New Job

I've just completed my first full week in my new job so thought now would be a good time to jot down my first impressions.. Let's see if I still feel the same when the real term starts in May. Apologies if there's too much teacher speak.

FOr the uninformed I was working at a Thai High School teaching English to teenagers.. I'm now teaching Science at a Primary school as part of their English Program. It's the Thai Summer break at the moment (HOT season) but some of the kids are back at school for "Summer School" (AKA cheap babysitting for the parents).

The students..

All boys.. only 7 to 11 in a class for Summer school and only teaching for (less than) 2 hours a day.. but even so.. they seem very well behaved, well mannered and studious, yet still with personality.. fairly wide range of abilities but they all appear to understand English pretty well.

The staff.. much younger than in my old job.. fairly balanced male / female too. I think its 16 Australians, about 5 Brits and 5 Americans, plus a few New Zealanders and South Africans. As I'd hoped their attitude is much better than the old school.. enthusiastic people who are committed to teaching and excited about being in Thailand. None of the suffocating negativity of the old job.

Resources seem good.. all classrooms have LCD projectors, there's a Science Lab and stacks of Thesauruses and atlases have appeared on my desk already. The main resource storeroom is being re-catalogued at the moment so I haven't had a proper look through everything yet, but it seems like there are lots of useful things there and money available for new things if they're needed.

The management of the school regarding planning, discipline etc seems VERY organised, but in a way that puts structures in place to make the job easier not harder. There is a real feeling of working in a team, which is a BIG plus after my small school in the UK where I had to do everything by myself. Planning is shared and effectively stored from previous years which should reduce the workload a LOT and behaviour policies are consistent and sensible which together with general high expectations should make classroom management easier.

I'll be working with a Grade 5 team and a Science team (and Grade 6 team as well I guess) so lots of meetings beckon but I think I'll appreciate the support and chance to discuss things.

Summer school is very low workload. I teach the same English and Maths lesson to 4 classes each week and I've already finished my worksheets and plans for the rest of Summer school so I'll have lots of time to get ready for the new term.

So far so good :)