im CELTAFIED

DIVINE VACUUM CLEANERS

so i taught my last observed class on tuesday. i was worried about it because i wanted to end on a good note. i wanted to feel like i came into the course knowing nothing about teaching at all, and now feel like i had learned a thing or two.

amazingly, my lesson went better than i thought it would, there were only a few mess ups…the reading i chose for the students was about buddhists monks in malaysia and how they couldn’t kill fire ants that were harming them during meditation because monks cant harm a living creature.

i wanted them to read the article to find out the method the monks used to try to get rid of the ants. it was with a vacuum cleaner. yet, i didn’t realize that in thailand, not many people use vacuum cleaners, since everyone usually uses brooms. so the students didn’t understand the question since I didn’t pre-teach vacuum cleaner…the things you learn when teaching in this land..

then one of my true/false questions was, if someone did kill the ants the monks would say it was the will of God. it was false, because the monks said it was the will of the universe, not God. yet, every student had it as true. this is because for most of them, since they are Buddhist, the universe and God are the same thing. yet, to me, they are totally different concepts. the students looked at me like i was a freak, when i tried to explain that it was false...go sherri, way to confuse innocent students yet again.

but it turns out, even though i had some lacking-in-awareness-of-the-culture-of-your-students-problems, i still got an above standard for my last lesson!! i was so excited and so relieved! i learned something!

WORTH IT?!

so all in all the course definitely was a GOOD thing, and i learned soooooo much through the intense, crazy four weeks. many of my classmates have been teachers for awhile, so the class radically changed a lot of the ways they look at teaching and helped them get rid of bad habits. yet, i now have this foundation of new methods of teaching, and not too many bad habits to get rid of yet...so it was even a plus, in some ways, to not have much experience. now i feel more confident to teach here in bangkok, and now i can go anywhere in the world and use my CELTA to teach...im glad i held out and struggled through. but soooooo glad it's over!!

i really loved my students!! our last day was sweet. we played review games, then we had pizza hut and dunkin donut holes. we had a huge picture taking fest, and the delightful pics can be found here...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55907373@N00/

im going to miss my students, but we all have emails. and it's sweet cuz i have already hung out with some of the students because yesterday they wanted to go to church with us. i learn so much from them, i feel so blessed!

HIGH LIGHT

after i finished my course i decided it was necessary to do something celebratory...which has included watching harry potter 5 at an i-max, getting good coffee, eating at an amazing salad buffet, pizza, and getting ice cream shakes.

but then yesterday i finished off my celebrations-of-surviving-celta-sessions by getting my hair cut and highlighted!

ahh! i was a lil freaked out, cuz i didnt know which hairdresser would know how to cut non-asian people's hair, and if they would speak English well enough to know what i wanted. but two of my classmates got their haircut at a place, and thought they did a good job. so i got a 50% off card from one of them, was given a name of who to ask for, and went for it!

i just walked in, said changa, and then he came right over to help me out. i told him i wanted layers but my hair to not be much shorter, and highlights. he comprehended what i was saying...at least i hoped by his clear english response that he did. then he directed me over to a row of computers sitting behind swivel chairs. he told me to sit while they highlighted my hair. so i got to email for an hour or so while my he and another worker spoke in thai the whole time while putting tinfoil all over my head. i wondered the whole time what they must have been saying about this weirdo american girl...

then for the next hour he cut my hair and kept up his convo with his other worker. he is definitely an artist, and even told me he sees cutting hair as art. which i think is what a good hairdresser should believe. anyways, i came out with an asian look to my golden brown locks. he straightened it, and i put that pic online, but i dont think its going to look straight again for a year because i didnt bring a straightner with me. i like curly better i have decided..anyways, im still trying to get used to the layers, but i think im going to like it.

my doorman was the first person to notice! he said, "oh, your hair is different color! i like!" this was after he said, "hello teacher"...

=)

so this week, on wednesday, i get to start my job! im excited! i hope that i can catch on to teaching at elite and how to get my head around the SAT and how to explain it to these super smart kids..im excited for the next adventure!

by the way..thanks for all your words of encouragement while i was doing the course! it really pulled me through. i love you all so.