It's a wake up call. I'm currently in the middle of my second day in a small country Thai school and I definitely don't fit in. Yesterday was probably the longest day in school and I was only there from 10am-4pm. Let's back up to yesterday for some explanations...(June 11 -- I started writing this, then forgot. Oops.)
While staying at Ban San Faan children's home just east of Chiang Mai (I'll talk more about BSF later), one of my duties is assisting another volunteer at the school right up the road. We teach two classes of kindergarten in the morning at the children's home, then head over to the school just down the road to teach 1st-3rd grade. Since English is the foreign language, these children know startlingly little. Third grade was full of children ages 5-16 -- THIRD GRADE. I couldn't believe the age differences! I wanted to pull the students aside and ask them why they are in 3rd grade. I wanted to pull the Thai office staff aside and ask if they were put in the wrong class by mistake. Surely in a school this small (77 students, 1st-6th grade), they can rearrange the students according to age so boys with mustaches aren't sitting next to 7-year-old girls in pig-tails. Most of all, I wanted to ask someone "What are you thinking?" and get a response that makes sense to me. But then I had to remind myself that this is Thailand, and things rarely make sense to my Westernized brain.
Because of the huge differences in age and English knowledge, the students were majorly distracted and weren't paying attention to anything we were trying to teach. It didn't matter how many times we read the same instructions ("Color four leaves green"), only about five of the 16 students would be paying attention, and then only one would actually pick up a green colored pencil.
Well this morning, I was asked to come in early to be formally introduced to the student body during flag raising/prayer/announcement time. Everything was said and done in Thai. I couldn't understand a word of it. Okay, maybe a word or two....but I digress. When asked if I wanted to say anything after I was introduced, I fumbled around lamely and only said my name and that I was looking forward to working with 1st-3rd grade. I understood the rest of my introduction: volunteering at BSF...teacher from Bangkok...here to help Teacher Randi. What more needed to be voiced?
But during announcement time the students were given a tongue-lashing such as I've never heard before. And to make it most effective, it was all done in Thai. You see, after Monday's kerfuffle with the 3rd graders, we went back to the home and explained (okay yes, complained) that the students were misbehaving so badly and didn't listen to a word we said; stating that it was extremely difficult to teach them anything when they weren't paying attention. So announcement time was spent berating the students on behaving badly and not respecting teachers like they know they are supposed to -- especially the foreign teachers who are volunteering to teach them English. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to run away. I wanted to apologize to the students for ratting on them. I felt sorry for the kids. But I mostly felt sorry for me; standing there in the middle of the open hallway with the students lined up on either side listening to a Thai scolding of a lifetime. They knew who tattled -- it was my direct supervisor (the manager of the home) who was telling them not to be naughty little students. I tried not to think about what she was actually saying to the students, but I caught a word here and there as they fired out of her mouth. Students...bad...teacher...try to help...know how to be good to Thai teacher...learn English. And then after ten excruciating minutes of feeling unbelievably exposed, the 'announcement' time was over, students were wai-ing, and I was excused to go back to the home to teach the Kindergarten classes. During the short walk back to the home, I vowed never to tattle on my students again. I would handle discipline in my own way within the confines of the classroom.
While staying at Ban San Faan children's home just east of Chiang Mai (I'll talk more about BSF later), one of my duties is assisting another volunteer at the school right up the road. We teach two classes of kindergarten in the morning at the children's home, then head over to the school just down the road to teach 1st-3rd grade. Since English is the foreign language, these children know startlingly little. Third grade was full of children ages 5-16 -- THIRD GRADE. I couldn't believe the age differences! I wanted to pull the students aside and ask them why they are in 3rd grade. I wanted to pull the Thai office staff aside and ask if they were put in the wrong class by mistake. Surely in a school this small (77 students, 1st-6th grade), they can rearrange the students according to age so boys with mustaches aren't sitting next to 7-year-old girls in pig-tails. Most of all, I wanted to ask someone "What are you thinking?" and get a response that makes sense to me. But then I had to remind myself that this is Thailand, and things rarely make sense to my Westernized brain.
Because of the huge differences in age and English knowledge, the students were majorly distracted and weren't paying attention to anything we were trying to teach. It didn't matter how many times we read the same instructions ("Color four leaves green"), only about five of the 16 students would be paying attention, and then only one would actually pick up a green colored pencil.
Well this morning, I was asked to come in early to be formally introduced to the student body during flag raising/prayer/announcement time. Everything was said and done in Thai. I couldn't understand a word of it. Okay, maybe a word or two....but I digress. When asked if I wanted to say anything after I was introduced, I fumbled around lamely and only said my name and that I was looking forward to working with 1st-3rd grade. I understood the rest of my introduction: volunteering at BSF...teacher from Bangkok...here to help Teacher Randi. What more needed to be voiced?
But during announcement time the students were given a tongue-lashing such as I've never heard before. And to make it most effective, it was all done in Thai. You see, after Monday's kerfuffle with the 3rd graders, we went back to the home and explained (okay yes, complained) that the students were misbehaving so badly and didn't listen to a word we said; stating that it was extremely difficult to teach them anything when they weren't paying attention. So announcement time was spent berating the students on behaving badly and not respecting teachers like they know they are supposed to -- especially the foreign teachers who are volunteering to teach them English. I wanted to disappear. I wanted to run away. I wanted to apologize to the students for ratting on them. I felt sorry for the kids. But I mostly felt sorry for me; standing there in the middle of the open hallway with the students lined up on either side listening to a Thai scolding of a lifetime. They knew who tattled -- it was my direct supervisor (the manager of the home) who was telling them not to be naughty little students. I tried not to think about what she was actually saying to the students, but I caught a word here and there as they fired out of her mouth. Students...bad...teacher...try to help...know how to be good to Thai teacher...learn English. And then after ten excruciating minutes of feeling unbelievably exposed, the 'announcement' time was over, students were wai-ing, and I was excused to go back to the home to teach the Kindergarten classes. During the short walk back to the home, I vowed never to tattle on my students again. I would handle discipline in my own way within the confines of the classroom.
