Back at the Border School

The High School students have finished the year and are very happy to be done with the exams.  There is an energy of relief in the air.  I am back teaching at Ban Hin Turn primary school with  students aged pre-school through 6th.  This last week we had fun singing songs and playing English vocabulary games.  The students are so adorable.  I have taught more days at this school than any other so I am becoming very close to many of the students.  

I have to share a story that may be off the "Awwwww..." scale.  You will see a picture here of one students holding a homemade guitar.  His name is "First" and he is about 7 or 8 years old and the smallest boy in his class.  First is totally enamoured with me and my guitar.  Every time I play and sing he is always there right by my side watching with absolute concentration.  One day, about 2 weeks ago, while I was teaching his class, he hastily constructed his own guitar from his notebook and a ruler and while I would play he would strum along in unison.  The next day he showed up to school with a guitar made from a cardboard cut out and it was decorated with flames and lots of color.  He carried this guitar with him to every class and I would see him sometimes walking between classes strumming it and singing "This little Light of Mine".  The guitar in the photo is version 2 of his guitars and he always has it with him.  Ok...  all together now....  "Awwww".

I taught again at the Temple on Saturday and will teach again at the border school this next week.   Then that's it.  School is closed for summer break and I will have about a week and a half to relax before I head back home on the 18th.

I am sitting at a coffee shop that is right on the beach in Ban Krud and it is a beautiful day.  Very hot, about 90-95 degrees but there is a slight breeze and the ocean in calm.  It is so beautiful here.

Peace and Blessings,

--Christian

Another Week of Teaching

I finished up teaching at Chaikesem Whittya on Friday.  What a great week.  Once again we sang songs and practiced our English.  Kru Lek loaned me one of her motor cycles for the week to get to Chaikesem.  It is kind of a cross between a mo-ped and a motorcycle.  It is a 100cc, 4 speed, semi-automatic.  It's a very fun way to get around and see Thailand.  Chaikesem is a bigger school with 800 students.  Their English is very good and they are, for the most, part very disciplined students.  I was supposed to teach one class with Kru Patty, (one of the teachers that attended the Power of One program), and when she told me to take a break instead I was surprised to find out why later that day.  She said that several students in the class did not turn in a big assignment that was due that day so she had to discipline them with a bamboo switch across the bum.  I told her that this was something that is never allowed in America because of the litigious way of Americans.

 There is a sense of urgency in the air at all of the high schools this week as all the students are preparing for final exams coming up next week.  The 12th grade also has there University entrance exams this weekend.  The exams are taken in the city all day Saturday and all day Sunday.  Just like American students, there is a lot of pressure on the students to do well on these exams so that they can get into a good college.  I will be glad when they are done with exams so that we can celebrate and hang out again.

Today is Sunday and I am back at Ban Krud for a hot shower and relaxing on the beach.  It is very hot here.  About 90 -95 degrees everyday and there has been no rain for several Months.  The farmers are praying for rain everyday as it is unusually dry.  The humidity is high but they desperately need rain for their crops.  The bugs are out of control right now.  I have gone through several bottles of bug spray already.  The sea is calm and beautiful.  I will miss it terribly.  The beach has been my escape every weekend and sometimes after school.  I love to just sit and enjoy the sunset and I try to soak in every minute of it knowing that I only have 3 weeks left.

Kru Lek is taking such good care of me still.  We have dinner every night and she is always having me try new dishes.  She seems to know when I am craving American food because she will occasionally take me to a restaurant in town that serves pizza and spaghetti.  It's not the best but it is still delicious and a nice departure from rice and fish.  She takes my dirty laundry every few days and always makes sure that I have lots of snacks and coffee at my house.  I am so spoiled.

Yesterday I taught English to about 70 kids at a local Buddhist Temple.  I was so amazed that these kids, aged 7 -15, came to learn English on a Saturday.  We studied for about 3 hours but it was really fun because we sang several songs and I played guitar for them.  We also played Simon Says, all in English.  I will do this again for the next 3 Saturdays.  The students will then get a certificate upon completion.  Their teacher, Kru Dang, sent letters to all of the parents of her school and asked them to encourage their kids to study English with a foreigner.  She says it is a rare opportunity for them and is invaluable in helping them learn to speak and understand English.  After the lesson several students stayed for a picture and wanted me to sign their notebooks.  I gave them my email and asked them to email me anytime.   They are so adorable!

Monday I start back at the primary school, Ban Hin Turn.  I am excited to go back to see the students and teachers.

Life is good!

And so it is....

Namaste

On to Chaikesem Whittya School

I have finished up teaching at Thap Sakae Whittya High School.  On Monday I start teaching at another local High School called Chiakesem Whittya.  I will teach there for only one week because the following week the students will be taking exams and wrapping up their semester to start a 2 month summer break.  Then the plan for my last 3 weeks is to go back to teaching at the primary school called Ban Hin Turn, grades pre-school through 6th.  I can't believe I only have one month left here!

Last week was very emotional for me.  On my last day at Thap Sakae the students and teachers gave me a huge send off, (one that probably would have been appropriate if I had been there for 2 years and not just 2 weeks).  In the morning I said farewell to all of the students over the PA system at their regular morning assembly.  I thanked them for being so great to me and for being such great students.  I told them that they should be proud of their English and that I was impressed by their hard work and dedication to the English language.  I told them that I sincerely hoped to see them again soon.  Then the director thanked me and gave me a beautiful bag that has an elephant embroidered on the front.  Inside was a little money.  I am extremely grateful as I know that the school has no budget for this and it makes me wonder if the teachers might have passed a hat.  I will never know but as I said, I cannot find words to say how grateful I am for their kindness.  If that was not enough....  each class had a student come to the front and bring me a gift.  I was overwhelmed and am not afraid to say that I cried throughout the entire ordeal.  The gifts were amazing.  A picture frame, 2 beautiful jigsaw puzzles with beautiful scenes from Thailand and a beautiful hand carved bamboo flute.  Then students lined up by the dozens to give me candy, cards, letters and little hand written notes that said things like, "I will miss you", "I love you", and "I hope you can come back to teach at my school soon".  It was so touching.

