Welcome to Kindergarten!

This post is 3 weeks late. That's what it's like in Kindergarten.

I have been in a few different Kindergarten classes throughout my life which I thought was good enough to give me small sense of what to expect. I was expecting some chaos, some singing, some crying, some cute kids and a lot of fun. I was mostly right.

What I forgot about what the fact that my students are still being taught basic Thai, let alone be able to communicate freely in English. The language barrier turns some chaos and some singing into constant chaos and more singing that I ever thought I would be comfortable with! The level of ability in terms of English is pretty crazy in my class of 23 students. I have some who can communicate is full sentences and comprehend all of my instructions...then there are many students who grunt and manage a "toilet" when they have to use the bathroom and raise their hands whenever I speak (regardless of what I am saying) followed by a confused walk towards me when I call on them (when I was just looking for a simple answer like "2"). It's a challenge! There is only a little bit of crying like I expected (monday mornings are the worst!) and the kids are incredibly cuter than I ever thought possible! (see classroom blog... point proven).

My day starts at 7:00am when I leave the house on my "bike", we call her baby blue and even though she's about 20 years old she's been super reliable! Me as a driver on the other hand is a work in progress. Luckily it only takes about 3 minutes to drive to school! I have to scan my thumb to sign in (before 7:30) and then I have until 7:50 in my room to get things ready. Most of my lessons are in the morning so this time is pretty much always used up quickly to date stamp the days worksheets, set up the songs were going to do on youtube and clear off our daily board. At 7:50 I head down to the courtyard area of the school and greet my students while they line up for assembly. When I say good morning they are required to robotically reply: "Good morning Teacher Kay!". It's funny for the students who are still too shy or sleepy to get the whole thing out, I settle for a whispered "morning". Our assembly lasts about 25-30 minutes most days. I wish I could tell you more about what goes on but the entire thing is in Thai and I spend most of it dragging kids around who are getting out of line and greeting those that trickle in. We begin with the anthem, prayer, school motto and announcements. There's always a sing along portion or small lesson: Monday we do Chinese, on Tuesdays we meditate, on Wednesday and Thursdays the English teachers get to make fun of each other as we lead a singalong (my turn is coming up in a few weeks... not looking forward to that...) and on Friday we do aerobics led by our terrifying mascot who wears a rubber mask and santa hat. Again, look on facebook for a clip of that happening to a Miley Cyrus song.

After the assembly we do our best to walk the students in a single file line to the classroom where they wash their hands, take off their shoes and put their bags away. They bring their homework to the submit basket and then my thai teacher teaches them until 8:50 when it's snack time. This usually involves some kind of milk drink and a pastry type thing. Sometimes I'm really upset that I can't give them a try and other days I am glad. After snack it's my turn to teach. I teach 30 minutes of "experience" which is basically science/life skills. Right now we are learning basic body parts, days of the week, weather vocab and how to ask to go the bathroom. (I can't wait for the choruses of "teacher toilet!" "teacher toilet!" to end). Then I have 40 minutes of English where I use a program called Jolly Phonics to teach them the sounds of the alphabet. So far we have done A, C, N & P. Each of these comes with a song and action. Usually my thai teacher then does a 30 minute lesson, most of the time covering the same subject matter; days of the week, numbers, body parts, and the students do a thai worksheet. Then I have another 30 minutes for math. So far we have counted to 5 and learned our shapes. Again; songs, songs and more songs. Then we lay out all of the mats for nap, get our toothrbrushes and water bottles ready, and head down to the lunch hall. If the students have been good and we have time, this is when we go to the playground. We wash our hands before we eat, I lead the students in a cute little prayer and it's lunch!

"We close our eyes and quietly say, Thank you god for everyday! Amen. Thank you Teacher Kay and Khup Kun Ka Khun Khru Phu!"

At lunch students normally have a sad little serving of rice, broth and a cucumber slice. They can get extra by asking "Teacher Kay, more rice please", "Teacher Kay, more soup please". But this most of the time ends up as "More rice soup!". I understand what they mean. By now it's around 11:45 and I get my lunch break. Lunch is free at school but not on the Kinder campus, on the EP campus where Nick works, so I ride my bike over there. It's usually some kind of plain rice, a curry chicken dish, a broth with cabbage and carrots and lots of sauces. If I'm not feeling adventurous I stick to white rice and hot sauce. It's not much but it's free and gets me through the day! By 12:15 I usually head back to Kindergarten. While I'm gone the students go down for nap time and are still asleep when I get back. Since my lunch break isn't actually over until 1pm I usually walk across the street and get a thai tea. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but I am a little bit obsessed, even more than I was with chai tea. It's bright orange, super sweet and only 15 baht. The lady at the stand is ready for me by now and practically has it made when I'm crossing the street :)

Afternoons for me are still busy but with less teaching. Monday, Thursday and Friday, I teach a 30 min block of Art, Story time and play centers. Students wake up at 1:15, we put their mats away, they wash their face and have another snack. (Again this is usually something weird and sugary, the one time we had fruit I was so excited!) There are 3 periods in the afternoon since the school day is over at 3. Most of their "extracurriculars" are during this time:

Monday: Thai art and playground
Tuesday: Swimming and vocal (they just strip down in the classroom and it's chaos while they all change!)
Wednesday: Gym and Library
Thursday: Computer
Friday: Chinese

They are busy little kids!! I spend most of this time helping them line up and giving out snacks. After 3 pm their parents slowly trickle in and pick them up. Until then they usually play or if my thai teacher and I are exhausted we put on youtube videos and enjoy the silence.

I can't scan out until after 4:10. On Monday and Tuesday I have meetings at 3:10 and Wednesday and Thursday I have lesson plans and worksheets due then Friday I make sure everything is set up for the next week in case I'm sick or running late. Overall, that hour after school goes by super quickly!

I wish I could say I then go home and relax or even take a nap, but for some reason Nick and I have decided to fill our schedules like little middle school kids who have activities everyday:

Monday: Thai Lessons
Tuesday: Frisbee
Wednesday: Soccer/Yoga
Thursday: Golf/Yoga
Friday: ...relax!

Anyway, I'm sure that's more information than anyone needed to know about my day and Kindergarten, but there you have it. This weekend is a long weekend for us so we are headed off to Krabi! Final plans have yet to be made but we have Monday off and no Thai lesson either so hopefully we will be on a beach, visiting temples and/or climbing rocks... we will definitely blog while we are there.

Also, look for a blog post about out cat coming soon. Snickers is not helping me become a cat person.