BREAKFAST

I started trying to eat breakfast the traditional Thai way, but it soon got too much- fish, rice and noodles at 6am started to make me gag! So after moving into the blue house I managed to convince my mentors that I could do breakfast myself, it was a joyous moment, check this out...

ETA MID WEEK MEET UP

Through the facebook everyone discovered who was near by so we could meet up during the week for catch ups! This week Liam invited us locals to his 'Thai Aunties' for dinner. It was soooo good, the family were amazing and had gone to such effort to track down takeaway pizza's, fries, and English tv. They spoke such good English, it was so refreshing to hang out with them for the night. They drove us all back to our homes- mine took 45 minutes to get to which at home would be a total nightmare but they couldn't have happier to make sure we had the perfect night!

Sorry- cant find 'rotate' in Thai!!

Another mid week meet up, this time organised by the British Council. It was so good to see a big group of ETA's who traveled from the surrounding areas along with their mentors! We had a lovely meal at a local hotel and arranged plans for September- the end is sadly in sight!

Pui's dinner party!

SCHOOL IN THE SUN

Sat marking books outside and being surrounded by this is really difficult..........

GIFTS

Everyday in Thailand is a different gift. So far the kind gestures have ranged from a house to a bowl of sweetcorn- nothing shocks me anymore! The students and teachers, and in fact everyone that I have come in to contact with have been so generous and kind. In order to feel less guilty I have been buying bags of sweets for the children as rewards in class, buying or just making coffee for the teachers is very much appreciated, and hopefully shows them that I care too!

This is a 'shrimp burger' brought to me at school at 7am, fresh out of the microwave- yum?!

1 bowl of sweetcorn

5 ELLE magazines

Around ten bags of popcorn (amazing)

Fresh fruit- daily

Nail varnishes (every shade, remover and cotton wool)

DVD's

One Direction album

A mosquito swatter

Ice cream

Pancakes

A silk scarf

Teddies

Sweets

Coffee

THE LIST GOES ON!

FILMING FOR THE THAI NEWS

So today 'Morning World' came with the British Council to film me teaching at school. It was all very casual, they informed me I would be filmed teaching, have a short interview which would be aired to around 7 MILLION people in Thailand in about two weeks. Out of the 200 ETA's, I was told that just three of us would be filmed. I'm not sure why my area was picked, maybe it was easy for them to get to- but my director obviously knew about this before me as he popped to the salon for his hair and makeup to be done- I wish I was joking. I chose to sport the au natural look, the sweaty round face is in fact a 'glowing complexion', which took me hours to perfect, a thank you.
Here are some photos from the day. I did 'how often' with the students, they were amazing and answered all my questions perfectly. Probably due to the fact I promised them sweets every day for the next week. I also somehow ended giving the film crew a tour of my house, and had to do a walking interview around the lake/large pond in the middle of the school grounds. For some reason I wasn't nervous. I think it's because I found out about it all half an hour before it happened, so nerves would only waste valuable lesson planning time!

 Getting 'miced up'

SCHOOL WORK

I usually get given activities covering a subject of the teachers choice, so far I have done a lotttt of quizes, games, introductions etc thus allowing the students to get confident around me- not to much pressure and a relaxed classroom environment!

Good subjects that work well within the classroom are:
-Directions- forwards, backwards, left, right, straight on, 5 minutes, half an hour, walk, take a taxi etc. Then asking the students, how do I get to the Maths classroom? How do I get to the supermarket?

-The body- feet, legs, head, arms etc. Then the song head, shoulders knees and toes. Labelling the body etc.

-My favourite- My favourite toy/colour/tv show/ music etc.

-Tenses (older students) Drink, Drank, Drunk. How and when to use the different words.

Test all of this knowledge with wordsearches, matching the sentences, question and answers, quizes etc.

A good way to test the students knowledge is to play 'guess the words'- read out 5 clues and the first team to guess the correct word gets the point. For example-
1. It is a fruit
2. It is big
3. It has green or yellow skin
4. It has black seeds
5. It is sweet and juicy
WATERMELON!

