First day of my teaching placement...

We woke up at 6.45am, to find the girls sweeping the corridor. This was when I realised that the placement is challenging, because of the lack of privacy, the girls' bedroom is just opposite of my room. I had a shower, it was difficult, because there was a power cut! So, I had to feel my way around the shower for the shampoo and so on. But then when I just just finished my shower, the power came back on! Hah! Ah well, we had our breakfast at 7.30am which was jam on breads. We met the principal at 8am, she gave us our timetable. Lien and I were teaching together that day.

Time Class
8-8.40am 10 (special)
8.40-9.15 8
9.15-9.55 8
9.55-10.30 7
10.30-10.50 Break
10.50-11.25 4
11.25-12.05 8
12.05-12.45 8
12.45-1.30 7

The first group, Class 10, consist 7 students, ranging from 16-23 years old. We didn't really have any lesson plan, so we thought we would be observing but anyway we decided to see what they were doing, and to continue with it. They were working on writing their names, ages and the name of the school. And we found that a majority of them can't really spell numbers, so we decided to teach numbers, starting with one to ten. For me, I was patient but i can't help finding it a bit sad, how they cannot just learn as quick as I though they could. But it is not their fault, they are so used to being spoon-fed by the teachers. We tried to make the lesson interesting by putting them into pairs and have a wee competition, to see who knows how to spell most of the numbers. And the time just flew, we only managed to go up to 11.

There were only two pupils in Class 8, one is 15 and the other is 14. We decided to teach the parts of the face, just to see what they can do but it was really difficult, they can't read English well so when I ask them what's this word or that word, they just guess every time. But we managed to get there at the end, it was just a small thing but they understood the difference between 'n' and 'h'.

As for Class 7, Lien decided to teach colours. It was the case of guessing as well for them, even though in their books, they have 'studied' colours. But then again, they were spoon-fed.

Then it was the break, we had tea. And we chatted about the morning and decided that it was the best to start back to scratch. Class 4 was next, there were 4 students. The younger students were about 7 but the oldest was 16 years old. Lien was teaching the younger ones, while I was working with the sixteen years old student one to one, and I discovered that he doesn't know the alphabet. In his book, all he wrote was 'A'. So I attempted to teach him the alphabet, it was challenging but he was trying so hard. We got up to H, and I had to go, there is just not enough time and I just hope I will get a chance to work with him again. Because I believe that with a bit of encouragement, he can learn the alphabet. When he got up to h, that was a big achievement but when the teacher came to check on us, I asked him to show her what he can do. The teacher stayed for three letters and walked off. It was a bit frustrating but I told him to continue.

We had Class 8 again, we did a summary on the parts of the face, it didn't go well as I had hoped it would but I think they has started to realised that they need to read and remember, instead of just writing down and leave it. They were trying their hardest to remember the words.

We had Class 7 again, Lien quickly went over the colours and then I did the face with them. They enjoyed drawing their faces, the drawings were tidy. We went over the names, again they didn't grasp as quickly as I thought they would have. We learnt to slow down, to repeat the names, to spell them out as well. And the school day was over just like that. We had our lunch, which was rice with some curry. Then we had yoghurt, which was so nice!

Lien and I decided to set our boundaries with the children, especially when we are with them basically 24/7. So we stayed in our room that afternoon, reflecting about our day. About 4pm, I went outside to play a bit of ball game with the little boys, they were so sweet! They were very energetic, they were happy to run up and down the yard non-stop! At 7pm, it was dinner time for the boys, then at 8pm, the girls can eat.

That evening, we decided to stay in our room and plan lessons for the next day, which was a bit difficult because we didn't receive our timetable, we chose two topics and agreed to go with the flow, to get a better understanding of where they are. I will start teaching properly on Monday, this week, I am just observing and seeing what they can do.

I am feeling so tired right now. I just wish there is something I can do to help, I know I am helping by teaching, but they need more than that. 9 weeks is definitely not enough. But ah well, I am happy to be here and the children want to learn, that's good enough for now :)

Good night xx

PS Mosquitos, please leave me alone...!