A Week in the Life: A Case of the Mondays

The life of an English teacher, that is. So let's go right in...

Mondays are difficult for anyone, but mine especially since they begin at 6 AM. That's when I wake up so I can get to school at 7.

This is Duc Tri, a public school which my private language center sometimes provides with teachers (myself being one0. Today I teach 8th grade, which is more or less what you'd expect a third-world public school foreign language class to be like. i have no materials except the book, a marker, and a whiteboard. There are about 40 student sin the class so the ones at the back are far out of reach and the studious ones sit up front and answer everything.

This particular morning I arrive a few minutes early and go to my classroom to wait. Out in the school courtyard I can hear patriotic music combined with the sound of children marching and chanting, but the last time I tried to look out duringmorning patriotism one of the Vietnamese teachers dragged me away.

Today's lesson (I have two classes with the same lesson, one time a week) is on letter-writing, so I take them through headings, greetings, closings etc. I don't know if one-third of them understand the lesson, but I did my best.

after school I take the long, hot trek up Nguyen Trai to Pham Ngu Lao past Ben Than Market and finally ending up at the health club on Le Thanh Ton, where $40 a month buys use of the gym, showers, and sauna. Use the treadmill while watching CSI New York and then wash myself off so I can go to Vietnamese class a new man.

Before that, however, I'm feeling a bit curry-deprived so I head to Ganesh and splurge by spending $6 on their three-course set lunch. There are better and cheaper Indian restaurants to be found but this one is right across the street from the gym.

Vietnamese class is OK; for the fourth time in six weeks we have a new teacher. We only have a couple of weeks left so we're wrapping it up. My class has 12 students - nine Asians (from Taiwan, Korea, and Japan) and three Westerners including myself. There is one German and one Italian.

After we say our final 'chao co' a few of my classmates and I went to a small restaurant nearby and had some sour Korean xuc xich (sausage) and che, a Vietnamese dessert drink made with beans and sweet coconut milk, among other things.

Then home to watch check the pirate copy of 'The Lion King' I bought yesterday to see if it works. Not only does it work but it has only Spanish dubbing. my surprise increases when I realize that the same person who is Grandpa Simpson in the Mexican dub of 'The Simpsons' is the voice of Scar.