No, certainly NOT my husband! :) My school was just about ready to fire this incredibly lazy American teacher who did not care about his work, his colleagues, and especially his students. Instead he agreed to come in for one more week (so he could get paid his monthly salary) and then resign. I kind of wish the school did fire him, they were just about ready to. This guy would consistently come in late and call in sick or leave early due to a 'doctor's appointment' at least once a week. None of us fellow teachers ever saw him doing actual work, like lesson planning or preparing. I think one teacher saw him at the photocopier ONCE. He refuses to write any of the paperwork, like the student reports we give to parents every two weeks. He leaves that for his Thai partner to do and they already have an enormous workload as it is. It's just terrible -- he's loud, argumentative to both Thai and foreign teachers and also an extremely sloppy dresser because he simply does not care.
One week he walked out of the classroom three times because he couldn't handle the kids. He teaches G7, which is a very difficult age. The kids are about 12 or 13 years old and their hormones are raging, bodies are changing and they don't care about anything but their looks and the opposite sex. Another colleague of mine also teaches G7, but she likes them. She jokes around with them and they've warmed up to her alot. They are still difficult to teach, but who said this was an easy job? I wouldn't teach that age group if given a choice. I like the younger kids. I'm very happy with my G3 students. Anyway, ALL of us at the school are extremely happy to see this guy go away and the teacher I mentioned who also is with G7 will become their new homeroom teacher.
So we had parent-teacher meetings yesterday (yes, on a Saturday, the only day parents seem to be available) from 8 to about 11:30. I think it went rather well. I'm not good with parents, I feel shy and actually a little intimidated since they hold so much clout at the school (if they are not happy with everything, they will simply take their child out -- and the school looses the tuition money which = my salary). But as my colleague Michelle said, just pretend you know what you are talking about and say it with confidence and they will believe you. That's exactly what I did and the parents seemed pleased. I want my future child to be with a confident teacher, they want that for their children, and I am confident that I am doing some good for their kids, even though I have only three years of teaching experience. Anyway, it went really well.
Last night many of us teachers got together at a nearby restaurant called Hooters. It's nothing like the Hooters in the States. No girls with big tits in tank tops -- I don't think big-titted Thai women exist. :) It was also all Thai food, and the food was alright. Turns out the Godfather, er I mean the director of the school, was there and he happened to bring like seven bottles of wine with him to entertain a couple of friends. Well, he found out we were there and he brought over like four bottles. It was lovely. We all proceeded to get pretty good n toasty. It was nice meeting the spouses/significant others of my colleagues. Golf went with me too and we all had a really good time. But by 11:30 we were SOOO sleepy! I tell ya, I am getting old. I was yawning like every minute and I couldn't keep up with the conversation any longer. I have to face it, I am an early bird to the core. So we were back home and in bed before midnight. It was a really good day yesterday.
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