Teaching Schedule

After about 9 weeks of training, adjustment, language learning, exploring, etc... the thing I came to Asia to do is at hand! My first day of teaching is tomorrow - Monday, October 4.

I'm excited, nervous and scared all at the same time. I'm looking forward to meeting my students, and also preparing myself for the first week's awkwardness of not knowing how anything works, not knowing the level of my students, etc. Actually, when I taught at CMMS, I would go home during the first week and tell my roomate, "I hate teaching so much. Why did I make this my career?!" And she would wisely say to me, "Give it a week, you know you always like it after that." And it's so true. After a week, and adjusting to my students and getting to know them, I would usually come home loving my job and feeling like I have the best job in the world. 

This semester I'm teaching 3 different classes for a total of 7 class periods and 14 hours of teaching, which in teaching terms is considered a full load (I know, to many people 14 hours sounds like a dream job, but add in prep time and grading and you're pretty much full-time!). Just in case you're interested, and want to be lifting me up particularly during these times, my schedule is:

Monday - Language Practice V to level 3 students at 8 am
Tuesday - Language Practice III to level 2 students at 8 am, and LPV at 10am
Wednesday - LPIII at 10am
Thursday - LPIII at 8, Basic Reading I at 12:45
Friday - LPV at 8am

So basically I'm going to be starting my days really early - but that is good for me because I'm way more of a morning person anyway and would rather start early and end early. We are required to keep office hours too, so I'll probably end up being on-campus all day most days. Language Practice is one of the favorite classes for our teachers because you get to see your students 3 times a week which means you can get to know them better and hopefully build a more meaningful relationship with them. Academically, it includes all four language skills - reading, writing, speaking and listening.
I can't wait to "introduce" you to some of my students, and would so appreciate your thoughts and intercession as I embark on this new segment of life here in Laos. 8am Monday morning here is 9pm Sunday night EST (hint hint ;)