For some of my younger students (12) I strangely decided to make 100 envelopes by hand, with 12 handmade stickers inside of colour blocks. One lesson we did objects (rollerskates, digital camera, electric guitar etc) and then the next lesson, referring to their textbooks I asked them to write sentences in their exercise books saying:
'The electric guitar is red, I have/don't have an electric guitar.' and then put the correct colour sticker next to it. A little more exciting than just writing sentences!

I also made flash cards of fruits: Apple, Strawberry, Watermelon etc

FOOTBALL

My school works very closely with a lot of local businesses who consequently fund a lot of the schools activities. Suphan Buri FC is one of the schools most successful partnerships; The Thai people are mad-crazy for football anyway, so this program is regarded extremely highly- banners, posters, and shirts are hung all over school. So when the chairman of the club invited me to watch a game VIP style, we practically ran to the stadium with excitement. I was bought a Suphan Buri tishirt, key ring, scarf, bracelet and poster and actually quite enjoyed my first Thai football match- till the storm came anyway!

                                         I invited my friend Emma along for the game.

                                                  Everyone loves a selfie in Asia

SCHOOL LIFE

It took about three weeks for me to become a relatively normal fixture around school. I made sure to hang out with the students as much as possible, so break times, lunch times, any free lessons, I would sit outside and wait for them to dare to join me. They are all so sooo nice, I found that they are all quite young for their ages in comparison to English kids, so if they are talking in Thai and laughing it's not because they are telling you to piss off in Thai, its just jokey chat like 'i love you' or something. Considering how shy they are, its surprising how keen they are to get up and sing or dance for you. I have countless videos on my phone of the kids singing Beyonce and Lady Gaga, or more colloquial tunes like The Elephant Man, very funny. 

After telling them my full name I went home to find 75 friend requests on facebook- most nights. My news feed is now full Thai teenagers, they looove to update their status' and edit photos, for example...

DIRECTOR (HEADTEACHER)

All of this amazing stuff that I have done would never have happened if it wasn't for this man. My director is a very generous, extravagant character. He works very hard, I don't actually think he ever leaves the school, maybe just for a two hour nap at about 4am. He wears white jeans and white cowboy boots, does his hair like Elvis Presley and likes to shop more than me, it's a winning combination. 

This is him pretending to be a body guard in the supermarket...

IT'S THE QUEENS BIRTHDAY

On the 14th of August it was the Queens birthday here in Thailand. The Royal family are a huuuge deal here, so there was a big celebration here at my school. It was also ASEAN day, which I learnt is the equivalent of the EU for Asia- fun AND educational! My school love to put on a good show- lessons were cancelled and music, dancing and a feast were the events of the day. 

As a surprise for all the students, the headteacher of my school decided I would dress in traditional Thai dress, and could invite the other ETA's nearby to join! This was our idea of heaven! The girls came to stay at my house the night before and my mentor picked us up at 5am to go and get our hair and makeup done at the local salon run by a lady-boy. It was so fun, we had huge eyebrows, fake eyelashes, our hair was scraped flat to our heads and bright pink lips were drawn on. 

We were allowed to chose our own outfits at the dress shop, where the owner dressed us and covered us in gold jewelry- it was fancy dress heaven. I will never forget this day, we were paraded around the school and had millions of photos and were treated like royalty- I love Thailand. 

CHIANG MAI

Using some of our wages from teaching, Emma and I decided to take a trip to Chiang Mai one weekend. It was easy to get there- our mentors dropped us off at the bus and it took about 8 hours to drive there. We had booked 'first class' for around 500 baht (around 12 pounds), so got the luxury of reclining chairs, food and a TV. Had no idea what the TV was showing but still, it was a TV. When we arrived we found a cheap hotel and became tourists for the weekend. We also met up with some of the other ETA's from the facebook page. It was so good to chat to everyone and share experiences, and have a cocktail or two!

                                                             3D ART MUSEUM

                                                   BIKES ALL DAY- ONE POUND

                                                        AMAZING BAKERY