Games galore

I just ordered a few portable games from Amazon to bring with me to Thailand (UNO, Bananagrams, and Settlers of Catan). I thought they'd be fun to play to pass the time with my fellow Fulbrighters and especially with my students. I don't know if Thai kids like board games and such, but I think it'll be worth introducing them.

Another set of good news is that I have established contact with all my fellow Fulbright ETAs, and we have a nice thread going on in Gmail. Some of us who have the same flight have even opted to sit together. I really hope and pray that we'll all get along well and be of one mind and heart.

I also recently read an article concerning Thai youth in the NY Times. It gave me something to think about concerning my future students. The article essentially talked about connections between the bouts of instability in Thailand and how those events may have created situations in which Thai students are tempted to get into trouble. Supposedly, a problematic connection is that frequent changes in government cause frequent changes in education policies and also declining educational standards. The article cited examples in the Northeast where violence among youth have become increasingly common. Though this could be indirectly connected to the political changes, another culprit could be the financial struggles that the Northeast has been facing for many years.

I am not sure if my future students in Sawankhalok are also going through similar struggles. Two of my fellow Fubrighters have commented that they have seen similar problems among the students they have taught in the US. It could very well be a worldwide occurrence, so I don't agree completely with the article that the political upheavals alone are causing trouble among the youth. Perhaps the economic downtown all around the world is causing direct and indirect effects on children. I hope that as a teacher, I don't only equip my students with greater fluency in English, but that I'm able to plant seeds in their lives that will help them grow up to be successful and happy. I'm not sure what kind of seed that is, and it'll be a challenge with the language barrier. As important that English is in giving the students more flexibility in shaping their futures and communicating globally, I hope that I can give them other gifts to help them.