really do this whole CELTA course thing after i signed up for it. i have heard how INTENSE it is, how it takes over your life for four weeks, how you are so engulfed in learning how to teach english that you forget another world exists outside grammar and lexicon. yeah, pretty frightening. well the terror began yesterday, and im still alive at the moment to share. so that's a good sign!

THE CAST

yesterday it was so fun walking into the classroom for orientation cuz it was full of such a variety of people. i am am the youngest, then the next oldest is like 25 i think. the oldest is probably in their late 50s. there are five Americans, two Irish, two Londoners, a Trinidad and Tobagoian, a middle easterner, and an Argentine. they are all so fun and such funny, unique characters who make me smile. it makes me feel like im on a reality TV show. like all these quirky people are placed together to struggle for 4 weeks to see who will survive. it's so exciting!

the first person i met and bonded with right away was a lady who grew up in Georgia! she is in her 50s-ish, and such a sweet, outgoing lady. she was so excited to meet another southerner! she taught home economics for 30 years, then she and her husband decided to move to china and work for a non-profit there and now they live in laos. she has taught english in both places. it seems like out of our class of 12 people that half of them have had at least a few years of experience teaching english, or teaching, and wanted to take the course to brush up. im trying not to let that intimidate me though cuz the tutors keep saying how they won't compare us. they are just seeing how we improve as an individual. nice to know, but it is hard to remember..

SHERRI'S INSULT SESSION

but the first thing we did was we had to write our name backwards on a name tag with three numbers that related to us. then we had to go around the room and meet people and figure out their names and what the numbers signified. i went up to this one guy who had 44 on his tag. first i guessed it to be his age, but then right away, i thought ooops, he doesnt look 44 at all. he was like, NOOO! then i said, hmm..is it your waist size? not knowing that is a really large waist size...and he was like NO! wow, you just keep the compliments coming dont you? it turns out it was his shoe size in thai. i was so embarassed though, and my face turned bright red.

then later i discovered he is my tutor!! one of the two tutors who will be grading us to see if we do well enough to pass the course. yeah, so i will have to work extra hard now, to get over telling my teacher he is old and fat. go sherri!

HAPPY LEARNERS MAKE HAPPY TEACHERS

so the people we will be teaching are so great. they are from laos, china, thailand and sri lanka. some of them are refugees, others just don't have the money to pay for a normal course. after a morning of learning about teaching methods, we had to do our first 15 minute lesson!

the students were so eager to participate and want to learn, so that helped things. yet, i didnt feel that i did very well. i was so nervous at first, but then i gained more confidence as the minutes went on. apparently i did really well drilling them, so thats cool. but i didnt feel like the class time flowed very smoothly. hopefully i can improve on that tomorrow during my 35 mintue lesson im teaching..ahhhh! i never realized how hard it is to be a teacher. i now have a new respect for you all wise teachers...please send along some advice soon.

RANDOM!?

so two days ago im standing in this photo store to get a passport size photo for my work visa. as im waiting for it to print out, i see this south asian tourist sitting at a chair speaking french while waiting for whoever he was with to finish printing their photos. i sort of saw that he was eyeing me. i didnt think much about it as i was flipping through some post cards. then i see him get up, meander to the security guard who was standing near me, and give him his camera. THEN he comes right next to me, puts his arm around me and gets the security guard to take a picture. then he smlles at me, and sits down.

so this random south asian man is forever going to have a picture with me in a photo store in bangkok. i have NO idea why he wanted a pic with me. had he never seen a girl with curly brown hair before? i was bewildered and wanted to laugh sooo hard after it happened, but i had to keep waiting and pretend like that happens all the time. wow...so weird! i just keep asking, why would he do such a thing??

im off to bed so i can be fresh for my next lesson...stay tuned..email me about how you are..i miss hearing from the home land..jesengel@gmail.com