One thing I don't understand though is how my students listen so much better to their directions than to mine. First of all, the Vietnamese have a different accent than I do and than Lao people do. I'm now used to the Lao accent, but not to the Vietnamese accent. I struggle to understand what they're saying sometimes.
I also do a pretty thorough job of giving instructions. (Or at least I thought.) I want people to understand so I go through them carefully, slowly, step by step. After giving them I check to see if they understand and then I'll probably give them again just for good measure.
Often after I give instructions, and I'm pretty sure everyone understands or at least they should after hearing them 7 times, my students sit there and wait for me to do something else - to explain again or I don't know what. But with these Vietnamese teachers, as I'm still trying to figure out what they are trying to get my students to do, my students are half finished with the task already! They jump out of their seats and are doing whatever the teacher told them to do before I even know what they're supposed to do. Maybe I need to try to mumble some mumble jumble and then my students will be able to decipher my instructions quickly.
I can also never get my students to hurry to do anything - especially when I want them to write on the board and pass the marker to the next student. I think it takes each student a minute to write two words. I've tried everything to encourage them to go quickly but nothing has worked!
Not for these Vietnamese teachers - my students are running and racing all over the classroom to write on the board or to finish anything quickly.
I definitely need to learn a few pointers from these student teachers.
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