Friday, July 12, 2013

Zombieland Rule #32, Enjoy the Little Things

While these last four weeks of teaching at the community school in Plaboo Village, Thailand - in which schools from surrounding villages in the area bring their students weekly for English lessons - has been exhausting (and is what I'm blaming for my partner's illness right now), I have indulged in small pleasures to keep myself sane while dealing with 150 students a day, four days a week. (insert: shout out to all you teachers out there, you are all saints).

The humor I am blessed with usually comes from the students sentences when we first started teaching the structure. Turns out, a lot of people "eat happy." 
"I go noun." Oooh so close. But at least they get the concept of subject + verb + noun, right?
"I eat P'Li." Well, maybe they don't get it. P'Li, the local teacher that helps us, would not be pleased to know this...
"She likes balls." So that's actually correct, I'll let that go and just snicker immaturely to myself.

While most of the kids are really great and very friendly, there is a group of younger ones that Will and I want to have define "devil child" so they can know that's what they are called in English. The one good thing about this group is I can say whatever I want and they have no idea what I'm saying....

Although it's only happened a couple times, what teacher doesn't love when they find a way to explain something and see the lightbulb go off in their kid's head. Best feeling ever?

Possibly, but I think the most satisfying thing came from me trying to emphasize that you can "love" anything. I was trying to encourage more creativity and get them away from such systematic writing...it didn't always have to be "I love rice" or "I love mangos." ANYTHING, I would tell them - You can love anything! (looks around deck frantically for something random to say and then...duh, Hannah, go to what you actually love--movies!)
I LOVE LAMP! I burst out. This wonderful quote from Anchorman is the perfect simple sentence to demonstrate to these kids (subject + verb + noun, holla! why didn't I think of this before?!) 
I LOVE LAMP! I cried again, a huge smile taking over my face from imagining how proud Steve Carell would be of me right now.

Of course, the kids didn't it...but I thought it was hilarious. 

The days are difficult and the weeks are long, but my time here has flown by. You gotta find those little things to keep life going strong - rule #32, enjoy the little things (Zombieland) 
These little things also help keep perspective. I can't forget...I'm in Thailand. 





2 comments:

  1. Ha, this post is really funny! I'm glad you are maintaining your sense of humor despite some challenging conditions! Will you have a chance to do any traveling at the end before you return to the States? It definitely sounds like you deserve a little relaxation/Hannah time! Thanks for the photos!

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  2. Yes actually I will be able to travel to Bangkok for a few days and the beaches down south before I head home! And we've been able to take a couple weekend trips also. I hope it didn't come off that I was miserable while teaching because I'm not! It's very tiring but it's rewarding, too, to know that (even if a lot of kids just stare at me like I'm...well speaking a foreign language) at least a few kids will benefit from these lessons. They also told their teachers that they love coming to FCS so that is a huge boost to know they actually like us! :)

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