Fun at Piboonprachasan School

Today was our last day teaching at Piboonprachasan school as part of our practicum. Piboonprachasan school is a large K-12 school and we learned on the first day that it was set up by a progressive but controversial politician for students who were mostly from lower income families. While most schools rejected students if they had low tests scores (students have to take entrance exams to enter high schools, even public ones), Piboonprachasan was new in that it included students regardless of their results.

Early last week, all the ETAs including myself felt a good amount of anxiety about teaching, because (1) almost all of us have never had a real teaching job, (2) we didn’t know what to expect, and (3) we were afraid this experience would void us from ever teaching us again. We were teaching in pairs for the first few days for 4 hours a day and then for the subsequent days, taught individually for 50 minutes with a break in between.  

Our minds were blown. Well, at least mine and my partner, Caitlin.

The first day was nerve wracking, but Caitlin and I made it through while successfully sticking to our lesson plans and melting much of the ice. There were about 15 students in our class the first day who were a mix from Matayom 1-3 (7-9^th grade). Early on, Caitlin and I realized that the students’ English levels were very low to the point that we were sure they didn’t understand most of our instructions. Thank goodness I had two arms to flail around and use all the hand motions imaginable to human beings to get our instructions across. Once Caitlin and I figured out how to communicate effectively, we had a LOT of fun. We had a theme each day and structured most of our lessons in the form of games. Since the system of rote memorization that had been the norm for the past several decades in Thailand (and Asia) did not have much effect on English fluency, our lecturers emphasized using other methods to get students to speak while having fun. I also realized how much my negative experiences with school in my childhood helped me now to create an atmosphere to make students feel included and loved regardless of their struggles.

The kids warmed up to Caitlin and me pretty quickly. I know that 5 days is really not enough for any real growth to occur, so Caitlin and I tried to focus on the words and sentences the students had likely learned before and had them use those tools in new ways. At the end of every school day, I felt much gratification and happiness from teaching. For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a job where I might actually directly impact people’s lives in a positive way. This was one of the reasons I applied for this Fulbright grant. As much as I love biology, I have gotten a bit disillusioned by the memorization of theories, formulas, and systems that I couldn’t see how I could put to practical use. I wanted to do something real and meaningful for once, and here I am in Thailand. A wise advisor once told me that though English teaching seems like it has nothing to do with my field of study, this experience will change me in ways that will make my life better-rounded and shed much light on my future vocation…a very Ignatian remark.

Today was a fun day specifically for the students because they got a lot of treats while practicing selling and buying things. A fellow ETA, Jamie, came up with the ingenious idea of teaching the kids about Trick or treating and having them go to the different classes the ETAs taught in to get candy. The kids had a blast with this, and it also made me remember my childhood trick or treating days. Caitlin and I tried not to think about the possibility that we may never see our students again after today since we are leaving for our actual schools next week. I set up a new email and Facebook account just for student use, and a few of our students have already added us!  I am infinitely grateful to Fulbright Thailand for this experience. Here are photos from the past 5 school days: (Thanks to Caitlin for all the pictures and for her camera that took better photos than mine)

Teaching a lesson on colors and descriptions

Miss K trying out the human knot on the students

Some of the students' awesome drawings from the description class

I had a type of scavenger hunt game using a Skytrain BTS map and the kids really got into it

Market Day: Miss K is making sure everybody is speaking English

Halloween candy

Our amazing class: (Back: Miss K, Fil, Arm, Fha, Wa, May, Nueng, Jal, Pook, Me; Front: Aum, Guide, Eve, and Bens)

In the Jungles of Kanchanaburi

This past weekend, all the Fulbright ETAs were set up to stay with Thai host families. My family treated me with so much kindness and by the end of Sunday, I really felt like I was one of the kids. My host family along with my host father's sister and husband went on a trip to Kanchanaburi province, a highly forested area west of Bangkok. It was about a 1.5 hour drive altogether. I fell asleep sometime during the drive and woke up to vast expanses of green that gently reminded me I wasn't in Bangkok anymore. It was rejuvenating to be among trees again. We visited the Allied War cemetery, the Bridge over River Kwae, and stayed on a resort right on a giant lake/reservoir (Si Nakharin). Here are photos from the trip:

