Tag: school

Bpai Tiao: School Field Trip to Chonburi

September 27, 2013

In Thailand, a bpai tiao is a trip of any length. I’ve written about some of my more significant bpai tiaos to tourist destinations here, to be used as travel ideas and tips.

On Tuesday in the wee hours of the morning, I made my way to school. The fourth, fifth and sixth graders were to go on their end of semester field trip and rather than spend the day sitting at school in an empty classroom len-ing Internet (playing on the Internet), I decided to go with them. This was the quintessential Thai trip.

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Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Schools

September 24, 2013

Last week, I attended a Peace Corps workshop called Student Friendly Schools. This was the second time ever that Peace Corps did the Student Friendly Schools workshop; the first time was in Malawi. This is a new global initiative of the Peace Corps. Myself and 14 other volunteers along with Thai counterparts attended a two-and-a-half day workshop to learn about gender-based violence and school-based gender-based violence. Then we started working on a plan to implement what we learned back at site.

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The Frustrations of English Competitions in Thailand

September 13, 2013

After my conversation with my co-teacher about critical thinking and watching how schools work here in Thailand, I feel comfortable saying that learning, in the Western sense of being curious about a topic and wanting to learn the why and how of it, is not valued here. Learning in the sense of memorizing and reciting is valued. Which brings me to tell you about how I have spent my time after school for the last couple weeks.

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Thai Education System: Critical Thinking

September 10, 2013

When comparing eight of the countries that are a part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Thailand ranks eighth. The two countries that were not included were Laos and Burma, which are widely regarded as low performing. That means that children in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam were more proficient on the test. And Education Ministry officials are “stunned.” However, an honest look at the Thai education system reveals lots of room for improvement.

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Thai Collectivism as Seen in the Classroom

August 20, 2013

I’m definitely an embodiment of the individualistic attitude of the US. My mother tells me stories of how at 2, I refused help with putting on my shoes by adamantly shouting, “I DO IT MYSELF, MAMA! I DO IT MYSELF!” Probably not hard for most people who know me to imagine me at two saying such things. But now I’m living in a place that my 2-year-old self would have been at great odds with (and my adult self is still at odds with, but slightly less so.) Thai culture is one that is decidedly collectivist, not individualist.

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Training Teachers on English Teaching and Beyond

August 9, 2013

When I got my nomination for Peace Corps in April 2012, I was told that I was nominated for a Primary Teacher Trainer position in Asia set to leave in January 2013. I imagined that I would be training a large number of teachers on a host of topics, from discipline and classroom management to new teaching methods through monthly trainings at a number of schools. The reality of my program is that my job is more to focus on training two specific teachers at one school in better ways to teach English.

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Wan Wai Kruu: A Day to Honor Teachers

June 16, 2013

Teachers are among the most respected professionals in Thailand. Every school year, there is a day called Wan Wai Kruu, which loosely translates and “Day to Pay Respect to Teachers.” The students spend days practicing, preparing the school grounds and creating the small offerings they give. On Wan Wai Kruu, the students gather in an assembly, and each student, class by class, comes up to the teachers on stage, kneels and wais to the teachers. They give them the flower offerings they prepared and the teachers give them blessings and encouragement for the coming school year. Check out the video to see what Wan Wai Kruu looked like at my school this year.