Teacher's day!

Here's me arriving home on Saturday night with a smile and flowers from my students. Monday, November 20th is a big national holiday in Vietnam to honor teachers. Flower stands lined the streets all weekend, and on Monday the Vietnamese TV was full of special choreographed productions of kids singing to their teachers.

Everyone has asked, "In U.S. you have teacher's day also?"
So...why don't we? I wonder.

Since my last post I have started two new classes. One is a group of three teens, two of which are preparing to go to high school in the States. Another is a course with the middle-aged younger kids. So that puts me at a full schedule, six classes and sixteen hours of teaching per week. I'll need to work on long-term planning. Now that I'm teaching everything from the six-year olds to the parents, it's a great opportunity to get a taste of teaching different ages.

Hai closed the school for Teacher's Day and on Sunday took us, the school staff and his family to Hue for the night. We saw some sights, but mainly enjoyed the time to be together outside work. It was a blessing.

Teaching is the reason

I’m a bit embarrassed that I haven’t yet written much about the first cause for my time here in DaNang: teaching! Life has felt so interesting, internal growth and change has felt so noteworthy, that the wild and crazy challenge of teaching children slips right by. Or perhaps it’s that whenever my thoughts focus on teaching I feel tired, and when I think about trying to explain it, I’m spent.

I teach three classes that each meet two evenings a week. Two are with younger children, most between six and ten. They are very beginners. We begin each class singing the ABC song and spend the rest learning three or four new words for the day’s letter of the alphabet. “Car! Cat! Candy!” (echo). We play games like race-to the board-to-slap-the-right-picture or competing to answer a question first. The kids spend some time on a worksheet while they drink milk. At this point I spend at least a quarter of the class time working to keep order and attention. Some of these kids have an incredible amount of energy! I (and all the teachers) use a ten-point system where the kids start with a big 10 next to their name and lose points if they misbehave. If they have ten at the end, they get a much-coveted sticker.

For a little video of one of these classes a few weeks ago (it has more students now) timidly singing the alphabet song, click here.

Let me insert a little reflection: what a humbling experience to be teaching the alphabet, passing out milk, singing kids songs. It has nothing to do with my accreditation or knowledge or my ability to speak intelligently. And yet it’s important—so important. That has been an unexpected lesson.

My third class is with older students who have been through two levels at the school already. The age range is wider—between six and twelve—and we’re working on things like “Where’s the bat?” “It’s under the bag” and “Do you want pizza?” “No, I want ice cream.” My goal is to get the students speaking as much as possible. Although older, this group can have as much spunk as the little ones.

All our students have English names, and in my younger classes I had the fun of naming them. Ask me; I might have named one after you!

Each course level runs for twelve weeks at a time. It’s hard to believe that I’m almost through with teaching my first one! Most of the students I have now will continue to the next course with me as their teacher. This is good; I think the kids and I are developing some rapport. I will also take on a few new classes, bringing my load to about fifteen hours a week. I have been so grateful to start with a little and work up

For three weeks now, one night a week, I teach a class for parents. The school made a new deal that includes free lessons for the parents of enrolled kids. It’s quite a different experience, and I like it for that reason. It’s also a good opportunity to build relationships.

A little about all of us: Dawn and Nicky teach off site at two different kindergartens in addition to classes as Fisher’s. Bryan teaches the older students and two parent’s classes.

A challenge we all share is adjusting to the work schedule. The day has a different pace than we are used to: teaching at night means using the morning to relax and the afternoon to gear up for work. It is difficult to do things with other people here, since six nights a week are booked. Teaching until 8:00 or 9:00 means eating dinner late, which we’re still figuring out how to do successfully. And the stress of adjusting to a new culture adds a bit of friction to it all.

The past two months have been loaded with moments of frustration, but also sprinkled with satisfaction and encouragement. Some nights I shuffle home and think "I'm just not cut out for teaching kids." Other nights, I only remember the positives.

But my two months of teaching isn't a long time. A lot could happen over the year--sealing my decision to move on, or to keep teaching.

And I need to remember that there is much to be thankful for. The staff in the office are excellent helps and good friends. Almost all our curriculum is provided, which cuts down on prep time.

Thanks for reading, and for staying in touch! I hope you all are well.