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