Do as the Thais Do

Today was an awesome teaching day. It really took me a while to realize Thailand is a collective society and this translates to teaching as my students get very apprehensive when they are called on as a group or asked to do something individually. Today before asking an answer I let the students have a few seconds to discuss with group! So so much better. I realized this when on the wall I saw customs "Students must work in groups." It is so different from our get ahead, individualism but when in Rome do as the Romans do or when in Thai teach as the Thais do.

It is not that I am lowering my expectations, which it took me awhile to realize, but I need to teach in a way that is not totally foreign to them or order to be able to get some of the material across.

On a downer note I learned that of my 93 9th graders only 10 are going onto 10th grade next year. 9th grade or M3 is the last required level. They will start working next year as vendors, in the service industry, or in a factory my host teacher informed me. Luckily some will spend a year or so gaining some tech or service related education. I knew I was assigned to an extremely poor school with students with few opportunities, but it is hard to teach students in their last year or education who may never use English.

I thought about this a lot, but I realized that I never know how this year will effect these students. It may be that they use English once with a foreigner, or are able to navigate the web, or it just maybe that I helped them understand foreigners a little better.For those who are in the lower level I think a big part of what I am doing is preparing them to have other foreign teachers. So next year when the second Fulbright comes to my school they wont have to spend a month teaching that it is OK to answer questions on your own every once and awhile. or maybe they will know the difference in say and ask or maybe they will know that foriegners have a difference sense of space, time, and privacy.

The process of teaching make me want to write every teacher I have ever had and let them know I may not remember everything they taught, but I remember how I felt and how they taught.