In the land of ratchaphruek trees: teaching

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)