daronloo

Seriously, my trip to Chiang Mai really felt like a weekend trip on the bus.  I left on Thursday with a choir made almost entirely of Indonesians.  There were, of course, the occasional "aliens" to the group such as I.  We were going to visit the International Children's Care orphanage as well as the Chiangmai Adventist Academy.  We arrived early Friday morning and I headed straight to bed.  Woke up about an hour later and decided to go scout around the orphanage grounds.  Children's voices were ringing loudly, and in a distance I spotted two little figures hiding behind some shrubs.  I walked towards those figures and there were two little gangly girls, who, upon seeing up, giggled and made a dash back to the main building.  That pretty much sums up what I did with the kids the weekend.  They'd see me, giggle, and run.  They'd make a good audience in my class here in Muak Lek, Saraburi since nobody laughs when I open my mouth (to t...

Umlaut is a linguistic phenomenon that affects the vowel quality of a syllable, think of diphthongs.  It is also used to refer to a group of Old English nouns.  Which group?  It's the group which changes the vowel when pluralized.  I find this fascinating.  You may think otherwise.  But Honey Badger don't care. I have always wondered how it is like to teach a student-centered classroom.  I think the most student-centered situation I've allowed myself to be in is during class discussion, or when students talk about their research topics.  Other than that, it's pretty much me navigating the classroom.  Little did I know that I actually have student-centered classes.  Not in my day job.  But in my night job - when I moonlight as a piano teacher! It's strange that it took me so long to realize this. I spent about 15 years of my life learning the piano.  Through the process, I've had five piano teachers.  I spent about ...

After a chat with a dear friend about blogging, I was reminded that I have and own a blog.  It's sad that I haven't written much at all this year.  I'm sure all you teachers out there have your teaching woes.  Today's classes, unfortunately, turned me into a honey badger.  If you don't know what "honey badger" refers to in pop culture, please by all means youtube it.  I had only one class today, a two-hour class, which was ENGL4434 History of the English Language.  There are 37 Thai + 1 Lao in this class, and none of them is interested in this course.  At the beginning of the semester, I've thought of practical ways to make this class seem appealing to them.  Instead of just talking about complicated aspects of Old and Middle English, as well as tantalizing dramas, e.g. King Ethelred who left England for Normandy, and leaving his wife Emma behind; King John who fell violently in love with another man's wife-to-be, I decided to incorporate esse...