Stepping into the school provides an instant contrast to the chaos outside. I am invited to sit at a large dining table, and feel more like I’m in a living room than a faculty lounge. The English teacher and principal pour me a cup of green tea in a seemingly concilliatory gesture– they seem anxious. We make small talk about where I am living, how long I’ve been in Vietnam; they seem preoccupied by the throng of excited students pressing themselves to the bars of the window and rarely make eye contact.

Before long, the English teacher leads me upstairs through a crumbling staircase into a 10′x12′ room with 40 fidgeting students. I have the sterotypical chalkboard and row after row of dilapidated school desks. I have 45 minutes to kill, four times over, and maybe I can use my quasi-celebrity to get me through this. As I clear my throat, the class startles me by rising to their feet in unison.

“Good morning Mr…” The class trails off. I take my cue and write “WARD” slowly across the board, pronouncing it for them carefully. They resume, “Good morning Mr. Ward. How are you today?”

“I am doing well, how are you?”

“We are fine.”

“Please sit down,” I say, brushing off my fatigue and turning toward the board to compose myself. “My name is Rob Ward. Can anyone guess where I am from?”

This exercise works perfectly. The students come up with guesses you might expect: Los Angeles, New York, Washington D.C. I’m lucky– no one will guess New Mexico, let alone Santa Fe. Luckily,speaking with a foreigner is so entertaining, none of my students feel cheated by this development. I split them into groups of three to answer a few simple biographical questions, and choose one ‘spokesperson’ to tell the class about their group. Their behavior is a marvel to me. My English-teacher guide carefully watches the students and keeps them orderly for me, though they need little guidance. Each group reports out earnestly and with perfect discipline.

My four classes pass by with similar ease, and I begin to feel at home in front of the class. I learn to use my position in class–toward the back–to get some quiet students to speak more loudly. I learn that by approaching a chattering group, they will quiet down. After four classes, I learn a lot of little tricks and leave happy and optimistic about teaching. Maybe I can actually do this and enjoy the experience. Maybe I should be a teacher.