Before leaving Thailand for Borneo, I, Daniel, and soon Trevor, spent a week (or so) in Chiang Mai. I had heard that Chiang Mai is the place to be for Songkran, the Thai New Year... but I had no idea why: Songkran is a water festival where you throw water on passersby to bestow blessings on them for the year to come... Chiang Mai is surrounded by a mote.
When you put these two things together you end up with a city-wide water fight... that lasts for 5 days. It was crazy and you couldn't possibly leave your room without getting absolutely soaked. It's an amazing holiday and we don't have anything that even comes close to being as fun. I spent a couple hours each day just walking around the mote and "soaking up" the blessings. For obvious reasons, I don't have any pictures... which is unfortunate... but it was definitely the most fun I've had at a festival or holiday to date.
As you walk around the mote, usually with some sort of bucket or cup, you get splashed by people who have set up permanently on the mote, by other nomads, and also by people who drive around in trucks. I was basically a water leech, using a cup to steal water from other groups and use it against them. The best part about the holiday was the genuinely happy, light-hearted mischief. When you nailed someone (or when you got nailed if you were in the spirit of things) you smiled and said "thank you" or "happy new year" or "good luck!"
After a 10 hour bus ride, a too short stay in Bangkok, and a few flights, Trevor and I ended up in Borneo. When we first landed in Kuching I have to admit I was a bit disappointed... I expected Borneo to be one of the wildest and least civilized places on earth... Kuching, in reality, is exactly what it would look like if Sarasota colonized a small region in Southeast Asia. It is incredibly clean and beautiful... and the waterfront walk and parks by the river remind me (strangely) of the parks by Sarasota bay... eerie.
Kuching is beautiful and I highly recommend Borneo for anyone who wants to see Southeast Asia from a clean and comfortable place. Surrounding Kuching are 3 major parks. Trevor and I visited two (Bako and Gannung Gading) and I visited the 3rd on my own (Kubah) while Trevor was at his conference.
Bako was amazing. I have never felt so much as though I were truly in a crazy-exotic-tropical-rainforest as in Borneo. While in Bako we saw three types of monkeys, Macaques who lived at the camp area and were incredibly mischievous, Probiscus, the funny looking giant-nosed monkeys, and Silver leaf eating monkeys... they just kind of sat in the trees and ate leaves. Also there, we saw mud skipper fish (walking fish!) and a couple monitor lizards.
Truly, I travel the world looking for exotic places to go swimming, and Borneo has no shortage of them. We skipped the beach at Bako and headed down Tajor trail, which has a waterfall that fills several consecutive pools of amazing beauty. We swam there, had lunch, and visited the beach at the end of the trail before backtracking and swimming in the pools again. It was amazing.
Next was Gannung Gading. The hostel in the park was full so we had to sleep at a hotel in nearby Lundu and travel in both days. On our first day it rained, which brought out alot of the life and let us see things we probably wouldn't have been able to find otherwise. Highlights included the world's smallest squirrel (a bit shorter than your hand, tail and all) and a centipede that had two glowing "eyes" appear on it's rear end when you disturbed it. Also at Gannung Gading was a crystal clear pool and waterfall to swim in, very very nice.
Finally, was Kubah, which I did on my own. Kubah certainly had the nicest hostel, which was more like a summer cottage that you had to share with other travelers. When I first arrived I met Nickolay, the only other person staying there, said my hello's, and then headed off into the forest towards the waterfall for.... you guessed it, swimming. The waterfall was quite beautiful but the pools were quite small, so I only stayed for about an hour before heading back.
At this point I ate a late lunch/early dinner, and took a short nap. When I awoke, I noticed my roommate had a ton of field guides on various reptiles and amphibians of Borneo, so I took the liberty of looking through them while he was away. When he returned I asked if he was a biologist, and yes, he is a Russian Entimologist (bug guy) who, secretly (like all boys who go into biology, I think) wishes he was a herpetologist (reptile guy). In fact, he's been collecting specimens at this park in the hopes of securing a job with an Indian herpetologist this year.
After some discussion he asked me if I wanted to go to the nearest view point to watch the sunset. I'd had relatively little time to hike that day so without much thought I said "sure!" A few minutes into the hike I realized the "nearest view point" was about 40 minutes into the jungle... and 40 minutes into the jungle at sunset, means at least 40 minutes out of the jungle at night.
Various thoughts went through my head, not the least of which was that I was hiking into the woods with a giant Russian man (at least 6 inches on me) that I knew nothing about. I put these fears aside, and hiked on, reaching the vantage point just in time to see an amazing sunset, and a group of 3 hornbills. He was very excited about them, it was the first time in his life he had seen the famous birds.
