Back 2 School
Today I completed my first two full weeks at my new school. I am getting the hang of things little by little. Due to our difficulties entering the country because of all the precautions for Covid, my first day of work was two and a half weeks after the first day of school. So it was quite strange to start at a new job in a new country after the school year had already begun. Because of this strange beginning, I am very grateful that I didn't have a classroom of students awaiting my late arrival. Instead, I’ve had the ability to ease into my role and take time to meet and get to know the students and teachers I am supporting. I am assigned to grade 3 and 5 this year. So this means I am coteaching in 4 classrooms and supporting around 20 ELD students. This is much more manageable than my previous roster of over a hundred ELD students and overseeing all grade levels K-5. I am interested to see how this changes my teaching practice.
My new school is very different from any school I have ever worked at in many ways. However, the role I play as an ELD Teacher (English Language Development) is quite similar. The only difference being that because we have more ELD staff I will be able to focus my time on my instruction and teaching instead of managing a whole school-wide program on my own. Even though our program serves a subsection of our student population, I look forward to participating in a co-teaching model because nearly all of our students are learning English as a second or third (for fourth language). All of the instruction at my school is done in English and it is amazing that students are so successful going to school in English and picking up the language when they mostly speak Thai or Chinese at home.
Weekly school-wide assembly
A few differences to note:
The campus is quite large with all grade levels Pre-K through 12th grade on the same campus, separate buildings, but close together. Such a large staff, loads of new people to meet.
Most of my students are Thai and/or Chinese
I have planning time to adequately prepare for the lessons and groups I am teaching
I have a large office that includes space to teach
Class sizes are smaller
All the Guided Reading Materials from Fountas and Pinnell (!)
A couple of my favorite parts of my school so far:
The Canteen where I can get lunch each afternoon is inexpensive and pretty tasty. I hate packing a lunch so it works out well!
My office/classroom is much bigger than any other space I have had.
My co-teachers are very welcoming and excited to work together.
The students are lovely. So kind and welcoming.
The Canteen
We live in a neighborhood called Sammakorn which is about halfway between my school campus and downtown Bangkok. We thought being somewhat in the middle might give us a chance to explore while still being relatively close to my school campus. With this in mind, it's about a 20 minute drive to work and about 30-40 minutes home each day. In the morning I carpool with a lovely Pre-K teacher, Karen, who also lives in the neighborhood and has a car. She picks me up from the main road in our neighborhood, Soi 112. I am very grateful to be part of a carpool in the morning as it can be challenging to get a taxi out of our neighborhood. Sometimes it's raining and we have to be diligent with our umbrella use. Often when I step out from our apartment I hear our rooster neighbor cock-e-doodle-doing. Most mornings I hear too many Ariana Grande songs on our commute to school due to the song choice of Karen's 3rd grade daughter. :)
Some mornings I come into work drenched in sweat before the day has even begun, and other days I come in dry and feeling great. I haven't quite figured it out yet as to why sometimes I am so stinkin’ hot and other days I'm fine (humidity level maybe?). I definitely am looking forward to the "winter"/cool season.
In the afternoons I either get a ride home with another carpool, driven by Shasta, heading to Sammakorn or I take a shuttle from campus to the main road to catch a taxi home. I have learned the few words I need to say to communicate with the taxi driver to get home. I've been fairly successful with my Taxi Thai (yay!). Thankfully our neighborhood is just down the main road, Ramkhamhaeng, and I know where to turn onto 112.
So far I am still adjusting and getting used to my new school, job, and surroundings. So far I am enjoying it and looking forward to really digging into my collaboration with teachers and teaching students.
