Crunch Time: Practicum and SEA-TEP

Following the weeks leading up to the final demonstration week, I’ve gotten the opportunity to learn from my mentors, how they handled themselves in front of their learners, but most importantly how to teach in a foreign classroom. All things considered, I would’ve preferred to have another week to prepare myself for judgement day, better now than never I guess.

To Teach or Not To Teach: What This Journey Has Been About

            I mean teaching is a lifelong profession and to call myself a respectable figure in the educational community, I had to prove myself in the classroom, at home and abroad. That’s what this program had been for me. Even though I could’ve gone through with staying in the Philippines, teach in schools back home, and eventually earn my stars, I think that I needed something more. Something that would put every theory, pedagogical approach, and philosophy that I’ve learned in the classroom to the test. It was a need, but even more so it was an opportunity of a lifetime to teach and take part in this program.

Final Stretch: Procedures, Outcomes, and Challenges

            With the days flying by, weeks of classroom observations, teaching plan preparations, and curriculum readthroughs, will now be put to good use. On my last week in Ban Mhaekeng, Teacher Aom and I agreed to use the last few days in the school to practice my teaching plan to an actual classroom. At a time, I had around a couple of classes a day which meant that I had time to revise and hopefully improve my teaching plan, days leading up to my demonstration teaching.

            In preparation for the following week of teaching,  I had now finalized my teaching plan, as well as prepared my learning activities – props, visual aids, and whatnot. Even though I was prepared to teach the following days, I wanted to be sure that I knew the ins and outs of my topic. So aside from reading through the topic a few more times, I also took the time to do my own research. With everything prim and proper, the last thing I needed to keep in mind was the how. What approach was I going to use; what language is proper; how many examples should I give my learners. Luckily for me, I had more than enough time do so in the following days.

            On the actual day of demonstrations, I still had some things to sort out with my lesson content. A few adjustments here and there just to keep the instruction as smooth sailing as possible. I was prepared, but it felt like I wasn’t at the same time. With the benefit of hindsight, I could’ve done a lot more things for the demonstration. A few teaching innovations here and there would’ve done wonders for my instruction, but honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal. After a grueling 50-minutes of playing teacher, it was finally over. Seeing my students beaming after the class was all the response I needed to assure myself that I had done well.

            All things considered, teaching in a foreign classroom was more challenging than I had first thought. One of the biggest hurdles in teaching that I had come across was the language barrier. Throughout my month-long stay in Thailand, I never did manage to find a sustainable workaround for this problem. The best solution I could ever manage was by having subtitles on my visual aids. Other solutions I tried were using images instead of words, but that proved to be more difficult because it meant I had to explain the image, and there was no way was I going to speak Thai just to do so. Another problem that I encountered was thinking of appropriate activities for the classroom. As a general rule of thumb, if I couldn’t explain the mechanics of the game in the span of a minute, then I won’t use it in the classroom. I did manage to find the right activities, but it was a challenge nonetheless.

All Things Considered: SEA-TEP

            Quite honestly, SEA-TEP had been one of the most amazing experience of my life. To take part in this wonderful opportunity and work alongside the best teachers in the world is a privilege and I am glad that I had the chance to take a part in it. I am grateful to my mentors back in Udon Thani; to Teacher Aom for her patience, showing me the ins and outs of teaching; Teacher Jin for guiding me throughout my time as a student teacher; and Teacher Phet for his unrelenting support to myself and the group. The South-East Asia, Teacher Exchange Program was an undeniable success.

It Surely Gets Better Than This?

            Yes definitely, there’s certainly somethings to improve in the program despite its success for Batch 9. Apart from improving coordination with the receiving universities, memorandums and such, I think it is also important to standardize schedules between receiving and sending universities. While admittedly this is a small concern, it is something that I think could use some improvement for future iterations of this program.