For the trip back he had plenty of lights, and we stopped every now and then to inspect various flora and fauna. I pointed out to him some of the glowing bugs and the phosphorescent fungus around, and he pointed out to me some reptiles and amphibians including 2 frogs, a gecko eating gecko and... the highlight of the night, a Wagler's pit viper... It was amazing, and beautiful, and he caught it and brought it back to be photographed.
So, not only did I see a pit viper in borneo, I handled it, touched it, and got my picture taken with it... which I am pretty excited about. As soon as I get the pictures sent to me by Nickolay you can expect to see them up, along with the rest.
And that, plus my first leech bites, was Borneo!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Teacher Training, and a big surprise!
Well, I've been trapped in a crazy course for the past month or so. From March 10th through April 4th I was taking the CELTA course, "the" certification for English teachers. It's run by Cambridge University and is the tops, and I can see why. The course was truly amazing. I feel that I learned so much in just the first week, and have really become a better teacher by completing it.
This particular course was run at a small resort just outside of Chiang Mai. The benefits of this were that we were able to focus entirely on the course and not have to worry about any distractions (even food was provided). The downside was that we were very very far away from anything to do. About half-way through the course I realized that on 90% of the days I didn't go more than 100 yards from my front door.
Still, I'm a homebody at heart, so it really didn't bother me too much. The course focused on making teaching student centered. Instead of the teacher being the provider of information, the teacher facilitates students in discovering and practicing the language on their own. The following sequence serves as the core of the method:
1. Elicitation: Use pictures and/or context to "elicit" the target language (whatever you're teaching). Usually, someone in the room will have some vague knowledge of what you're discussing and they will be able to produce it on their own. If not, you can feed it in parts or in whole.
2. Drill: Repeat the language orally
3. CCQ: Concept Checking Questions: ask questions (without using the target language) to make sure they understand.
4. Drill agian
5. Discuss grammar and pronunciation in detail
6. Practice within strict/easy guidelines
7. Freer practice... they make up their own dialog using the language.
To use an example from one of the tutors, "He used to drink champaigne." We discussed a man in prison who was very rich "in the past." He asked us how we could say that, in the past he drank Champagne, but doesn't now. We, of course, said "he used to drink champagne." Then he drilled it, followed by questions: Does he drink champagne now? Did he drink champagne in the past? Did he drink champagne more than once? We went through this with several items (a mansion, champagne, cavier, etc. Then went through "didn't use to" using things from prison, "biff" "bread and water" etc. We drilled and did grammar and pronunciation, and then did practice using the pictures. Everyone had a picture and walked around, when you met someone you would say one of the sentences "He used to live in a mansion" or "he didn't use to know biff."After that activity we talked about our own lives using used to and didn't use to.
It's a really amazing method that shifts the focus away from the teacher and onto the students, who, if done correctly, provide most of the information and do most of the talking. In my graduate program they said things like "Make your teaching student centered" and "Ask questions to lead your students to the answer" but never got told how to do it. Now I know... and it is amazing and it really works.
That's the course in a nut shell. Of the two trainers, one was amazing and the other left a lot to be desired. I really think that being able to watch John teach was worth the whole course in and of itself. The other tutor, in many ways, served as an example of what not to do. Her lessons weren't a total waste of time, but compared to John it was drastically inferior.
I did very well in the course. Halfway through we switched tutors (my group had John upstairs with an intermediate class and the other had Gabby downstairs with the Elementary for teacher practice for the first two weeks, then we switched for the second two weeks). Upstairs I started off very strong... I later found out that John went up to the other student teachers during my lesson and said "It took me 10 years to pick up ICQ's [Instruction checking questions] and this guy picked it up in 3 days." During the feedback for that lesson (which was only my second) John said it was an excellent example for the other students.
Although I hit a few snags after that (I didn't get another "above standard" for a bit) I kept a solid core of great methodology and was able to work on fine tuning the rest. When we switched downstairs my first lesson was methodologically flawless, there was really only one criticism the tutor gave, but it was big enough to deny me an above standard. My lesson "checked all the boxes" but it did it with meaningless, disjointed exercises. I taught everything, but it didn't flow together or create anything meaningful for the students to work with.
The downstairs tutor's feedback was very harsh in general. She pretty much let me have it and knocked me off of my horse, putting what I thought was a perfect lesson way down on the totem pole. At first I was dejected, maybe even a little hopeless. But when I read her comments and realized that that was the only thing she could say bad about it (despite her harshness during feedback) I took heart.
"Pony up" became my mantra for the next two weeks along with "WHEAT" (John had given myself and another student a talk about how we were in the running for an above pass, and told us what 'separates the wheat from the chafe'). My next three (last three) lessons were, if I do say so, phenomenal. I went way out of the box and did an amazing job on two out of the three. For the one that was only standard, the tutor (the harsh one who never says anything positive) came up and told me that my lesson was incredibly ambitious and she thought it was great and didn't want me to think I was being punished for trying something a little more out there.
