Welcome to "Sunday Summary" in which I try to summarize the week that came before. This is the 80th installment, covering the week ending today, 3 March 2024.
Each week, we link up with The Sunday Salon, hosted at ReaderBuzz, and Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer. Check out their posts and the links to see what other book bloggers have been up to in the last week.
It seems like every week, I start off saying that it had been an odd week. I am beginning to think that if we were to have a "normal" week in which all classes were held as scheduled without any special events, I would think that extremely strange. Let's just say that "odd" is the new normal of this rapidly ending school year.
We have just two weeks remaining -- the last day for students is March 13 and the last day for teachers is March 14. But, wait! The school has scheduled its annual Open House on March 15 during which teachers will need to prepare one final song & dance routine and a host of other activities. Since our contract does indeed finish on the 14th, the Big Question is whether or not we will be paid to work at the Open House. I am of the mind that I will do whatever is asked of me, paid or unpaid as it's my last chance to see my children before the extended summer break.
Last Sunday doesn't count in my Summary as the afternoon was largely spent putting together #79. Monday was our last holiday of the school year, the governmental substitution day for Makha Buja. Tuesday was the first of three straight days of school field trips although my class (and yours truly) was only involved that one day. My Thai teacher was involved in the events on Wednesday and Thursday (including chaperoning children who overnighted it) and so I had a very pleasant substitute Thai teacher helping out much of that time. Kru May did not return on Friday due to another stay in the hospital so I was essentially alone with my students that day -- a rarity for a foreign kindergarten teacher. That was both good and a little bad. I came away exhausted but exhilarated (and quite a bit farther behind on my paperwork than I would care to be).
Tuesday morning was our class's final field trip of the year and it was a doozy, combining several different planned events into one in an effort to cram everything in before the start of final exams (this Tuesday or Wednesday, I believe). Back around Christmastime, we had started hearing rumors of an outing to the beach at some point for the little ones to interview foreign tourists in English. Now, I have had some experience with similar outings (with Grade 5 mostly) and found the students were either too shy to approach any of the tourists or it was difficult to find anybody who could speak English. I warned several school administrators that the beaches would be crowded with Russians following the winter holidays.
The kids also were to give one final dance performance (sometimes I think I am working at the school in the television series Fame) so it was decided to combine the two activities. The children would do the morning performance at a resort in the far north of the island and interview tourists on the adjacent beach after lunch. There would also be an "English camp" in between so the foreign teachers could highlight their skills at instructing and playing games with the kids on very short notice. We were informed of the schedule and of our camp topics just a few days prior to the start of the three-day weekend. I lucked out and was assigned "Colors and Shapes" -- I have been doing an activity based upon these for ages.
For those teachers assigned to the Wednesday/Thursday stay-at-the-resort events, there was no return transportation nor would they be reimbursed for their out-of-pocket expenses. I was thankful that I taught K1 and we would not be staying the night. The kids had to arrive no later than 7:00 that morning to have breakfast (hard-boiled eggs) and we were to depart the school at 7:30, arriving at the resort just an hour later. My class traveled nearly the same distance a week before to the papaya farm and that took over two hours each way. Outside of rush hour. I jokingly commented they were providing rockets to get up there.
Well, almost rockets: The school parade ground was packed with no less than 15 10-passenger minivans Tuesday morning. Minivans are notorious throughout Southeast Asia for going way too fast with little regard for anything else on the road. I was once riding one in Laos when it hit a baby elephant that was walking -- SLOWLY -- down the road. These were brand new and very fancy (check out that sound system!). Yes, they were F-A-S-T. We travelled in a caravan with one van blocking intersections whenever we had to turn. We got some stares along the way as this kind of procession usually means a member of the royal family is coming through; those are accompanied by the Highway Patrol, complete with snipers along the route.
We left the school a bit late (just after 8 a.m.) and -- without the aid of snipers -- arrived at the Splash Beach Resort near the airport about 75 minutes later. The opening ceremony was attended by a number of VIP's including the owner of the agency that employs the foreign teachers and I think I recognized the Provincial Governor. While waiting prior to our performance, my kids received some extra attention by dancing along to other groups' songs as a warm-up to their own. K1/9 performed the "Walking Walking" song for the final time. Afterwards, there was the usual endless session of group photos as every possible combination of teachers, VIP's and children was attempted.
