First Day!
First Class! These wonderful people make up my very first class at ECC. The range in age from 16 to 42 and are great students and very eager to perfect their English. We meet on Saturday mornings from 9 to 12. Our first day we spent getting to know each other. I told them a little about myself and they were very excited about New York City. (It seems that Manhattan is the top destination choice of Thai people when they dream about coming to America.)
Then we moved on to adverbs of frequency - never, rarely, sometimes, often and always. We made up sentences about Thai customs and they did very well.
(Interesting fact - All Thai students must go through Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts as a part of their education.)
And then we reviewed telling time in English and the months on the calendar. I think it was a very productive first day and I can't wait to continue on Saturday.

And then on Sunday from one to four, my second class. 12 students from about 12 to 14. A tad more restless but just as enthusiastic and we reviewed verb tenses - such as present perfect, future continuous and the like. This is a tough thing for all Thai learning English and they had a hard time getting it - but I reminded them - this is hard stuff - most Americans couldn't even describe it to you - then just do it naturally. I will think of some games to come up with that might help. But they are very bright kids with a great sense of fun and it think that we will have a fabulous time together. So far, I love teaching and am looking forward to going full time next week.
Big day tomorrow - I go to The Ministry of Education for my work visa. All my paperwork is in order and everything should go smoothly.
Had the day off today so went into the city for more strolling around. At one point, I just started giggling. This is happening. I'm here. I have a job, an apartment and am getting to know my way around without a map more and more every day. Next step - perfected my Thai. I know some. but I want to learn more. They say if you really keep it up - you can be fairly fluent in six months. Look at me Ma - I'm bilingual!
Well- gotta go.