Day in the Life of a Thai Student

Update, finally! I haven't had internet at my house for the past 2 weeks or so now and I haven't been very willing to sit outside in the cold at the high school to pick up their wireless for very long!

This is an account of what a day in the life of

one of my Thai students might look like. However, everyday I am amazed at the different cultures and routines each of my elementary schools has so this account is one specific to my smaller more rural elementary school PlaPak Noi. This school has already become very dear to me and acts more like an extended family for the students and teachers. The teachers are more like parents in charge of disciplining and teaching students life skills.

Every morning starts with a morning assembly. The time mainly depends on when the teachers arrive at school this can be 8:15-9am. Students line up in their grade levels in perfectly straight lines equally spaced apart. The flag is raised, national athem sang, buddhist prayer said, and a marched exit accompanied by drums.

School Maintaience responsibilities fall mainly upon the students. They are incharge of sweeping, mopping, picking up any trash, watering all the plants, and picking up leaves (by hand), and even helping with construction. Right now my students have been helping with the construction of a new building of classrooms(funded by donations) to replace the open-air wooden room that houses sometimes up to 3 grade levels. I will see my tiny 2nd grade boys hauling huge cinder blocks or digging out the side of the hill to insert steps. I find this involvement in the school and its upkeep very beneficial to the students who then respect and appreciate their school. I do sometimes worry about their safety with the construction though.

In the next block of morning classes grade levels will rotate through my english class. I found that the morning schedule really revolves around my class since the bell is manually rung only by my students exiting the class. I dont think the bell is used at all when I'm not at the school. Time at the school runs on daily events rather than a schedule. When the students aren't in english class they are maybe working from workbooks, cleaning something, or the older students helping prepare lunch. Everyday it seems like my students receive a small cooking lesson (which sometimes I wish I could join!).

Lunch is then served with the menu usually being sticky rice, steamed veggies, fish soup, somtam salad, fried egg, and pork. However frog and chicken feet occasionally pop up too! After the teachers are done eating my 5th and 6th grade students are in charge of washing all the teachers dishes and cooking bowls.In the picture you can see the wash tubs that are usually surrounded by dogs looking for leftover scraps. The afternoon I teach Kindergarden-2nd grade and the older students play sports, scrub floors, or work on their prized vegtable garden they started a few weeks ago. Here is a video of my students one afternoon working in the garden.

Drying rack of students family style lunch plates

The end of the school runs similarly to the morning assembly but without the drums and flag. Students line up say a prayer, thank the teacher, and are then excused to go home. The time for this also varies greatly on the teachers after school plans.

I find myself usually conflicted with the my student's school routine. On one side I think it is great that the students are involved in the upkeep of the school, how respectful they are to the teachers, and the flexibilty in the school schedule. If something important comes up or could be benefical to the students the schedule should be able to change unlike the strict American school system dictating teachers every lesson plan. However there is a severe downside to the Thai way. I feel like the teachers sometime take too much advantage of their "power". One afternoon my students were washing a teachers car or how they scrub the floors every week instead of being taught. My students are learning valuable skills such as growing vegetables but as far as more academic learning seems to be missing or involved classroom teaching. This is part of the culture of Thai Teaching that we as volunteers are hopefully modeling for the rest of school on how to make classroom learning fun, meaningful and relevant to the student's lives. Recently I was notified that the school board was coming to observe me teach at PlaPak Noi and videotape my english lessons to use as example for other thai teachers. Even though I hate to be videotaped or observed teaching for that matter, I'm happy that the school board is taking note to how we teach without a the use of a workbook and are willing to incorporate new teaching strategies.