Following a brief snack break, we headed to the beach, transported in elongated electric people movers. I had not realized we would be on the beach over which jet airplanes come in low to land at the airport. The children screamed every time another plane came in over the sea. Ironically, I had added visiting here onto my 2024 Phuket Bucket List so I was absolutely thrilled. Now I know exactly how to access the beach I will return sometime during the holiday in an attempt to take some decent photos (most of those included in this post were taken either by the school's photographer or by Kru May as I was quite busy).
As expected, the beach was filled with Russians. Rich Russians, I might add. Out of a dozen or so groups of sunbathing Russians that my group of kids approached, only two would talk to us. They could speak barely any English nor could they speak any Thai. I used what little Russian I could remember but I made the effort to bridge the gap. Mostly, our kids became a photo op for some of the Russians (younger women, usually). I do not know if any of the other classes had any more success than we did and I have yet to ask our several Ukrainian teachers if they experienced any problems.
We returned to the resort somewhat earlier than planned but enjoyed a nice buffet lunch. As we do at school, the teachers had to wait on the children before we could sit down, bringing loads of filled platters from the buffet tables and then asking which items the kids wanted. My class were seated the farthest away from the main entrees and the kids were rather picky. They rejected a lot of the better food but most went for the chicken nuggets and barbecue chicken drum sticks (the French fries were refused outright). Most of the kids needed help getting the chicken off the bones on the drum sticks (they wouldn't eat them with their fingers) so I spent a lot of time doing that for them.
By the time I finally fixed a plate of food for myself and sat down to eat, the foreign teachers were told they had to go to the meeting room and set up their activities for the camp portion of the day. I insisted on finishing my lunch but I didn't enjoy it that much as I was trying to cram it down as quickly as possible (I am quite the slow eater most of the time). The chicken parmesan was delicious and I will take some plastic tubs next time to take food home where I can enjoy it properly.
When I entered the meeting hall, I found that all the teachers would be doing their separate activity stations in the same room! Whenever I organized English camps (which are simply activity days held outside of the school rather than tents in the jungle) for another agency, I always made sure there were separate areas so noise bleed, etc. was not an issue. The only space remaining for my station was on the big stage at the far end of the hall. This was absolutely ideal as I planned a variation on the flashcard race.
We had a strict 20-minute time limit to do our activity with each of six classes before they rotated to another station. I set up a variety of flashcards picturing different colors at one end of the stage. Depending on the size of the class, I would choose four to six children to run each race so that every student would have a chance. They chose colored popsicle sticks from a box I held; when I yelled "Go!" they had to race and find the correct card that matched their stick (the cards were flipped over, showing a blank side). They then had to return with both card and stick. First person with the correct combination won a small prize (I gave erasers and pencils, some teachers had candy).
Occasionally, I added some shaped objects in various colors amongst the flashcards. If a student's popsicle stick had a stuck-on shape, they had to find the shape in the color of the stick. It was a lot of fun but I didn't have any time to breathe -- going full-on during each 20-minute session plus the next group would arrive ready to play before the previous one had time to move off the stage. Of course, the time went by quickly but I was totally spent at the end of it.
The final event of that day was to walk to the Splash Jungle Water Park next door (we went through a back entrance at the resort and walked across a fairly barren field). It was H-O-T, our first day of the season with temperatures in the mid-90s (Fahrenheit -- I think that's about 40 degrees in Celsius). The kids had changed into their swimsuits in the resort while I cleaned up the activity area. I removed my sandals at the spot I thought they were going to swim at but then had to cross a large expanse of burning hot asphalt to reach the place they jumped in at. It was much better than the Anandamanda Water Park we went to back in September as the water was deeper and the kids were allowed to use the slides. I had my swimsuit on under my slacks but ended up just rolling up my pantlegs and wading in to take photos. I didn't want to take wet clothes back in the minivan nor did I want my back to sunburn.
