7:00am – I wake up and realise it wasn’t a dream! I’m in Bangkok teaching English at a state high school. This is my first teaching job, and my first experience living away from home, but I’ve been here for 3 months now and I’m really looking forward to another day at school!
I roll out of bed, shower and throw on my clothes, heading straight out of the condo to my local breakfast stop for a fresh Watermelon Shake and some tasty Khao Tom Moo (Rice and Pork Soup).
8:00am – By now I’m on the skytrain, weaving through the commercial district of Bangkok, exchanging smiles with my fellow Bangkokians, soaking in the busy skyscape whilst the traffic is jammed far below me.
8:15am – I arrive in time for the teacher meeting in the staffroom. It’s a very laid back affair, and after a quick Monday morning brief and prayer, there’s time to exchange some banter with my fellow teachers, changing the subject to avoid more questions about my love life!
8:30am – Time to sit in my class and enjoy a coffee whilst running over today’s lesson plan.
9.00am – I’m well prepared and looking forward to seeing some of my favourite students today. Monday mornings are usually quite relaxed, my lesson plans are all made before I leave the school Friday afternoon, I won’t leave school until they are! (I’ve learned that the hard way).
10:00am – How time flies! My first class is already over and now I have an hour to go through my lesson plans for my 11am class. In fact it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes, thanks to my prep work last Friday! So now I look through my emails and send a few messages back home, telling them all about my weekend, knowing it will make my friends jealous.
12:15pm – My Morning classes are all over and it’s time to eat at the school canteen with my fellow teachers. The canteen has a amazing menu of Thai dishes, I struggle to choose a dish, but my firm favourites are creamy Panang Curry and spicy Pad Kapow Ghai!
1:15pm – After a nice relaxing lunch I still have plenty of time to get to my next classroom early and run over my lesson plans once more, it never hurts to be prepared, and a well prepared class is always a joy to teach – badly prepared classes just seem to drag on in slow-motion! My afternoon class is also much younger, so there’s lots of energy in the room, I know I’ll have to be on top of my game with an action packed lesson plan, with lots of interaction making sure to get their attention and have them applying their energy in a positive way. I can hear them coming down the hallway, here goes..
3:00pm – I couldn’t have asked for a better lesson, it really went well, it doesn’t always go that way but when it does it’s incredibly rewarding and fun! My teaching day is already over but the school like me to be available to students until 4pm. This is great discipline for me, this is the perfect time for me to plan out my lessons for Tuesday and Wednesday, setting me up nicely for the whole week and leaving my evening totally free. Occasionally I get students come to asking for help, but it’s always a great pleasure to do so.
4:00pm – ime to give my classroom one last tidy and reflect on the day, and how my lessons plans worked (or didn’t as the case may be!). Around about now my boss usually stops by to for a chat about politics, rock music and Liverpool football team, he’ll also try to tell at least one English joke, which he always gets a little wrong (making it even funnier!).
4:45pm – I head to the coffee shop with some of my colleagues and we talk about the week ahead. There’s always something going on in Bangkok, and although I don’t like to go wild during the weekdays, we usually plan at trip to the cinema or some bowling midweek.
6:00pm – I’m home, time to enjoy a cup of tea, kick my feet up and get online to catch up on all the news and sports back home.
7:15pm –It’s time or 7-a-side football. I play with a group of locals and a few other expats. It’s pretty tough going, Thai’s love football and they have so much energy for the game, I really struggle to keep up, and rarely last the full hour! But it’s great exercise and a chance to work off those weekend beers!
8:30pm –I’m home! Time for a nice long shower before heading downstairs to meet a friend for dinner, at one of the local Thai restaurants, I’m already drooling over the menu, I can picture it as a shower.
10:00pm – Time for yet another shower, that’s my third of the day but it’s nothing unusual. The heat in Bangkok can get kind of sticky, so it’s good to keep refreshed, lots of showers and drinking lots of water.
11:00pm – After reading on the balcony for an hour, with the glow of the Bangkok nightlife as my backdrop, I finally hit my bed, and turn the air conditioner to full blast, I like a nice cool room at night and it’s soft hum gets me sleeping like a baby.
11:05pm – I close my eyes and look forward to tomorrow.
