Shafiee Yakob

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Saturday, September 13, 2014

"school visit"

Yesterday was no different as we need to wake up early for our visit to the school we're going to teach. But, as usual, I woke up late. Right after I was done with showering, I ran to the girls to iron my clothes. I was already sweating like a dog. We then waited for a taxi under a bright hot sun. I was the last batch to reach the school. We arrived at the school 15 minutes late because someone needed to go to the loo for an early morning number two. #TMI #notme

The school was not far from our university. It has been just 3km away. As I made it to the location, I was quite surprised with the condition of the school. It is sited in the middle of a village and it looks empty; just two buildings, one house and lots of trees. The playground area was not even concrete. As we walked towards the principal's office, I discovered an odd object which happens to be a drum (Baduk). I was bewildered by the looks of that drum. In my mind, I was thinking, "what the hell do you need a drum for?"

When we reached the office, we were asked to sit down and were served tea. It was not delicious at all. It was perhaps quite bitter and smelly. The principal of the school gave a speech which he talked in Vietnamese, while Mr. Chuong (Keng) translated the speech one by one. When the principal talked, I watched my friends pretending to understand and nodding while I smiled and stared blankly to the words in that red cloth behind him. I too was pretending to take heed.

The clock struck 8am and the heat was getting to me now as I found myself wiping off my sweat from my forehead, arms and cheeks. "You'll be teaching English two days per week, which are on Tuesday & Thursday....and three hours per day," Mr Chuong said. I reverted my attention to being interested, so I could indulge all the information that was being said. That, my friend, was a happy news for me. It means we only need 2 days to be in that school. Hehe!

Aside from that, we were also told that we will be observing the class on Tuesday and will start teaching next Thursday. The classes we require to teach were from Year 6 to 9.

I know you'd probably ask yourself, "how the hell are we going to school from Uni?"

We were given a bicycle to ride from the university to the school under any conditions, whether if its on a sunny day or rainy day. But, here's my plan, I will not ride the bike but will ride a Se'om as it costs 10,000VDN per km so that's like 30,000VDN - $1.50 per ride.

Then, the sound of drumming was heard, interrupting the principal's speech. He then said, "the sound of the bell just rang." I was laughing inside and was puzzled how the sound of that drum I saw when I came in was the sound of a bell and that bell represents the lesson has ended and next lesson starts."

After a long speech, we went to the class and witnessed something amazing. We were in Year 9 and found myself awed as my expectations were wrong - they do know how to speak simple English. The class was alive and everyone was participating.

*English Lesson*

Though some were shy, but managed to be brave and introduced themselves to us. The sentences they said were as follows:

"Hello.

My name is ........

What is your name?

How do you spell your name?"

The words came out from the children made me both nervous and excited to teach them. It then turned into a funny moment when they wanted our autographs as we were exiting the room. We felt like we were superstars! We were crowded with kids, giving us their books & asking us to sign our initials in their books.

After the visit, we had a Vietnamese class to get to. The class, I have to say, is invariably fun! Even though it was a tiring day, I didn't feel dreadful to go to the class. It's one of the highlights of this program.

KFC for lunch........& dinner.

................................................................................................................

FUN FACT:

Teacher do drink in broad daylight (and in school compound). We were asked if we wanted to drink alcohol with them as he gave us a bottle of clear-colored bottle which we declined.

*clear pictures of the school's environment*

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Hello there!

Hello. My name is Shafiee Y. A boy from Borneo Island (Brunei, to be specific) who loves to meet new people whilst traveling. This blog is a blog where i share my moments - mainly for my friends and family. Join me in my wicked adventure around the world. Let's be honest, I know you want to.

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