23rd February 2023
Some gifts from students last night. I do tell the younglings not to eat sugar and junk food BUT if it’s a gift, all bets are off !
Little Eva once gave me a two-bar KitKat, now I’ve been upgraded to the full four-finger bar. I had it after work. and it was delicious. Thank you Little Eva, and Tommy for the Dynamite sweet.
20th November 2022
Many, many thanks to Ms Cherry, Ms Mia, Ms Hannah and Mr C.
9th November 2022
The All-Knowing Parent
The House of Gesundheit opened its doors. Before long, a parent charged in, dragging a sickly child. The Doctor of Gesundheit examined the child, increasingly concerned with the findings.
“I must conduct further tests,” the professional explained.
“Ah, no problem, my child always passes tests,” the self-assured reply, with a pat on the money bag.
As the doctor suspected, the poor child had cancer, but it was at an early stage. Help was available, a full recovery was expected.
“Ah, no, no, no, no, no, no,” the parent countered, “the hair will fall out, children at school will laugh. I will not have my child laughed at, I will not have my child looking like an egg ! No, no, no, just give the child some pills, some medicine and all will be well. I know my child. I know my child much better than you do.”
The Doctor of Gesundheit protested, remonstrated, pleaded. The words fell on stony ground. So many pearls, such a large swine.
Eventually the doctor had to acquiesce. Parent and child walked away, victoriously.
Some months later the parent returned, bursting into the House of Gesundheit, screaming, ranting, pointing an accusing, accursing finger at the doctor.
“You killed my child. I brought my child to you for help. Instead … I bury my child. You killed my child. You are a terrible doctor, you are a murderer !”
The other patients heard this and got angry, they sided with the grieved parent and shouted abuse at the disgraced doctor.
The House of Gesundheit closed down.
The doctor abandoned medicine and looked for work from village to village.
In a small grave in a small graveyard lies a small child. Over the coming years, the graveyard grew bigger and bigger.
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ by Lennon & McCartney. August 1966
Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.
17th October 2022
30th July 2022
We just finished an extra, four-week summer school, which meant working from 8.30 – 10.30, then coming back for two evening classes, 17.10 – 21.00. This schedule, for all of us, was exhausting.
However on my last day, three girls gave me some presents: two notebooks and some chewy sweets. The sweets soon went the way of all flesh, but I will use the notebooks for ideas, songs and lyrics.
Thank you so much. A teacher NEVER forgets any gift from a student.
2nd June 2022
The fable of the frog and the scorpion
One day a scorpion was out walking when it came to a river. The scorpion, who couldn’t swim, wanted to cross the river, and saw a frog resting on a stone.
“Hello, frog, can you carry me to the other side ? I can ride on your back.”
The frog refused.
“You are a scorpion. You will sting me.”
“Why would I do that ? We would both die,” asked the scorpion.
The frog thought, then agreed. The scorpion climbed onto the frog’s back.
However, half way across the river, the scorpion stung the frog. The frog, in pain, asked the scorpion,
“Why did you do that ? Now we will both die.”
“I know,” replied the scorpion, “I couldn’t help it because it’s my nature.”
A modern day tale
Classes of students who are undisciplined, disrespectful and physically or verbally abusive.
The centre makes rules. The students start each lesson reciting them.
Rules such as not saying, “No,” to a teacher when asked to do something, not calling a teacher by a disrespectful name, no running, no eating in class.
Yet, forty minutes later, masks are off and half the class are eating, running in the halls, shouting. Students say, “No,” to polite requests, and call teachers disrespectful names.
They have been told if they break these new rules, they will be sent home, and if the offense is repeated, they will be expelled. Still they continue.
Why … because it’s in their nature.
Please Note: All photos are taken from Google Images or free photo sites, and are used for educational purposes only. No copyright infringement or offense is intended. If I have used your photo or image, and you wish me to remove it, just ask. This site is not monetized, I run it on my own dollar. Thank you.
23rd May 2022
On Saturday, one of my very special, Top Cat students came to my class to give me these treats.
A teacher never forgets any gift from a student. I thank you so much, Little Princess. I ate them last night and they were delicious !
Best of luck with everything
You restore my faith in teaching 🙂
23rd September 2021
Written by Aaron Sorkin, creator of ‘The West Wing’.
Teaching is exhausting; it requires Herculean feats of strength, mental and physical, and the compassion of the Buddha.