We finally left the resort after 4pm -- all of the children and Kru May fell asleep in the van heading back to school. We arrived just in time for me to help unload the kids and then run to the local bus station where I caught the last songthaew of the day heading home to Kata.
The rest of the school week pales in comparison to that first day!
Kru May was in the classroom when I entered Wednesday morning, along with another Thai teacher, Kru Fern. I was told that K. Fern would help me out for the next couple of days as K. May had been asked to assist with the overnight trip to the same resort. They were taking K3 students who would spend the night.
This substitute assistant was wonderful and the children responded positively to her. After several months of bad experiences, we were spoilt by the day-and-a-half of ease we enjoyed with Kru Fern in our midst. I hoped that her assignment to our room would become permanent but another teacher told me she was to be a classroom teacher in the General Program. As the Dance and Computer teachers were also helping out at the resort activities, those lessons were cancelled. I did a bit of exam review and gave out some random leftover coloring sheets to keep the kids occupied.
In the afternoon, we had to wake the children up an hour into their naptime in order for the annual checkups by the Municipality Health Department. Mostly, that involved waiting in the library for our turn to come and then the children panicking at the end with a whole lot of screaming and crying. One of ours was the only kid there who vomited. So proud!
Thursday morning, I finally did a bit of review for the final exams. K. Fern sat amongst the kids while I taught (rather than sitting at the desk the entire day eating as a certain other person did the majority of the time). This does a remarkable job of keeping the kids focused on the lesson rather than being naughty; any deviance from proper behavior was gently dealt with (the model followed by myself and K. May) rather than screaming at the kids and waving around a metal ruler (the method employed by the recently removed).
After lunch, Kru Fern needed to go elsewhere so I was left alone with the kids for the remainder of the day. I did not foresee any problem with that. It is almost unheard of for a (male) foreign teacher to be left alone with a class of kindergarteners but it has been a frequent occurrence in this class due to our lack of reliable assistants (I think we have gone through five during this school year) and Kru May's often being called into meetings or other tasks. I am trusted and have become accustomed to it.
The period after lunchtime is most often taken up with having the kids brush their teeth and preparing their bedrolls for naptime. Sometimes, we will do a 30- or 45-minute lesson in there as well or show a video. I prefer playing singalong songs that teach English but this Thursday I decided to let the kids watch a cartoon while laying on their bedrolls. After a time, I switched on the classics for babies music we play during their naps and I turned off the overhead lights. Usually, it takes a few kids a little longer to fall asleep while most of them zonk right out.
On this particular day, however, kids kept getting up and running around during the entire two-hour period. They had a lot of energy and my main fear is that they will step on a kid still sleeping. The Thai teachers will constantly berate the non-sleepers, some are louder than others, but I don't see the point. Eventually, they all fall asleep -- some of them only minutes before the lights are turned back on. I shot some video on this particular day and you can see how many of them were just being funny in the dark. In the "The Week That Was" video, I follow several clips of Thursday with a brief one shot during naptime Friday during which every kid was sound asleep.
Thursday afternoon, I got word that Kru May would not be at school the next day. I was asked if I was okay with being with the kids the entire day without assistance. I told the administrator that Friday was an easy day -- Scouts, Playground, Library, and Chinese. I was sure I could handle all of that! A key was brought around so I could open the room in the morning and close it up after the last student left in the afternoon.
It was a pretty good day. For "Scouts", I had wanted to do the usual calendars -- the school office has a monthly calendar printed and the students color the days of the week (Sunday = red, Monday = yellow, Tuesday = pink, Wednesday = green, Thursday = orange, Friday = light blue, and Saturday = purple). However, when I went to pick up a stack of March calendars I was told they didn't print them this month since there are only 10 school days left. I had the children do some worksheets instead as a way to review for their exams, followed by more random coloring pages. I even found one of Kru May's papaya coloring sheets to give out to early finishers.
At 10, we marched down to the playground only to find it locked. The library was similarly locked so we returned to the classroom (via a lengthier route to kill a bit of time while I thought of what we could do). I had the kids dance to some of their favorite YouTube videos, we watched some drone footage of animals in North America (they LOVE that), and we did some call-and-response chants and practice greetings. By the time we had to line up to go to the canteen for lunch, I was exhausted. But the kids were happy -- there had been NO YELLING at all for nearly an entire week and one kid remarked "Teacher! Everybody Happy!!!"