Here are the 3 lessons, these are all with elementary level adult students:
1. Writing: I had the students brainstorm famous figures from Thai history. Then they had to write about the figure without saying who it was and get the other groups to figure out who they had written about. I led them through brainstorming, fastwriting, revising, all the way up to the final product which was, in general, a rousing success. I was the only student teacher to try a full writing lesson and I did it very well. Above Standard.
2. Reading: I gave the students two sides of a ghost story set at New College's "Old Caples" mansion. One half of the class read about a student who saw a ghost there and the other half read about the security guard who saw a ghost there. The trick was that they had seen each other in the bushes, and they were going to read and discuss and look at clues and try to figure out who the ghost was. I ran into a timing issue and this one didn't go quite so well, although we definitely got through it. Standard
3. Grammar and Listening: This was my grande finale. In this lesson I used realia to discuss countable and uncountable nouns, as well as a/an vs. some/any. I went through a list of objects with the students and had them determine which were countable and uncountable in pairs after giving them an example (a banana, some water). Then we checked it together as a class. I had a countable basket and an uncountable bowl. If they said it was countable, I put it into the basket. If it was uncountable, I poured it into the bowl. If they made a mistake, they realized it immediately as I threatened to pour milk or yogurt or flour in the basket instead of the bowl. I had them do some practice and then went on to listening. For this part I read about Oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch and water that creates something that is neither a solid or a liquid: it can tear and melt, it is hard and soft, etc. They were given the opportunity to listen three times, with different tasks to guide them to understanding the instructions, and finally make Oobleck in groups. It was a blast. Above Standard.
All in all, I got 3 above standards and did some really adventurous lessons. I have been anxiously awaiting my grade all week and finally got an email from John. I got an A! It's a very high honor that only 4% of trainees achieve!!! Admittedly, I worked my behind off, perhaps became a bit obsessed (alternating between "pony up" and "wheat" with gusto), but it paid off in the end. I am so thrilled!
So I now have a major distinction to put on my resume and a full arsenal of great teacher training at my disposal... it was totally worth it.
After the course, I went into a sort of laziness coma. After spending a month of literally working all day every day (a 45 minute break was considered a luxury... i only left the center 4 times in the whole month) I just wanted to chill out and do nothing. Now, There is a major festival coming up in Chiang Mai, and Trevor will be here to celebrate for a couple days before we go off to Malaysia for 10 days!
And finally... I think I'll be back stateside in June. I'm still keeping my ear to the ground for jobs in the big wide world... but a smallish class of students in a well-resourced room sounds great, and is almost a guarantee in the US. So... I'll see everyone soon and keep you posted!
This particular course was run at a small resort just outside of Chiang Mai. The benefits of this were that we were able to focus entirely on the course and not have to worry about any distractions (even food was provided). The downside was that we were very very far away from anything to do. About half-way through the course I realized that on 90% of the days I didn't go more than 100 yards from my front door.
Still, I'm a homebody at heart, so it really didn't bother me too much. The course focused on making teaching student centered. Instead of the teacher being the provider of information, the teacher facilitates students in discovering and practicing the language on their own. The following sequence serves as the core of the method:
1. Elicitation: Use pictures and/or context to "elicit" the target language (whatever you're teaching). Usually, someone in the room will have some vague knowledge of what you're discussing and they will be able to produce it on their own. If not, you can feed it in parts or in whole.
2. Drill: Repeat the language orally
3. CCQ: Concept Checking Questions: ask questions (without using the target language) to make sure they understand.
4. Drill agian
5. Discuss grammar and pronunciation in detail
6. Practice within strict/easy guidelines
7. Freer practice... they make up their own dialog using the language.
To use an example from one of the tutors, "He used to drink champaigne." We discussed a man in prison who was very rich "in the past." He asked us how we could say that, in the past he drank Champagne, but doesn't now. We, of course, said "he used to drink champagne." Then he drilled it, followed by questions: Does he drink champagne now? Did he drink champagne in the past? Did he drink champagne more than once? We went through this with several items (a mansion, champagne, cavier, etc. Then went through "didn't use to" using things from prison, "biff" "bread and water" etc. We drilled and did grammar and pronunciation, and then did practice using the pictures. Everyone had a picture and walked around, when you met someone you would say one of the sentences "He used to live in a mansion" or "he didn't use to know biff."After that activity we talked about our own lives using used to and didn't use to.
It's a really amazing method that shifts the focus away from the teacher and onto the students, who, if done correctly, provide most of the information and do most of the talking. In my graduate program they said things like "Make your teaching student centered" and "Ask questions to lead your students to the answer" but never got told how to do it. Now I know... and it is amazing and it really works.
