A New Direction in Blogging

I have had such an amazing time exploring a new part of our beautiful world on vacation, but from here on out I am officially on study abroad. While my past posts have been mostly journal entries detailing my feelings, thoughts, and events for the day the following posts will cater to the main reason I decided to start this blog: I want to detail my experiences as I learn about education, teaching, and musings along those lines. I apologize if the following posts seem a bit dry but I am aiming for a more reflective theme. I am so excited to actually begin teaching and learning about the Malaysian educational system! Thanks to everyone who keeps reading!

As of now, I am staying at an university in Tanjung Malim, just northwest of Kuala Lumpur. It is called UPSI (like oopsie) for short, but it stands for Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris. Here is a map of West Malaysia... click and see if you can find TJ!

Here is one of our 1st informal assignments... I think it gives a sense of my thoughts on actually being in Malaysia to teach.

Predictions about the Malaysian experience:
What are your goals (personally and professionally) for yourself in Malaysia?
I hope to earn more about myself as a person and a teacher, expand my foreign language base, make connections with people I may not otherwise know (other students from MSU, from UPSI, family ties), learn to live a more simple and laid-back lifestyle.
I expect to gain experience as a teacher in a challenging situation, gain insight to what it feels like to be a minority without local language skills, expand my idea of teaching and classroom situations, learn new techniques and lessons that I can use later in my career, make professional ties with teachers, school staff, and administrators.

What do you expect will happen in your first two weeks of the program?
I expect to feel like an outsider, experience a twinge of homesickness, I expect to learn important phrases quickly in Malay, get an informational grasp on Malaysia and the culture, I expect to feel out of my element, be nervous/excited/anxious all at once.

How do you expect to react?
I think I will react by trying new things, immersing myself wholly in the university, family life, and adopt the behaviors of those around me (Malaysians), I hope to be open-minded and deeply think about the difference I see rather than jump to conclusions.

What might be your biggest academic challenge in your Malaysian
teaching/learning experience?
I have little to no knowledge of Malaysia or its history, I don’t know anyone personally from this area of the world, I don’t speak Malay, it will be challenging to modify my speech/behaviors to be acceptable in the Malaysian classroom.

What might be your biggest cultural challenge?
I am afraid of feeling like a “stupid American” because I know little of the food, customs, language, understanding the differences in religion and daily customs compared to those at home, learning and remembering the students’ names, also saying them without slaughtering them each time.

What are you looking forward to?
I am really looking forward to meeting and spending time with the family (comparing this to when our family hosted exchange students), seeing daily life through the eyes of a local, learning new ways to teach, gaining a more worldly view and expanding my acceptance level of multicultural students.