Bridge over River Kwae

Feeding a dog our leftover hot dogs on sticks

My room at the Green Hill River Resort

A friend at breakfast

It brought more friends when I put a glob of condensed milk on the table

With my host mom

Host siblings Dtern and Mink

Thailand family

My first night with a Thai host family

We only had Thai lessons this morning with Ajaan Soison (P'Nan) and no afternoon classes. The group went to eat for the last time at a special vegetarian market and then went back to the dorms to pack up for our home stay this weekend with a Thai family. I was originally told by P'Gee, who is the organizer for the ETA program and a wonderful lady, that I was going to be with the same family as Jamie, another fellow Fulbrighter.

I was getting myself ready for a family of little children until I arrived back in the classroom and found out that there was a mix up. To make a long story short, the father of my 'real' host family had the same name as the father of Jamie's family so the office thought that we were going to the same family, but in fact, we were going to two different families. If you didn't get that story, just scratch it.

P'Tip, the director of the Fulbright program who I mentioned before, had a little icebreaker where the Thai families had to find their Fulbrighter. Since I was the only male, P'Tip thought it was a little bit too easy for me and thought that I had to find my family instead of the other way around. I found them alright and the ice began to melt. I am with a family with two kids, one 20 year old daughter (Ming) and one 17 year old boy (Dtern). The father, who I call Khun Paw, which means father in Thai, owns an aluminum and glass business for construction. He had a degree in mathematics and used to teach for 6 years before beginning his business which has been successful for 20 years. The mother, Khun Mae, is a homemaker and very kind. We went to a shopping complex called Central Plaza to watch a movie and have dinner.

We ended up watching "Red," an American film based on DC comics that I've not heard about before. It was funny and entertaining except for the awkward movie previews beforehand that showed a little bit too much skin for Thai standards (I think). The movie previews/commercials were about 30 minutes long followed by a short video of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej to which everyone stood up to pay their respects including me. At the end of the movie, we went to eat at Sizzlers and I ordered fish and chips, because I've been craving it. By the end of the movie, the ice had melted quite completely and I really feel like I am part of the family now. We talk and laugh a lot, mostly at me and my bad Thai, but hey, sanuk is sanuk. Adding to my fortunate circumstances, we are going to the beautiful province of Kanchanaburi tomorrow, so stay tuned for stories of my awesome adventures with my Thai host family in the jungle.


My Thai host family, eating at Sizzlers



To Ayuthaya and Back

I don't have the time yet to write a long post, but consider this a snapshot of the happenings of the past few days in Thailand. You can see that I've been eating a lot and it is quite fitting especially since we're in the middle of a giant vegetarian "Ahaan J" festival. We went to Ayuthaya, the previous capital of Thailand, this past weekend and it was a stunning place. I will explain more detail later. I'm rushing off to dinner and a lesson planning meeting now. Chok dii na krub!

Pad Thai

MossBurger (Rice burger with fried octopus)

Having dinner with the former ETAs at the Royal Turf Club (On the left is P'Tip, the Executive Fulbright Director of Thailand, talking to Mallory)

Eating at a very nice vegetarian restaurant "Tham Na"

The food was this good

I had to throw in a photo of myself to show that I'm still alive, here I'm at Wat Mahathat in Ayuthaya

The group busy taking photos

That's most of us in Ayuthaya

Mallory, Lana, and Caitlin

Caitlin's excited her birthday is in three days

Wat Ratburana

The beautifully preserved 'prang' at Wat Ratburana, it is a memorial site for the king's two brothers who died fighting each other

Climbing up the 'prang'

From the top of the 'prang'

Wat Ratburana entrance

Mallory looking out from the 'prang'

The crew

This ice cream parlor is pretty popular here in Bangkok

We celebrated our first birthday: Caitlin's that is, and she got three separate celebrations

Luuk chuum - delicious Thai kanom

Gifts and more snacks