Last Monday was an important day for me. That’s right, after more than a year-and-a-half, I finally am working again. I’m teaching Math, Science, English, P.E., and Cooking at a very expensive private grade school across the river from Bangkok in the Pinklao neighborhood of Thonburi.

I quickly learned that teaching children is nothing like teaching adults. Plus, I’m not providing extra practice with English, I’m teaching it, and other subjects, as primary education. Thus, nothing, not a single iota, transfers from the CELTA. Was the CELTA a waste of money then? No, because I can still teach English if it should strike my fancy. And the CELTA did provide me with the confidence to get up in front of a group every day and teach.

The first week was pretty rough, because I had no idea what to do. But it’s getting better, and I’m slowly learning what works and what doesn’t. I quickly found that if I just work problems on the board, nobody will pay attention. So I’ve been having everyone go up and solve problems themselves. It’s a good opportunity for experimentation, because we have a month of summer school before the school year starts next month. Smaller classes, more of an emphasis on games, and shorter hours. We can even leave when we are done teaching, so on Mondays I am free at 11. It’s a great schedule, and we get full pay for it.

I’m teaching 7th and 6th grade Math (or Maths if you’re not American), 5th grade Science/Health, 3rd and 2nd grade P.E., and 1st grade English, as well as a combined 5th/6th/7th grade “Cooking” class

At first I didn’t like the 7th grade class. For some reason there are no girls, so it’s a room full of teenage boys. Thais may be polite, but teenage boys are the same the world over. But I found that since they are pretty old, I can sort of talk to them, and some of them will understand, and thus establish a rapport. I also found that I can’t rule them with an iron fist. They’re going to screw around a little bit no matter what, so it’s only worth fighting the big battles. The material is also OK, since there is a variety of stuff to cover.

The sixth grade Math class is page after page of multiplication. Boring for me and the students, especially at 9 in the morning. The difference between the 7th and 6th graders is amazing. The former are definitely teenagers, while the latter are still kids.

The 5th grade class is big, so it’s difficult to manage. The material is weird, too. On my first day, I had to teach puberty. This class’ favorite phrase is “play game.” Usually that’s what we end up doing, since we get through the material so fast. Unfortunately I don’t know too many games, and they invariably get loud and chaotic, and hence, a bit unfair.

I wasn’t expecting to teach 1st graders, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. Not having a clue what to do, it actually went pretty well. And, if all else fails, I can always read them a story. Most English teaching jobs are for kids now, so this may be the way to go in the future. It’s a lot easier to grade 1st grade English homework than 7th grade math homework. I only have these kids for two hours a week, though.

I had no idea I would be teaching P.E. I don’t know what to have them do. They do what I say for about 20 minutes, then I run out of stuff to do, so they all run around and scream. It’s chaos. Thankfully, only two hours a week.

As I said, this is a very expensive private school, with children from rich families. How rich are these kids? Most of them have electronic dictionaries, Gameboys, and some have Palm Pilots. Why would a ten-year-old need a Palm Pilot? Many live in on campus housing, and those who don’t are chauffeured around in BMW’s and Mercedes Benz’s. One kid is even named Benz (he’s the star student is 5th grade Math). Throughout Asia, the Chinese tend to make up the rich upper class, and many of the students are Chinese-Thai, and some have Chinese names.

One of the fringe benefits of teaching at a school are the holidays. We have two weeks, then a week off for Thai New Years. Then two more weeks of summer school, and another week off before the term starts. Saturday I leave for Chiang Mai.