Farang, farang!

This story is continued from my previous blogs about my time living in Thailand.

...After I "settled in" to my room by putting all of my pants in the box, hanging my shirts and dresses up on the wire, and putting my other things on the table, Pastor Lawan took me out to visit people in the village. First, I met the mayor of the village, who could speak some English. He asked me to teach English one evening a week in his house for himself, his wife, and some other government workers in the village. Next, I met some of the church members, who could not speak English at all. I sat and listened to Pastor Lawan speak with them in Thai, but I couldn't understand any of it even though I had been trying to memorize Thai vocabulary and sentences for the past few months! Finally, I met the principal of the local high school, who asked me to teach conversational English several days a week in the high school.

I soon realized that I had a new name. Pastor Lawan introduced me to everyone as Jo-ann, instead of Joan. I realized that she had been reading my name wrong for the past year that we had been emailing each other. I was really happy with the change, though, because I had learned that the word "Joan" (with a long o sound) means "thief" in Thai, and I didn't want everyone to call me a thief! So I became Jo-ann. When the children in the orphanage came home after school, I was introduced to them as "Pee Jo-ann." I discovered that this means "older sister Jo-ann." They were so excited to have an American older sister! Pastor Lawan told them that I would teach them English songs and words every morning before school, and I would help them with their homework in the evening. The children loved to play games, and I enjoyed playing tag and "Simon Says" with them until dinnertime. Their laughter made me so happy! I felt like the orphanage had suddenly transformed into the nicest place in the world to live!

During that first week, I visited many places in the village, including the kindergarten where one of my new friends (named Ranee) was a teacher. The village children weren't used to having foreigners around, and they were so adorable! Here's a paragraph from an email that I sent to my parents after the first week:

"...it is really funny because all the little children here are afraid of me and very curious about me, a "farang" (foreigner). When I go to the kindergarten to visit Ranee who teaches there, all the children yell, "farang, farang!" and run away screaming and laughing. Then I go to talk to Ranee in the room and they all peek in the windows, watching me. If I look at them they laugh and yell and run away, and then they come back to peek again. Over and over- it is so cute! Then, when I leave, they all run to the gate and watch me, waving and yelling, "bye bye!" because it is what the teachers tell them "farang" do. I love the children here so much! They are so precious!"

Vocabulary: (Transition Words)

First- before everything else; the ordinal number for one (1)

Next- immediately following something

Then- next in order of time

After- later in time than...

Finally- in the end; lastly

Cloze exercise- fill in the blanks with the vocabulary words.

It was 5:00 pm and my friend was coming over for dinner. However, I didn't have any dinner ready yet! What was I going to make? Suddenly, I had an idea. ____________, I boiled some water. ____________, I opened a box of spaghetti. When the water was boiling, I put some spaghetti in the pot. _____________, I opened a can of tomato sauce. I heated it up in a saucepan. _____________ that, I put some Italian seasoning mix, parmesan cheese, onion powder, and garlic powder in the saucepan. _______________, I served the spaghetti and spooned some sauce on top. Dinner was ready just in time!

Grammar: Using discourse markers

Discourse markers signal logical relationships and sequence. There are many kinds of discourse markers. The kinds of discourse markers that I used in my vocabulary list are used for numbering and ordering points. Other discourse markers are used for adding information, linking similar things, expressing contrast, and expressing cause and result.

Discourse markers for numbering and ordering points:

first, firstly, second, (third, fourth, etc.), secondly, (thirdly, fourthly, etc.), then, next, after that, finally, last, lastly

Using commas with discourse markers:

If the discourse marker is set apart from the rest of the sentence, or there is a pause after we read it, then we put a comma after the discourse marker.

example- "First, I met the mayor of the village." I put a comma after the word 'first' because I wanted the reader to pause, in order to set the rest of the sentence apart.

If the discourse marker is meant to be integreated into the sentence so that it is read without a pause, then no comma is necessary.

example- "Then I go talk to Ranee..." I did not use a comma after the word 'then' because I did not want the reader to pause there. I wanted the whole sentence to be read together.

Grammar practice-

Identify all the discourse markers in the following paragraph:

Every morning when my alarm sounds, I follow the same routine. First, I press the snooze button on my alarm for five minutes. I curl up and finish my dream. Next, when my alarm sounds again I press the snooze button for another five minutes. This time I turn over onto my other side. After that, when my alarm rings for the third time, I hit the off button and I roll over onto my back. I stretch a little and slowly get up. Then I go brush my teeth. Once that is done, I usually feel awake enough to choose my clothes for the day. Finally, I'm ready for my shower! Whenever I follow this routine, I start my day off on the right foot.

*note- starting off "on the right foot" is an idiomatic phrase. It means to start the day off well.