Saturday, June 7, 2014

I'm Not Done With the Kids Quite Yet

It feels like I should be on holiday right about now. It's the weekend which delineates two of my language school's intake periods. Monday, a whole bunch of new classes start. Myself, I'll be starting to teach two new groups of students; one of my classes from last 'term' continues. This is my first instance of transitioning like this to new students without a break of more than a weekend in between.


I thought when I said goodbye to my 'teen 1' class on Friday that that was it, I was done teaching children. My school here is for adult learners.  Teaching adults (which can ultimately be a lot more lucrative) is part of why I came here as a career move. The only reason Edulink has been offering 'teen' classes since I got here is because the regualrs schools here have been on summer break.


Schools have resumed now, and I thought I was done teaching kids. Mind you, I don't mind teaching teenagers (I taught 11 to 13 year olds). It's rewarding in its own way. Kids that age still WANT to learn, they haven't yet got that 'too cool for school' mentality. However awkward that age may be for a lot of them, for those with whom I've had trouble getting through to, when it finally happens and they begin learning, it's like a dam breaking. I had several kids these last five weeks with whom a lot teachers might have 'given up' on, but I kept at it, and not to toot my own horn or anything, but they got it. The started speaking, writing and learning English.


As this new term begins, I found out I'd done such a good job that several of my students (parents) wanted to continue to learn from Teacher Joko. School may be back in session, but for the first time ever, my language institute is offering after-school young learners classes, taught by request, by yours truly.


It's a basic thing about doing your job well that your customers want to come back to you and your company; I've prided myself on doing that for 20 years. It's kinda another level when your company creates whole new products just so that their clients can continue to deal with you. Yeah. That feels good. I feel appreciated.


You'll see some of these 'young learners' in the video below, along with a bunch of other stuff. 

 The last couple weeks, I really haven't recorded anything, other than uke videos, that was worthy of its own video. This has left me with a bunch of half-stuff, which I've strung together here in a single piece sans any kind narrative to it.


The video includes my trip and time at the Onyx Steakhouse here in Yangon, one the handful of places in this city that merits the name. You'll see a lot of my new friends and colleagues as we gathered for a 'pre-wake' for a former teacher. The last day of the term for the kids was fun, cake and free time, but I still felt obliged to include a learning game or two. My sink broke. You see the plumber fixing it. Finally, my latest apartment improvement, a TV and DVD player. You gotta love Myanmar for DVD's. At the same respectable department store where I bought the TV, I picked up a 3-disc set of the entire Harry Potter series in HD for 800 Kyats... 82 cents.







4 comments:

  1. A Job well done! Congrats!

    Maura

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sometimes being so good at your job is a good thing. Sometimes maybe not. But it is wonderful how much they like you and want to learn more from you. Keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Keep up the good work. I'm proud of you.

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  4. You're blessed, knowing that your students enjoy learning from you... and now, you've got TV. Good for you!

    ReplyDelete

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