After lunch, I had the kids brush their teeth and put them to sleep right away. They have to wake up thirty minutes earlier on Friday due to a weekly Chinese lesson at 14:50. This teacher (the third or fourth we have had over this school year) is punctual so I have to make sure that all of the bedrolls are put away and the kids have finished their milk before she arrives. As I do with the Thai lessons, I participate during Chinese -- sitting on a chair at the side of the classroom doing the actions, saying the words, and dancing to the songs just as our students do. I am also on standby in case the Chinese teacher needs any assistance but this latest one is awesome at classroom management (better even than Kru May!).
Several parents arrived before the end of the Chinese lesson so I went into the hallway to let them know that it would be finished soon. A couple mentioned that they could see me through the windows, looking as if I was having as much fun as the kids. I was, I do. Always. And what a way to end the week. . .
I was still in a good mood when I arrived home around 18:45. It had been another long hot ride in a vastly overcrowded local bus but I spent it immersed in a pleasant conversation with a woman crammed-in next to me. She had recently retired from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (she never said but I sensed she had been a diplomat of some sort).
I felt great after exiting the bus and walking up the hill to my apartment. The week was over and I had less than two full ones until the start of the summer holiday. Yes, it will be hectic trying to test the children and finish the reports before the deadlines but I am up to the task.
Due to Kru May's absence as well as the myriad of extra events recently, she was not able to complete her papaya project. I ended up throwing out a number of moldering papaya's that had been sitting atop a table in the classroom for nearly two weeks. If she feels up to doing a bit more on the topic, I will gladly give up some time before the exams start for her to do so. This morning, she sent a message to the parents' LINE group asking for photos of the students posing with the papaya trees in their home gardens (most, not all have them). Our kiddoes look very cute in their regular (or farmer) clothes.
My 16th finished book of the year was When the Devil Doesn't Show, a police procedural set during Christmastime in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It was a pleasant read and I closed it the night before the last day of February. My final February TBR book was On Earth As It Is On Television by Emily Jane but I pushed it to March, starting it on Leap Day. I am enjoying it and will probably finish it by mid-week. Another quick-read that I could finish tonight or tomorrow if I complete my other Sunday tasks in time is Keven DeYoung's Crazy Busy. My March TBR has a total of nine books on it. With the summer break starting mid-month, I may actually get through all of those and more!
While following links to other bloggers' posts on one of my memes this week (sadly, I don't remember which one), I found two more memes that I started participating in. The first, Time Travel Thursday is a weekly look back at what I was reading at the same time in previous years. Spell the Month in Books is just what it sounds like but with a twist, an optional theme each month to make the list even more challenging. In addition to these, I found yet another weekly link-up which occurs on Fridays; the list of prompts for March was posted too late for me to participate this week.
While I did not have my usual free time at work this week (naptime, other lessons such as Dance and Computer), I still managed to finish up my March collection page layouts and wrap-up February sufficiently in my bullet journal. As in January, I wrote a lengthy reflection on the month in my digital journal (I use OneNote) and just a summary of stats and other bits in the BuJo. I did a fair amount of sketching, line-drawing, and coloring Friday night and the remainder this morning (including this month's To Kill A Mockingbird quote and the Site Edits page, not to mention a weekly page and one for Monday).
It has been a while since I have used any stickers in the BuJo but I think I will at least decorate the Reading Tracker spread with a few.
I am starting to think about my next notebook. I think my current one will last me until sometime in May. The easiest would be to order another "official" Leuchtturm journal from Lazada as that is shipped from Bangkok (I often get free shipping vouchers that I can use on such purchases, along with other discounts). However, there are a few I found on Amazon.com that I would love to try out. The combined item costs and shipping are not much more than what I would pay for the "official" one via Lazada. I just worry about the local delivery -- Lazada phones you when they arrive and you can tell them where to leave the package if you are not at home.
A photo I just found on our school's Facebook page, taken at the Swimming Kids Event, Saphan Hin, 22 February 2024.
See you next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment