Niak Bora Tay (or, What are YOU doing here?)

Wednesday this week, I showed up to my school and quickly realized something unusual was going on. Too many of the classrooms were empty, and there was a big white van parked in the back school yard, surrounded by a group of students. I had been sitting down chatting with the other teachers (the normal thing to do for the 25-minute intervals between 40-minute classes) for a good while before someone casually mentioned that there were some people from Singapore at the school. I understood from a few vocabulary words and some gesturing that they were doing eye tests and giving out glasses. As it turned out, that was only part of it. They were a group doing community service, including English teaching. All of my teachers seemed to be in on it, but nobody had told me classes that day would be taken over by OTHER foreigners. Needless to say, my immediate reaction was to be a little territorial. Come on guys, I’m the foreigner teacher in this school. Even if I haven’t actually started teaching yet. As it turned out, the actual classroom lessons involved some Simon Says and charades, which I could tell the students didn’t really understand. (Even after 5 or 6 years of English, many of the students have little to no speaking and listening ability.) Afterwards, I asked the new foreigners to stay and talk to some of the kids who I knew would be excited to chat, even though they were too shy to approach the Singporean group themselves. Now, the students are still pretty intimidated by me, but faced with a group of 6 other foreigners, they suddenly all started turning to me for support/help/encouragement.

So it turned out alright. If nothing else, it was an example for me of how, although it really is and is going to be pretty tough sometimes, sticking around a place like this is very different from dropping in once in a while.

It was also a special treat to speak real (e.g. not extremely simple and slow) English for a bit. It’s the little things! If you would like to help me keep up my English skills beyond “What’s your name?” “How old are you?” and “What do you want to be in the future?” feel free to comment, email, write letters, Facebook, call, or even Skype me. Just think of it as an easy way to support international development work.