Sunburned & Barefoot in the Classroom

We all have those moments in which we are humbled, ranging in levels from mild to severe.  In Thailand, those moments could be anything from struggling to stay upright on a motorbike without losing a limb, all while a family a five (plus their dog and pet rooster) roar by on their tiny Yamaha, to having to act out what you would like to eat for dinner due to a lack of an English menu (level of severity depends on the difficulty of what you are trying to order....chicken is easy, but tuna without mayonnaise takes a little more skill).  Recently, mine came in the form of finally getting to stand up in front of 20 little pairs of eyes, and not only try to captivate their attention, but also attempt to have them understand a language utterly foreign to them, while trying to NOT sound like the teacher from the Charlie Brown comic. Imagine tumbleweeds blowing across a barren old western town, crickets chirping on a warm summer night, or the abrupt screech of a needle thrown off the record, and you'll start to form an idea of our first day of classroom practice in Thailand.  

The third week of TESOL training was comprised of actual classroom experience.  After two weeks of practicing in front of our peers, we felt like old pros with our teaching models; we could recite them in our sleep and didn't stress when we had to be observed by our Trainers.  All that changed on Monday, October 12th, when we arrived at the Sunshine Orphanage in Phuket, Thailand.  

When you think about your day and imagine 40 minutes, it seems fleeting.  I could easily spend 40 minutes re-watching my favorite Geico commercials on YouTube, talking on Gchat, or maybe just idly staring off into space like Peter from Office Space.  However, 40 minutes in front of 20 kids (and yes, we were all barefoot and usually on the floor) is a whole different matter.  Over the week, I traveled to Sunshine, Football Youth Home (a home for needy youth that show a propensity for football, AKA soccer) and a Juvenile Detention Center (yes, twelve year olds with tattoos of guns and dragons -usually intertwined- are just as disturbing as they sound), and all of the children, ranging in ages 5-17 were our willing - well, at times, very unwilling- guinea pigs.  All of us received a huge reality check, sweat more than anyone would in Bikkram Yoga (yes, the kids will laugh at point out the fact that beads of sweat are raining down), sang (you'll be amazed how fast "The Wheels On The Bus" come back to you), danced (if you thought it was bad doing the Chicken Dance at a wedding, imagine standing up in front of a crowd doing the Hokey Pokey), drew pictures, did puzzles, broke up arguments, and ultimately learned that when we can just laugh at ourselves, then we've won half the battle.   

To all of my friends that teach in the US & elsewhere, I've had a brief glimpse into your professional lives, and, all of you make it look easy when it is truly anything but that! However, even after only one short week, getting to end the day with elated laughter in the air, running around barefoot playing "Red Light, Green Light" in the intense SE Asian sun, made all the previous moments of uncertainty disappear.  We know we can't prepare for all the little roadblocks that are undoubtedly going to arise...the only thing we can protect ourselves with is just a little more sunscreen. :)