Fall Open House: 14 Weeks of Teaching and Counting

Two Mondays ago I took my job to the Nth level - it was open house time. Time to preen and show off!

Several times a year, my class will come down to the courtyard and 'perform' for parents and invited guests. With many resources available to us that we don't have in the regular classrooms (including projector, computer, and speaker system - the ubiquitous microphone does NOT count), it's a great way to plan something that's a little out of the ordinary.

A native English teacher is considered an asset to public schools here. Most teachers teaching English grammar, reading, and writing are communicating in Vietnamese, not English, and many are not very proficient in speaking/listening. Luckily, my teacher at this particular primary school is a great listener and speaker, and her kids are usually ok.

It should have been a disaster. Leading up to the moment I started, it certainly had all the characteristics of a disaster. I was nervous but, breaking it down, it was just acting - and that I had done before.

Scheduling it was a pain in the ass, as my school and company's apparently serious desire to show me off (I'm generally made as visible as possible to parents at these schools) was hampered by the fact that it was rescheduled several times without consulting me. I felt a little like a shiny chess piece, but I was fairly determined to teach the pants off these kids and show my company, my fellow teachers, and my students' parents that I meant business - fun, Englishy business.

However, the schedule wasn't the only complicating factor.

As the Open House approached, bad weather came rolling in. On the Wednesday and Thursday before, when we should have been practicing and going over the new seating configuration (I'm expected to memorize all of their names), there was a tropical storm that came through the city, sending government officials into a tizzy and resulting in the cancellation of all public school classes for two days.

Unavoidable?

The result was a blind run in a new space, with new games, a new seating configuration (rendering my seating chart useless!), and no practice for us or the kids. It should have been nerve-wracking. I was, in fact, oddly calm. Perhaps it was that feeling you get before about to step out onto a stage where you know that whatever happens, will happen... at a certain point, the advantages of worrying produce diminishing returns.

When I arrived Monday morning, the first people I met were my company's advisor and my boss, both presumably there to make sure I didn't epically fall on my face and embarrass the company. I had to last-minute rejigger a numbers game (apparently I couldn't bring playing cards into the school... oops), but no big deal.

My story ends well. I even got most of their names right (there were a few I couldn't remember, but with two weeks since I'd seen them last and over 500 students that I see every week I wasn't going to sweat it. I'm not a superhuman). Our lesson lasted an hour, 10 minutes fewer than normal, and my teacher seemed particularly pleased. If she's happy, so am I.

I may not be a superhuman, but I can give great presentations. It was always my favorite part of the set design process - getting up in front of a waiting audience and taking them through my mind, step by step (it's a strange place... arms and legs inside the vehicle, please!). I find teaching to be closely analogous to acting and presenting - for all three I take off my Ben Hat and put on another persona. In this case, it's Teacher Ben. Teacher Ben really does care about how kids are pronouncing 'octopus' and 'lunchbox'. I sometimes think Teacher Ben has his priorities in the wrong place - it's essentially a losing battle, let's be honest! Spending 70 minutes a week with a class of 45-50 students is not an ideal way to impart lasting language skills.

As I turned my metal steed back out on to the road and drove on to my next lesson, I thought about how well it had turned out despite all of the roadblocks that the universe had thrown in my way. After 14 weeks teaching abroad (wow, over three months?!) I've reached the point where I've become less of a control freak (a little) and have started being able to be more flexible when affected by circumstances beyond my control. It still makes me grumpy sometimes, but it no longer completely derails me, which is a huge positive.

I can feel myself being stretched by travel and these new experiences, and I sometimes wonder what I'll be like in the future - my worst fear, always, is that I'll be exactly the same guy I was five years ago - to stop evolving is death. I mean, what's the point. Here's hoping that this new trajectory has some interesting places ahead for me, whether they're highs or lows... all are useful in the long run!

Weeks 15, 16, and beyond... I think I'm ready for you.