Week 3 Penang

Dear Ethel, Family and Friends,

Week 3 brings us to Penang for our month of study, to learn how to teach English to speakers of other languages, (TESOL course).We arrived in Penang from our week long stay in Cambodia on Sunday afternoon at about 4pm. We didn’t have much time to get acquainted with our surroundings before we had to go to school in the morning. We are staying at the northern tip of Penang, Batu Ferrangi is only 2 km away. We are staying in a 23 story unit block or Condo as they call them here, we are on the 18^th floor and have a great view north, towards Thailand, we can see the mainland from here, and I guess Thailand is not that far away.

Going back to school is a great experience, at first we were not shore how we would go, but after the first week, the worst of it is over. We passed our first test, and are waiting on assignments to come back on Monday. Another exam tomorrow, as well as a practical demonstration of how we will teach a class. But apart from that, no pressure at all. Needless to say we have been busy preparing for the test and prac work, so not much of a chance to get out and see things. Only 3 people in our class, Louise and I and a guy named How Seng, a Chinese Malay, from KL. We actually start teaching on Tuesday. We have our prac work at an international school and will be teaching teenagers, so it will be interesting

We have been eating out at the hawker stands a lot, rice and noodle dishes for about a dollar or 2. Have made some friends at the school, Danny is a teacher and is from Coffs Harbour and is in Penang with his wife Barbara and two young daughters. They will be staying here a year or two. We had drinks with them on Friday night and went out to the night food markets for dinner.

Haven’t had a chance to up load any photos from Cambodia yet or do any more video, as we have been busy at school and internet connection is also very patchy here. But we will try to stay in touch.

All the best for now

Ric & Louise