Koh Samui Monday 17th April 2017 Day 21

What was that they were hearing at 7 am this morning?  Was that the sound of an alarm clock?  Yes, time to get up and get ready for school.

It felt quite exciting getting ready this morning for their first day at the TEFL training centre.  They met up with a few fellow students outside the hotel at 8.45am and took a casual walk down to the TEFL Centre.

On arriving, they took off their shoes and went inside.  The front door led directly into their classroom where they met their TEFL instructor, Kathryn Webb (from the USA), who resides on Koh Samui.

Once everyone else had arrived, they formed a circle and played a “warmer”name game in order to get to know everyone’s names and where they were from.  The class for the day consisted of Kathryn (Instructor), Ashleigh (Assistant), Alex Stevenson and Kyle Snow (guests from “The Ninja Teacher” in Vietnam)and 12 students, the youngest 20 years old and Mandy being the eldest.

Students from SA besides Richard and Mandy included Rachel and Brendon both from Durban, Chloe and Jack from Scotland, Nicole from New Zealand, Matt from Canada, Josh, Amy and Robert from USA and Ciarain from the UK.

The class was interactive and all participated. Interactive games included ice breakers, brain breaks, movement snacks, interviews and running dictation.

It was amazing to watch Kathryn in action and see how she encourages all to participate, while building up the confidence of those who are naturally more shy.  She maintained order while ensuring that instructions were understood and carried out to the letter.  She shared a few secrets with them in how to manage a classroom, keep control, save time and how to ensure that your students remain focused and eager to learn.  They learned by role playing and modeling and how to use games to refocus your students.  The lesson also included difficulties that Thai people experience with the English language (pronunciation or written) before becoming more intensified in relation to grammar material (phoneme, minimal pairs, phonics, phonetics and phonology).  During the final hour of their lesson they were treated to Pizza delivered from Kathryn’s husbands Italian Restaurant.

Classes will run daily, Monday to Friday, from 9am to 3pm.  This Saturday the entire class of students would be taken on an outing around the island.

With the day done and dusted, Richard and Mandy retreated to the comfort of their room while the others were making plans for meeting up for supper or zooming through to Chaweng Beach.  They decided to give themselves a day or two to adjust to this new routine before taking on the town and the night life with their much younger class mates.  LOL

Amethyst – Well what do I say.  The oldest in the class but definitely not the most well read or educated.  Where were Phonemes, Phonetics and Phonology when I was in school LOL. So much to take in today I still feel quite dizzy.  And then with an assignment to do, my class mates still want to go out on the town and I am “hell no – not tonight”. LOL.  Now I am most definitely feeling my age.  But all in all, it was a good day.  Watching Kathryn in action, makes it look so easy.  I feel a lot more comfortable after today as while she is teaching she is also role playing and guiding you with everything she says and does into taking on the role of a TEFL teacher.  While you are listening to her you are already picturing yourself in the front of a classroom.  She really is an inspiring educator and is top of her game.  So although daunting at times,  a very good first day for me in the classroom. 

Sapphire – It was definitely an interesting day, being back in a classroom listening to a teacher. And although somewhat uncomfortable with the whole get-up-and-run-around participation thing (not really my scene) it was informative and is hopefully equipping me for when I eventually have to stand up in front of a bunch of kids and have to manage and teach them.