Lemons Away!: First days of school

So, on Monday, it was time to get down to what I was here for. Well, kinda, because I don't actually teach on Mondays. Imelda sent a student in a microlet (tiny blue bus) to come pick me up. She has to, because they don't go down my street. They are supposed to, but they don't (because nobody lives there who doesn't have a motor bike, except me). I met my class chairmans, and printed out my syllabus, first class assignment, and an introductory activity so that I could photocopy them. That's why there's 15 photocopy places in the village. Copyright laws here are totally non existent. I could go in with an entire textbook, and tell them to make me 40 copies. This is actually what they do here for textbooks. One real text becomes the class book for everyone. The chairmans are a pretty cool concept too. Give them what you want copied, and they'll go do it for you, and take care of collecting the money from everyone in the class. Yeah, because there's no free photocopying. Not even for me in the office. Because there's not a copier. The chairmans also take attendance for you, will reschedule class if need be, and are basically the go to person for every class.

I am teaching Writing II and Speaking III. These are all 3rd semester students. My university does not stick people in classes based on placement tests. It's everyone together just based on year. So, my classes could have students who have no idea what's going on, next to students who I can have pretty complex conversations with. 1 class of Writing II and 3 of Speaking 3. I was supposed to teach 12 hours (so 6 classes) but I'll have 2 English for Specific Purposes classes starting soon (supposedly) that I'll be taking for Nihta, my counterpart. They haven't started though, but I'm super stoked, because they are for BIOLOGY STUDENTS! How perfect for me! 2 of the Speaking III classes are in the English Education Department (these kids want to become English teachers) and 1 class for the regular English Department.

I got a ride home from Pak Robert. Pak is a kind of way to say Mr. He's been at the school a long time, and is very happy I'm there for the students. It's been many years since there was a native speaker. I think I'm the first American too. We stopped by one of the photo copy places, and I copied everything. It's 200 per printed page. Which is about 2 cents. I thought I would be nice and save paper and money by making everything double sided, but it's still the same price. OK. No problem. Ooops, forgot that I didn't have any money in my bag.

This is a new thing for me. The idea that I always have to have cash on me. There is no, "Ooops I forgot, or ooops I'm short, here's my credit card to the rescue." Lots of big stores don't even take credit cards. One of these days I'm gonna get on a bus and realize I don't have the fare (you pay when you get to your destination).

Tuesday roles around, and it's the first day of class. Classes are once a week, for an hour forty-five. Up first, Writing II (section G). Oh my gosh, DEER IN HEADLIGHTS kids! It was like looking at a sea of scared faces. I spent over an hour, just going over the syllabus. They didn't know what it was in the first place. Then they got to ask me questions. A lot of, "how old, are you married, what religion are you?" type stuff. I drew silly pictures on the board to make them laugh, and they slowly but surely started to ease up. Then while they worked on a "Tell me about yourself" activity, I had them all come up, sign a book, teach me how to say their name correctly, and I took each person's picture. Lots of peace signs, and a couple of English style "up yours" poses. Very cute. A lot of giggling.

Next up, the non-teachers section of Speaking III. Oh my, it was like night and day! These kids were so good at English! They made jokes, asked tons of questions, and made me laugh a lot.

First day down, and nobody died. Yay!

Some of my students hamming it up for the camera.

Rock lock anyone? You know you wanna.

Day 2 - Speaking III sections B and I. There are 9 sections of kids in their second year at school. Each section is about 40 students. It's like a cohort, because they have EVERYTHING together. The non English teachers only have 1 section. Big difference. These classes were similar to my first Speaking III class, but a little lower.

My classroom. BTW, is the library that I posted pictures of before. I had a schedule, but was told that my room would often be filled with another class, because nobody follows the schedule. In true Indonesian form, I decided to not follow it either, and just have class in the library, where I had begged for a desk. The other rooms all have lots of windows. Since the department is all open air, and the students have no problem screaming at each other while they aren't in class, the educational setting tends to be kinda poor. Plus, being the strange wondrous foreigner that I am, kids were always staring in through the windows at my class. The library has no windows facing the corridor, so I am safe. Plus, I don't have to cart my copious amounts of materials. You know, the 1 functioning white board marker, and the eraser.