We
are now a part of the Orkeeswa teaching staff and the school with its extended
hours and range of non-teaching employees feels very much like a family. It has
been something of a baptism of fire given that we arrived to discover that
there would be exams in just over a week and that that decision to run them, had
been made only very recently and therefore the previous English teacher had not
set the papers.
With
the deadline only 3 days away we launched into the first task of trying to
acquaint ourselves with the style and format of the national exams. Obviously
we needed to mirror that so that the students could gain the maximum benefit.
Secondly we needed to read the curriculum documents and texts already covered
by our classes in order to write appropriate questions and have some idea of
how to grade them when they are completed. Luckily some past papers came to
light and we settled for allowing those to guide us.
We
are still grappling with the details of the curriculum requirements and the reading
that will enable us to make better decisions on the quality of the answers, but
given there is a week holiday following the exams I now feel that I can accomplish
the reading this week and sort through the exams during the break. Ian however
is less fortunate as his exams have been moved from Good Friday to the first
Monday of term to accommodate the Easter holiday. It really was a frantic way
to begin but now that the papers are written and the exam period underway I
feel that we will at least begin the second quarter with a much better idea of
where the students are at and what the curriculum involves.
The
students here are very endearing even at this early point and we are sure that
they will make their way into our hearts. As we struggle with a new language
and mispronounce all their names they continue to engage us in friendly
conversations and take an active interest in their studies and the many extra
curricula activities that take place every day after school. We feel very ill
informed about the culture at this point. I guess that is to be expected given
this is our first sojourn outside of Asia and it has really been a hectic
start.
Bhutan
is often in our thoughts as there are so many similarities between our
situations here and there. I am sure we talk to our colleagues about the
kingdom and our students and experiences there way too much but the scenery,
the students and the culture are so embedded in our souls now it is hard to let
go. In fact, I am not sure that we ever will.
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