Into the thick of it..

So a more updated entry is needed I feel. Real time, I've been in Vietnam for 10 weeks, nearly 3 months. Its gone so quickly but yet getting off the plane seemed like an honest lifetime ago. I am well into the swing of teaching, i have 4 classes: On Tuesdays and Thursdays, A K12 (6 year olds) and on Saturday and Sunday I have J2A (8-9 year olds) J3B (9-10 year olds) KPro (6 Year olds) Classes are two hours long and i see each class twice a week, which means classroom hours sit at roughly 16 hours a week. However with lesson planning as i am still getting it down does it take me awhile. Its not like I stroll in to the classroom speak some English and leave. We have make sure the lessons are covering individual and group receptive activities as well as production activities. With the K classes as they are young they love coloring and crafts, so the second half of the lesson usually revolves around that. This is my favorite time of the lesson. The students are quiet (except when we play music in the background and they brokenly sing along) they are happy, they are having fun and there is on little boy that always comes next to me to color. He pulls his chair right beside me, sets himself up with his crayons, rests one hand on my arm and his head on my shoulder and peacefully colors. How can your heart not melt?? The K classes are both very similar, they love learning. Love games and most of all love me. every time i walk in the class "Teacher, Teacher, I missed you!" (For those of you wondering they do know my name, but all teachers just get called teacher). However not all is as it seems. Then there are the J classes. Don't get my wrong, my J2s are sweethearts, they are still pretty young so a hi-5 and a sticker goes a long way....But the J3s. They are my punishment for my behavior in school. There are 12 boys and 3 girls in the class and boy does it show. They are loud and pushy. All games have to be physical to keep them interested yet they always end up hurting one an other or the girls shy away. They don't listen and they turn on each other at the drop of a hat. I introduced a Three strike system Strike one: Name on the board Strike two: a line by your name Strike Three: extra homework one kid plays up so i put my foot down. Tell him to write his name on the board (more shameful if they have to do it, plus I'm still getting my head around who is who, which í especially hard when i have a Ben10 a Ben11 and a John HotBoy in the class). As i make the kid stand up to write his name, the snitching begins "But Teacher, (Blah) was speaking Vietnamese (which isn't allowed in the classroom) and (Blah) was swearing.... The kids could get off a murder charge with all the snitching. Honestly. You tell them to sit down and two seconds later they are out of their seats, they hit each other for no reason, they yell they don't listen. It tests me so much. They other day a student called me over while they were silently completing a worksheet.."teacher teacher come here.." i obliged and went over "Teacher, F**k you". well mate, good English, perfect pronunciation and you used it correctly, but let cut that off at the knee's huh. Dont get me wrong, I love it. And at the end of the day they are kids. It is also hard for them with a new teacher. They dont know how long I'm staying, they dont know me too well yet. As time goes on the acting up should cut down and we should be in the swing of things. Also they come to class at 7.30am on a Saturday and Sunday. We are all as mad about that as each other. Thankfully after that class i go straight to my K's who tell me that I am pretty and when i asked them I New Zealand or Australia was better they chose NZ, with no prompting!! However that class was only temporary. Their teacher has come back from leave which means I no longer have that class :( The only other thing worth mentioning here is that kids usually pick their own names, hence why our center has numerous Ben10's Elsa's and Jacks running around the place. While I was giving one of my K classes a test another teacher was also giving a test and in walks her first student T= Teacher S= Student T= "Hello, what is your name?" S= "My name is cowboy!!" T=" Oh thats....." S=" Im cowboy cause I have cowboy boots and a cowboy hat and a cowboy gun that goes Bang Bang" T=" Oh a gun that goes pow pow that is nice" S= "NO! police guns go pow pow, cowboy guns go Bang Bang" Rock on little cowboy rock on