Back in Chiang Mai!

Hello again!! Long time, no post… oops!

So, I’m currently writing to you from my new apartment, complete with a huge patio and lots of living space… this will be my home until May 15^th. I’m staying with 3 other girls and we are all taking a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course at CMU’s Language Institute. All of our other study abroad-ers have already safely arrived back in the states with the exception of a few others of us struck with Thailand fever that can’t seem to leave!

In a typical TEFL day we wake up around 8, have some breakfast and work on our lesson plans for the day-if it’s our turn to teach! Then we head to campus for class at 11. We have a 90-minute in-put lesson, followed by an hour for lunch and another 90-minute in-put lesson. The in-put lessons are usually about teaching strategies, classroom dynamics, English language, lesson planning, and other fun things teachers need to know! After that, we have an hour of prep time for teaching. There are 12 total ‘trainees,’ 6 from our program, 2 of our Thai buddies who have better English than I, and 4 other male students. We have an Italian, a Brit, a Scot, and an American, and all a little older than us silly college kids.

So, the 12 of us are split into 2 groups of 6, and each group is responsible for teaching one of the two different classes. I am in the group teaching pre-intermediate English students and so we cycle through who teaches which days (each teaching about 30 minutes of a 2 hour class). So far, I’ve taught 3 times, and it’s definitely exciting!! I can already tell that I and the others in my group are improving, and I am way more comfortable with my students. Luckily, our students are mostly around the same age, which is college-aged, and they are really good students! They listen, do their best to understand and they work really hard—it makes teaching rewarding! I'm excited to progress as a teacher and by the end I'll be teaching 1-hour lessons... yikes! It will be fun and having the certificate will allow me to get good jobs abroad teaching someday, maybe, who knows!

Alright, my friends, here's the plan... Over the next few weeks, I'm going to take you back in time to the following events:

-SST Field trip across Thailand

-Spring Break in Kho Samet!!

-Lahu Village for 5 days

-Karen Village for 2 1/2 weeks

Then, you will be all caught up on my life for the past month and a half, and you won't have to miss me so much!! Also, all of the above posts will have pictures!! (Gotta make sure you'll at least look at my blog!) 

And here's the link to my facebook Thailand album, which I just added 25 new pictures to:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150107361059757.291467.563504756&l=48d74466c8

I pray you have a happy and blessed Easter holiday with your friends and family!! Blessings your way!!