That's the course in a nut shell. Of the two trainers, one was amazing and the other left a lot to be desired. I really think that being able to watch John teach was worth the whole course in and of itself. The other tutor, in many ways, served as an example of what not to do. Her lessons weren't a total waste of time, but compared to John it was drastically inferior.
I did very well in the course. Halfway through we switched tutors (my group had John upstairs with an intermediate class and the other had Gabby downstairs with the Elementary for teacher practice for the first two weeks, then we switched for the second two weeks). Upstairs I started off very strong... I later found out that John went up to the other student teachers during my lesson and said "It took me 10 years to pick up ICQ's [Instruction checking questions] and this guy picked it up in 3 days." During the feedback for that lesson (which was only my second) John said it was an excellent example for the other students.
Although I hit a few snags after that (I didn't get another "above standard" for a bit) I kept a solid core of great methodology and was able to work on fine tuning the rest. When we switched downstairs my first lesson was methodologically flawless, there was really only one criticism the tutor gave, but it was big enough to deny me an above standard. My lesson "checked all the boxes" but it did it with meaningless, disjointed exercises. I taught everything, but it didn't flow together or create anything meaningful for the students to work with.
The downstairs tutor's feedback was very harsh in general. She pretty much let me have it and knocked me off of my horse, putting what I thought was a perfect lesson way down on the totem pole. At first I was dejected, maybe even a little hopeless. But when I read her comments and realized that that was the only thing she could say bad about it (despite her harshness during feedback) I took heart.
"Pony up" became my mantra for the next two weeks along with "WHEAT" (John had given myself and another student a talk about how we were in the running for an above pass, and told us what 'separates the wheat from the chafe'). My next three (last three) lessons were, if I do say so, phenomenal. I went way out of the box and did an amazing job on two out of the three. For the one that was only standard, the tutor (the harsh one who never says anything positive) came up and told me that my lesson was incredibly ambitious and she thought it was great and didn't want me to think I was being punished for trying something a little more out there.
Here are the 3 lessons, these are all with elementary level adult students:
1. Writing: I had the students brainstorm famous figures from Thai history. Then they had to write about the figure without saying who it was and get the other groups to figure out who they had written about. I led them through brainstorming, fastwriting, revising, all the way up to the final product which was, in general, a rousing success. I was the only student teacher to try a full writing lesson and I did it very well. Above Standard.
2. Reading: I gave the students two sides of a ghost story set at New College's "Old Caples" mansion. One half of the class read about a student who saw a ghost there and the other half read about the security guard who saw a ghost there. The trick was that they had seen each other in the bushes, and they were going to read and discuss and look at clues and try to figure out who the ghost was. I ran into a timing issue and this one didn't go quite so well, although we definitely got through it. Standard
3. Grammar and Listening: This was my grande finale. In this lesson I used realia to discuss countable and uncountable nouns, as well as a/an vs. some/any. I went through a list of objects with the students and had them determine which were countable and uncountable in pairs after giving them an example (a banana, some water). Then we checked it together as a class. I had a countable basket and an uncountable bowl. If they said it was countable, I put it into the basket. If it was uncountable, I poured it into the bowl. If they made a mistake, they realized it immediately as I threatened to pour milk or yogurt or flour in the basket instead of the bowl. I had them do some practice and then went on to listening. For this part I read about Oobleck, a mixture of cornstarch and water that creates something that is neither a solid or a liquid: it can tear and melt, it is hard and soft, etc. They were given the opportunity to listen three times, with different tasks to guide them to understanding the instructions, and finally make Oobleck in groups. It was a blast. Above Standard.
All in all, I got 3 above standards and did some really adventurous lessons. I have been anxiously awaiting my grade all week and finally got an email from John. I got an A! It's a very high honor that only 4% of trainees achieve!!! Admittedly, I worked my behind off, perhaps became a bit obsessed (alternating between "pony up" and "wheat" with gusto), but it paid off in the end. I am so thrilled!
So I now have a major distinction to put on my resume and a full arsenal of great teacher training at my disposal... it was totally worth it.
After the course, I went into a sort of laziness coma. After spending a month of literally working all day every day (a 45 minute break was considered a luxury... i only left the center 4 times in the whole month) I just wanted to chill out and do nothing. Now, There is a major festival coming up in Chiang Mai, and Trevor will be here to celebrate for a couple days before we go off to Malaysia for 10 days!
And finally... I think I'll be back stateside in June. I'm still keeping my ear to the ground for jobs in the big wide world... but a smallish class of students in a well-resourced room sounds great, and is almost a guarantee in the US. So... I'll see everyone soon and keep you posted!
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