Tyler the Teacher

"Teacher Tyler, Teacher Tyler!" the Thai kids say as they insist on either being thrown in the air or given a high five.  I started working at the school within just 3 days of my arrival in Thailand -- something I was not quite expecting, though it's worked out quite well.

The school is called the Learning Space.  It is one of a few programs under the name ASAP: Applied Scholastics Asia Pacific.  There is also a kindergarten program closer to downtown Bangkok called the Learning Home, which teaches English, Math, Geography and much more.

The Learning Space operates on evenings and weekends, though recently they had morning and afternoon classes for summer school, which takes place here in March and April.  The other program ASAP is doing is bringing their English curriculum into Thai schools.  I am set to start this at a school called Sam Chi in a city just outside of Bangkok called Samut Sakhon.  I was originally supposed to replace the foreign teacher there (also named Tyler) but now they want us both.  While this will potentially make for some confusion, what with two Tylers and all, it is a fantastic indicator that the school loves the program.  This will bring great word of mouth to other schools and our program will expand.

Meanwhile, I've been at the Learning Space.  I have two class periods on the weekdays and 3 on Saturdays.  My class has 2-3 Thai teachers that work directly with the kids.  I oversee the class and check the kids' work (spelling, pronunciation, etc) at various steps of their schooling.  It's a very smooth system and the kids really enjoy it.

Learning English is a real ruin or problem for adults and kids alike in this country.  And its understandable.  They are dissimilar in every way imaginable; from the inflections, to the alphabet, to the grammar and spelling.  And don't even get me started with the Vs, the Ls and the Rs.

I know for me it's been challenging to learn the Thai language.  My strategy is two fold.  1) Associate dialogue with anything from the English language, despite how goofy it is.  Example: "mai ko jai" means "I don't understand" in Thai.  Well, "mai ko jai" kind of sounds like saying "Michael Jackson" so if I think of that I will figure out "mai ko jai" and say it when I should.  It's very silly but it's a good crutch until the words and phrases become second nature.

Number two (2), learn at lease one major conversational word or phrase every day and say it repeatedly.  Say it to yourself, say it to other Thai people -- and don't be surprised when you get lots of smiles, giggles and corrections.  Sometimes I'll just say something randomly with other Thais around, completely out of context, just to see what their reaction is.  If I got it right, they'll say something to show it.  If I'm wrong, they'll laugh and drill me on how to say it correctly.  And they totally love it.

Here are some pictures of the Learning Space.  They recently moved into a brand new 14 classroom facility, where they're also teaching art, music, singing and drama.

The hallway.

One of the classrooms.

Reception.

Here are some of my summer students who graduated just a few days ago.  That's Kei (which means chicken in Thai) on the left, Kun Ta (which means grandpa) in the middle, me and then Byfern and Pum on the right, two other Thai teachers. 

That's all for now folks!  I'll catch you back here in a day or so with some more exciting news!