Teaching Challenges

It’s about time I wrote something about my experience as a teacher thus far. Overall, it’s been hectic, but for the most part it’s going well. I learn a tremendous amount during each and every class I teach. The two most challenging things so far have been learning how to teach students who don’t really speak English, and learning how to assess the learning of said students. But first, here’s what my schedule looks like:

I teach:

5^th-grade math and science

6^th-grade math and English

9^th-grade English

I lucked out with my schedule, in that I have the fewest amount of teaching periods out of everyone in my department; this is because I have to prepare for five totally different classes. There are a total of thirty-five 50-minute periods every week, and I teach during 17 of them.

Anyways, back to my challenges as a teacher. Challenge #1: teaching students who don’t really speak my language, paired with the fact that I don’t speak theirs (yet!). Wow, this has taken a lot of getting used-to! I continuously have to monitor myself in the classroom as far as my vocabulary and the speed at which I speak, not to mention attention to worksheets I design and assignments I give. I am getting better at reading levels of student understanding, but much of the time I’m still painfully aware that what I’m saying is not coming across. I need to work on being more patient with myself and with the students in my classroom, and also not being afraid to take time to explain things multiple times in multiple ways. After all, this is what I’d do in a classroom full of students who did speak my language! Also, thankfully, I have a “team teacher” in each of my classes—another person who can speak Thai and English. So helpful!

Challenge #2: assessing student learning. I know this is an issue that all teachers struggle with continuously throughout their careers, so I don’t feel totally depressed that I’m not very good at this yet, and I’m trying my darndest to figure it out. Quickly. I feel this challenge is particularly difficult because of the language barrier. Questions that constantly run through my head: Am I wording this question in an understandable way? If a student doesn’t understand a question to begin with, are they responsible for writing a wrong answer? Are the students lazy, or incapable of doing what I assign? Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

However, given this and more, I’m happy to report that overall I have not felt completely overwhelmed. I take things day by day as I can, and if I’m feeling down, all I have to remember is, I’m living in Thailand!