Teaching can be soul-destroying; it requires the wisdom of Solomon and the tolerance of Job.
Teachers can be disrespected, ignored and insulted.
Teacher reviews may be gauged on how popular they are, how many games they play, not on how much they teach or how many students actually pass.
But teachers can also change lives.
That is what makes it worthwhile.
We need to change more lives.
“We need gigantic monumental changes.”
11th February 2021
Firstly, may I wish you all …
Due to the return of COVID to Sai Gon, schools and language centres have been closed down, and online classes have restarted.
A big shout out to the staff at my centre. Instead of taking things easy in the build up to Tet, and enjoying time with their family, they had to work all hours to prepare for the change to distance learning.
To make these lessons work, we need students, and their parents, to follow these simple rules:
Respect your teacher and your teacher will respect you
tôn trọng giáo viên của bạn
You HAVE TO turn on your camera. If your camera is not working, you HAVE TO inform the centre.
Answer your teacher when you are asked a question.
Please control your background noise. No music, computer games or talking. Try to find somewhere quiet for the class.
Let’s work together and make the best of this situation and hopefully, we can all meet at the school in the near future.
Stay safe, stay well
14th January 2021
I met an old class on Tuesday for a speaking test, and one of the students asked me why I stopped taking that class. I thought the reasons were pretty obvious, however if you really need me to explain, how about these:
I was absolutely sick of one of the students sitting directly in front of me, ignoring everything I said because she (yes, you all know who she is) was too busy on her phone, even bringing in a power-bank to make sure she had enough battery for three hours.
‘Student’ Care have mentioned this to her, and once even sent a representative to the class to tell her to stop. It had NO EFFECT; she continued using the phone each and every lesson.
I stopped calling on her to answer in class, as I only ever saw the top of her head. No doubt someone had posted a picture of a coffee or a cat to which she absolutely had to react, immediately, or risk losing a ‘friend’ that she probably hasn’t even met.
During the test I asked her to explain the centre rules, which she totally agreed with … in theory. I followed this with asking why she broke the rules. She replied that she, “Was bored.” She claimed that she was unaware that such behaviour was disrespectful.
Furthermore, I realised that with one exception, nobody was learning anything more; the class seemed happy at their level, and were not making any effort to expand their knowledge. Every lesson I stressed the importance of pronunciation features. I didn’t detect even 1% improvement, nor even the desire to improve.
Well, how did that work out for you in the speaking test ? Not so great, hey ?
Finally, I set a ‘test’ in my last two classes with you. Remember ? I gave you speaking practice then, instead of walking up and down monitoring your activity, I treated you like responsible adults. Instead of working, out came the mobile phones and English was replaced by the less than euphonic sound of the Vietnamese language.
Previously, I had given students one-to-one help. Instead of being thanked for this individual guidance, I was greeted with, “Me, again ? I spoke to you last week.”
I hope that answers your question.
Moving onwards or downwards, my Wednesday class. Talk about laid-back, I need to check if they still have a pulse.
I’ve dispensed with social pleasantries such as, “How are you ?” as I was receiving answers such as, “I’m tired,” or “I’m exhausted.” Just what a teacher wants to hear before a three-hour class.
DRINK SOME GODDAMN COFFEE
I made it perfectly clear, in the first lesson, that I am NOT here to entertain you. YOU are here to pass IELTS, which is a hard subject and requires active participation on your part. This means SPEAKING.
If your teacher asks you a question, damn well answer
Answer loudly and clearly, not just mumble begrudgingly. I told you last night, I am here to help you, I am not the enemy. If you refuse to speak or practice you are only hurting your own prospects.
At least last night, one of the ‘students’ admitted that she lacked energy or enthusiasm but, the punchline … she wants to be an English teacher.
Now we come to tonight’s class, which contains three young men.
Your behaviour over the last weeks has been unacceptable. This is a Cambridge IELTS class, not a Beer Club, certainly not a Kid’s class.
So, here are the rules:
NO SHOUTING IN THE CLASSROOM
SPEAK ENGLISH
NO CALLING OUT STUPID ANSWERS
LEARN THE NEW VOCABULARY – YOU WILL NEED IT TO PASS
NO FIGHTING IN THE CLASS – YES, I ACTUALLY HAVE TO WRITE THIS
Not too much to ask or to expect.
If you do not comply, I will stop the lesson and refuse to teach your sorry asses
I will not let you schmucks ruin an otherwise lovely class
Thay Paul's Notes 