School Reflections

Well we made it – our last day today!! We finished teaching February 22nd. We did not have school Monday because of a holiday. This week February 26^th  – March 1st is Finals Week. Finals week is similar to midterms – foreign teachers sit in the office to complete grading because English finals were the week before.  We both finished our grading Tuesday before lunch – meaning we have a lot of time to sit in the office with not very many things to do. We have occupied times over the past few days reading, playing games on the computer and tablet, tutoring students, and playing some games with students when they are not testing.

Teaching in Thailand for 5 months has been an adjustment especially with both of us having taught in the States. The school system here is so drastically different than the western system we are used to. Let’s compare a few things:

	Thailand School System	United States School System
Discipline	Reasons for Discipline: - socks are too short or holey - shirts are not tucked in - hair is too long - Skipping class (sometimes disciplined) - Playing games while the teacher is teaching Consequence: - a whipping with a stick - getting your hair buzzed (discipline when it is to long) -A stern talking to -If it gets really bad, parents come into school Things we see that often do not have consequences (that we know of):  - Punching another student -  Pushing or shoving each other - Cheating- most cheating seems to be tolerated	Reasons for Discipline: - cheating - skipping class - fighting - bullying Consequences: - detention - meeting with Principle and/or Parents - meetings with school counselor and/or police officer
School Lunch	Free Choice! There are around 30 different food stalls selling anything you could want meals, desserts and drinks. Students and staff are choose what they want each day. Lunch is paid in cash. There are no restrictions on what or how much a person can eat.	Lunch Program with set requirements and restrictions.
Teachers Clothing	Men: dress pants, buttoned shirt and tie. Women: dress or skirt at least knee length and must cover shoulders. No open toe shoes.	Appropriate professional clothes for your teaching situation.
Students Clothing	Uniform. The uniform shirt has your name embroidered on it and your grade denoted by a colored dot. Shoes, socks, backpacks, hairstyle and hair accessories all uniform and must be worn. Hair especially strict for M1, M2, and M3 (7th, 8th, and 9th grade)	Free choice, as long as it’s school appropriate.
Teaching & Office Time	7:30 – 4:00 everyday - 50 minute class periods - Teach a 17-20 periods a week, maximum is three periods in a row. - Teach 2-5 class periods in a day - All work is done at school (in our case at least)	8:00 – 4:00 everyday - 50 minute class periods - Teach 30-35 periods a week - Have one or two periods off a day - Lots of work is done before and after school
Classroom Challenges	*Classroom environment is much different than at home. Often foreign teachers are treated very differently than Thai teachers by the students. Many Thai teachers carry sticks (and speak the language) so students are generally good. Foreign teachers do not carry sticks and have a language barrier; with these barriers, if a student decides they do not want to learn English and would rather talk, play, or fight it becomes nearly impossible to discipline. Especially when you consider 45-50 students in a class. With that many students there always seems to be a few who have a long list of things they would rather do than learn English. A foreign teacher can see all of the following happen while trying to teach: Excessive Talking Fighting Skipping Class Climbing Out Windows Sneaking out to escape English Class Setting Fires Punching Playing Takaw (Thai Soccer) Sleeping Working on other class work Students chasing others around Special Needs- little to no support Low English Ability Inability to Discipline	*Classroom environment is much more controlled due to high expectations for behavior and smaller class sizes. Students generally respect the teacher while teaching. Students are expected to put forth effort and complete work independently. A teacher may encounter the following challenges in a classroom: Talking Cheating Special Needs - however there is usually  support for this in the US Mental Health Issues Minor fighting Tardiness Skipping Horsing around Sleeping
What students call us:	Teacher Josh & Teacher Beth - Most students just call us Teacha	Mr. Deal & Mrs. Deal
Grades	A class subject is comprise of 100 points, 60 points each semester for daily work (30 given prior to midterms and 30 given after), 20 points for midterm test, and 20 points for final test. - In almost all cases students cannot fail, you must pass them. If a teacher fails a student, the teacher must do extra work with the student to make them pass. *We have seen that this can create a huge problem in some students work.  At times little effort is put into their school work because they know they will pass no matter what they do.	Points are at the teachers decision, whatever fits their class. - Students can fail. *Students have to put in effort to make sure that they do not fail.

 

Other  things we have learned is it takes a lot more time to get through material. Something that would get completed in one class period at home takes 2-3 class periods here. A fair amount of teaching material gets left out. Teaching time is reduced by students wandering in late, taking attendance, having to stop and have the students quiet themselves, students escaping the classroom, explaining things multiple times and then having the best English speaking student translate it for the rest of the class. Homework is out of the questions in most classes, because many students will lose it or do not understand when it is due, or many will copy it anyway (take pictures of it with their cell phones). 

This has been such a learning experience! We remember entering classrooms of 30-50 students, some of which did not speak any English, (mainly Josh’s classes) on the first day wondering how we were going to teach with constant talking and moving around. But we made it! Some days were rough and we came home a bit frustrated; but it’s like that with any job. Other days we left the classrooms very happy and excited thinking that we might have made a difference in their English ability. We were forced to grow as teachers, adapting to new methods to better serve our students needs and abilities. We are both very proud of what we have done and would not trade this experience with our students, colleagues, and school for anything knowing that we have become better teachers and people because of it.

We will certainly miss certain things about teaching in Thailand. We love hearing the students greeting message at the beginning of class and their “thank you teacha” at the end of class. Or whenever we see a student, in or out of school, both hands start flailing in a waving motion as they yell “hi teacha!!!”

The students greeting before every class period.

Or how some students will seek you out at lunch just to say hi. We will also miss being the celebrity couple (Beshua... okay I just made that name up) on the block, Josh being the tall white teacher, and Beth the only white female at school. We will miss some of the great students we have gotten to know over the past 5 months - especially those who have taken great care of us at times and been our personal translators and tour guides.

 

2/1 Class (we both teach) giving us a little goodbye performance.

What’s Next?

A few of Beth’s family members are traveling to Thailand to visit for 10 days. We are so excited for them to see and experience our life in Thailand. It will be nice to see familiar faces and spend some quality time family!! We plan to spend a few days in our neighborhood and Bangkok, visit the ancient city of Ayutthaya, lay on the beaches of Phuket, and enjoy the mountains of Chiang Mai.

After they leave for the States, we have one day to relax and prepare for our next adventure – Australia! We are traveling to Australia to visit Katrina and James who we haven’t seen them in almost 2 years – so excited to spend time in their neck of the woods!

Lots of fun and family ahead! :)