i'm gunna learn you somethin' if it kills me

I'm pretty sure "zookeeper" is listed somewhere in the fine print of my job description. My first class today acted horrible.

The kids have just gotten back from a week-long holiday, which, I think, contributed to their inability to shut up, pay attention, and act like civilized human beings.

An overcrowded classroom compounded the problem. On some speaking class days, we separate the class into two groups. Christy and I take the kids from the main classroom to two smaller rooms over the cafeteria. Today, we had almost all the kids in one of these small rooms, because no one at the school is able to sit down and figure out a proper schedule so the rooms don't get double booked.

I hate taking the kids to these rooms. The walk takes five minutes, plus another ten minutes to get them seated and settled down, there are octagonal tables instead of individual desks (which means they sit with their friends and talk the entire time), and there are no microphones.

Microphones are necessary in Thai classrooms. Why? Because the students will not listen unless your voice is booming from a speaker. They ignored me and Christy unless we pounded on the desk, switched off the lights, or shouted at the top of our lungs.

We tried to cover love, like, hate, and don't like today, in addition to a worksheet on countries. When I asked the kids what they hate, one boy said, "Bull shit."

"What did you just say?"
"Bull shit."

I resisted the urge to say something snarky, scolding him instead.

"Don't say that; it's not a nice word."

Ugh.

The one redeeming part of my day was one-on-one after-school tutoring. I think the kid actually learned something about gerunds, and I was able to keep him relatively entertained most of the time.