Miss Clara

So, I'm sick of playing catch up, as you can probably tell from my lack of updates. Here's what you need to know: my course ended; I moved into a house with two other women from my program; they're great; I went on interviews for different schools; I was hired by two different schools; thus, I have a full time job and a part time job.

Everything else is filler.

Actually, no. Everything else is detail, which is a lot more interesting. However, I don't feel like going into all the details. Ask me if you'd like to know something specific.

What I really want to talk about: my jobs--but not really. Just one of them.


1. I am an English language teacher for an English language school. (Redundant.) I teach three classes on Sundays and sometimes substitute weekday evenings. I have a class of six to eight year olds, a class of eight to twelve year olds (roughly), and a class of four year olds. All of them are a handful. But they're a lot of fun and despite the fact that each class is two hours long, except the four year olds, which is an hour and a half, it goes by really quickly. Teaching younger kids was not my first choice, but they're so eager and funny and I love them. I thought this was going to be a lot harder than it actually is. Don't get me wrong--teaching is difficult, just ask any teacher you know. The thing is--I love it. It might be hard and some days are certainly better than others, but it's also a lot of fun. I feel energized after I've taught a class, which is exciting. When the kids are having fun AND enjoying learning, I feel like I'm on top of the world.


2. My other job--the one I really want to talk about--is crazy. Capital C-R-A-Z-Y. CRAZY. (Get it yet?) I am the English language teacher at an international elementary school. It's Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and I mostly teach pre-3 with a few fourth and fifth graders.


How I got the job: I interviewed for an English teaching job at a high school. Then I got a call about a week later and was asked if I'd be interested in working at the elementary school instead. I went in to interview again and was told that the job was going to be helping the kids with their English because all the classes are taught in English and it would only be part time. Then I met with a series of people the same day who all asked me questions--very few of them about the job or my experience. Then I was hired. Full time.


Basically, a job opened suddenly at this school and the guy who'd initially interviewed me for the high school position liked me, so he offered me the job. That's it. He liked me and now I have a full time job. CRAZY. But also AWESOME.


The really CRAZY part: there's no curriculum at my school. I don't have a textbook. The regular classroom teachers don't have a curriculum and have very few textbooks. It's not just crazy, it's unbelievable.


There are eleven kids in the pre-3 class--we just got a new student today. One of the kids doesn't speak a word of English and she's a preschooler, so she can't even read in her own language. This horrifies me. I have no idea what she's doing in an international school. What it comes down to is that this school is here to make money and parents with money want their kids to go to an international school. It's more prestigious or something. However, I don't think parents are aware--or maybe they just don't care?--that we don't have a curriculum. I don't know.


There are three other teachers in the international school. They all teach subjects whereas I just teach English. The guys are great. I feel lucky to be working with such an honest, caring group of teachers. We're all in the same boat--none of us have much of anything and none of us are qualified--as in have teaching degrees or backgrounds in education other than teaching English here--so we're definitely here to help each other and to give our kids the best education that we possibly can. I feel particularly lucky to be working with the pre-third grade teacher because we get along so well and have a lot of the same ideas and understanding of what we're here to do.


Despite the fact that I have nothing to work with, I adore this job. I never have more than six kids at a time; I work with some great people; and the kids are awesome. I'm having a lot of fun. The kids are adorable and they're always so eager to tell me things. I hear, "Miss Clara! Miss Clara!" all day long.


I never thought I'd enjoy being an elementary school teacher but here I am and it's amazing. Each day is different and I feel like I'm making a difference. How cool is that?

I've been at the school for a week now and we're actually talking to the head of the English Language Development (ELD) at the high school in order to start building a curriculum, which is amazing. Hopefully, things will start moving forward and we can start giving these kids what they need in order to learn and thrive.


(P.S.--Another crazy thing: all the kids--preschool to fifth grade--take an hour long nap after lunch... This is flabbergasting. Why? They lose so much time when they're taking a nap! And most of the Vietnamese people who work here take a nap when the kids are. Very strange.)