My last day at Thap Sakae was a blast!  I am not sure how it came about but it seems that all Thai teenagers love the song "Zombie" by The Cranberries.  It's a great song because the lyrics are about peace and the tragedy of war.  It is also a blessing because the lyrics have many words that are difficult to pronounce for them.  Like the "Z" in Zombie and the "th"sound.  This is because the Thai language doesn't have these sounds.  So in each class throughout the day we read the lyrics and focused on pronouncing each and every word correctly.  Then I played guitar and the students sang the song over and over again focusing on the words.  (See the video below).  It was fun and rewarding as I could see their pronunciation improving each time.  The teachers would stand in the hall and listen and afterword thanked me for getting the students so engaged and told me that they could see much improvement in their English.

Once again...  I cannot begin to describe how rewarding this experience has been for me.  I feel so loved and appreciated.  The teachers and students have gone above and beyond in making sure that I feel this way and for this I am so grateful.

Namaste

Teaching High School

I have finished teaching my first week of High School at Thap Sakae Wittya.  What a great week.  I would sometimes teach 6 classes per day keeping me very busy.  The school has an English department where all students attend once per week.  They study grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension.  They work very hard at English because it is very important not only for increasing their marketability in finding a good career, but also for getting into a good University as the University entrance exam, (similar to our SAT and ACT), has an English portion.  My role is to speak English in class so that they can hear it used in normal context, to listen to the rhythm, and to hear certain words pronounced correctly.  Thai is so very different from English in that many Thai words can have different meanings just by the tone used.  For example, a Thai word that is said with a rising tone can mean something totally different if pronounced with a downward tone.  This is true with some English words but tones are the foundation of Thai language.  So this makes it sometimes difficult for the students to pronounce English if they have only read how to speak English from a book.  This first week I talked about America and where I am from.  I talked about Colorado and how we are very far from the ocean.  I talked about the food we eat, which they think is sometimes strange and unappetising.  I talked about the mountains and why Denver is called "The Mile High City".  I talked about sports and American hobbies.  The students would always ask about my trip from America and how long it took.  I would explain each leg of the flight and how it takes about 30 hours total travel time to get to Thailand.  They also wanted to know how much it cost.  I would tell them that a one way ticket costs about $800, or 32,000 Thai Baht.  So for them to visit America it would cost about 60,000 Thai Baht for a round trip ticket.  Each time they would gasp and then become disappointed because this is an astronomical amount of money for them.  One student told me that her mother works full time and makes about 175 Baht per day!  So even with a good job, it would be very difficult if not impossible to save the money for a trip to America.  I told the students what it might be like to attend High School in America.  That most students drive their own car to school when they turn 16.  In Thailand you have to be 18 to drive a car and most families don't have a car.  But, many students do drive mopeds to school when they are 16.  I told them that American students can wear pretty much anything they want to school.  All Thai students wear a uniform everyday at public school.  On one particular morning I noticed that one of the female teachers had pulled aside all of the female students.  I then noticed her pull out a ruler and a pair of scissors and she measured the length of each students hair.  If the students hair was any longer than the equivalent of a short bob, she would cut it right there!  I thought of the diversity of American students hair with their mohawks, green hair, purple hair, dreads, etc.  This is the same for the boys.  Every couple of weeks one of the male teachers will give the boys a military style haircut with clippers right at school.  The students work very hard at their studies but are never on time to class.  This is the norm.  Students often show up to a 1 hour class 15 or 20 minutes late and many of the teachers don't say a word about it.  This makes the class very short and offered an opportunity for me to practice patience.  The students can only understand about 50% of what I say, even when I talk very slowly.  So one of the best ways to practice English is to sing songs.  I have been teaching each and every class the song "This Little Light of Mine".  It is easy and has a good meaning behind the words.  The students love to sing it and they love to have me play the guitar for them.  Each class I tell them that we are having a competition to see which class can sing it the loudest.  They love it and let it rip!  They have asked me to learn some other American songs to sing and I have been working on them.  One is Kelly Clarkson, "Because of You"....   yeeesh;)   But, they love it and it helps them practice their English.

I have one more week at this school and then I teach for 1 or 2 weeks at another local High School.

Tomorrow, (Monday), is a very important Holiday in Thailand.  It is called Mugha Puja Day.  It takes place on the full moon of the 3rd lunar month, (usually late February or early March).  It marks the anniversary of the day the Lord Buddha first recited the teachings of Buddhism to his disciples.  It is a National holiday so all schools, banks, and government offices are closed so that everyone can go to the Temple in the morning to worship and give offerings to the Monks.  In the evening there are many candlelit processions through the city streets leading to the Temples.  I have been told that it is very beautiful.  Ironically, tomorrow is also a partial lunar eclipse.  I am looking forward to taking part in the festivities.

I can't wait for another week of teaching at Thap Sakae.  I am making many friends and I really enjoy connecting with the students and teachers.  Sorry for not posting any photos this week.  It seems that my camera stayed in my backpack all week.  I will try to take some more pics this next week.

Happy Mugha Puja Day!

Namaste