Essay-A typical day of an ELT student at Mandalay University by KHON

A typical day of an ELT student at Mandalay University

by Khon Min Set

My day usually begins with the constant blare of the alarm clock ringing at 6 o’clock in all weathers. After tossing and turning in bed for a few minutes, I usually get up, switch on the lights and start doing my day-to-day busy routine as an ELT student.

I take a bath with my drowsy eyes as I brush my teeth in the bathroom at 6:15. After that, I get dressed; check my class time- table and my school kits: course books, notebooks, pens and ruler etc. At 7 o’clock, I go downstairs with my school bag and my notebook-computer to have breakfast with my mother and my two nieces who always get up earlier than me. As we have our breakfast, we usually have a chat about what each of us - my nieces and I - has different tasks to do at school. After that, we set off for our respective schools after kissing on the cheeks of my mother, in my nieces’ case, their grandmother, with promise that we all will be home by 4 in the afternoon.

On the way to school, everybody I see on the street seems to be as busy as I am. Moreover, I always see the cars caught by the red light, standing in a long queue and puffing the black and white smoke in the atmosphere from their exhaust pipes, and the motorbikes and bicycle, going in zigzags among the cars. It is a typical morning scene at the traffic light on the ThakePan road. After overtaking the long queue of the cars, and driving my motorbike for a few minutes, I get to my class in the Mandalay University at 8 or later than 8 sometimes.

As an ELT student, I am supposed to study six subjects: Communicative Skills, teaching speaking, reading and writing, Classroom management, linguistics, Research paper writing, and Phonetics. I stay at my class from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. There are four sessions in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each session lasts an hour. There is 10 minute-recess after each session.

All my classmates are form different area of Mandalay and different towns or states. But, we all have the same destination; that is, to finish the ELT course successfully even though our purposes are different. Moreover, we have the same opinions on the matter of how it is necessary to participate in activities such as role play, play games and micro-teaching. Every teacher usually gets us to do an activity related to recently finished unit so that we can practically apply each of the teaching method and lessons in the future.  

Lunch break is from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. With hungry stomach, I usually go to university canteen or to a little eatery which is out of the university campus with my classmates to have lunch.  

The afternoon session starts at 1 o’clock and finishes at 3. After that, I say good-bye to all my friends and go straight home on my motorbike. But, sometimes, I and my best friends hang out at a tea shop and have a chat. I reach home at 4 and then I take a rest for a while. I spend my evening by reading, watching TV, practicing the piano and the guitar and study My English lessons for the next day. Finally, with a heavy sigh, I go to bed at ten after setting my alarm clock to ring at 6 in the next morning, switch off the lights and try to fall asleep.