Life in a Thai School

Not that I have as huge amount of experience teaching back in England, but I think my experience as an English student alone is enough to show me the huge difference between a Thai and English school. The first and most obvious difference is the relationship between teachers and students. As I've mentioned before, the respect Thai people have for people older than them is unbelievable and is evident in the way students and teachers behave around each other. The students treat the teachers like royalty here - thanking them each lesson for teaching them, cleaning up after them and greeting them through 'Wai' every morning (hands in prayer position and bowing their head). When they queue up at my desk to have their homework marked in class, they queue on their knees, kneel at the desk and each Wai saying 'Thank you teacher' when I finish marking theirs and hand it back.

Grade 4's kneeling at my desk to have their work marked

Every lesson starts with a student in the class saying 'please stand up' as I enter, which they all do, and then say in unison:

Students: 'Good Morning Teacher. How are you?
Me: 'I am fine thank you, and you?
Students: 'I'm fine thank you.'
Me: 'Sit down please.
Students: 'Thank you teacher.'

Similar structure at the end of the day, with a 'Thank you teacher. Goodbye. See you again next class.'

It was actually a little creepy at first, but I'm starting to get used to it. It only took 6 weeks... One of my favourite students in Grade 5 is a young lad with quite severe learning difficulties. As soon as he sees me around school, he proceeds to follow me for about half an hour saying nothing in English other than 'See you again tomorrow!'. It really makes me chuckle, as it's obviously a phrase he's picked up from the end of lesson routine but he has no idea what he's saying. Other than that he talks at me for half an hour straight in fluent Thai. I don't know if he realises I don't understand; I've told him countless times but now I've learnt to just nod and smile instead!

'See you again tomorrow!' isn't he a cutey?

I also want to note the difference in the way the teachers treat the students here. An obvious difference is that they are allowed to hit the pupils here, which I saw for the first time only last week. Two boys in Grade 5 kept talking to each other whilst all the kids did their work in silence, as always. Purn, the English teacher and my mentor, went over to them and hit them round the back of the head with a text book. It was not enough to properly hurt them, but I was still shocked and felt incredibly awkward. It must be because I'm used to England which is the opposite extreme; it seems just by lightly touching a student in the UK you could lose your job.

Whilst the teachers are treated like royalty, I can't help but notice the students treated a little like servants. Every morning when we arrive, the students are sweeping and cleaning up the school ready for our arrival. Although this is great as they put great effort into the cleaning and it encourages them not to be lazy (a problem with students in the UK, myself majorly included), I'm not really a fan of it. It worries me that they put this effort in because they are scared of the consequences of doing it wrong. I love that they are so respectful, but hate that this might be down to fear of punishment. Please don't misunderstand in thinking that these teachers are cruel people - it's just the way things are done here. The teachers are absolutely great and do have a laugh with the students, their methods are just more strict than back home which took some getting used to.

Whilst respecting the traditions of a Thai school (e.g. the greetings in unison at the beginning of class), I have avoided adapting the way I teach based on the Thai teachers methods as much as I can. I believe that the excitement of me being here is that I'm different, therefore if I taught in the same manner as the Thai teachers I wouldn't really have an impact at all. My aim is to be a breath of fresh air for them. I am a Drama student, and other than a few weeks work experience here and there in a few primary schools, I have no teaching experience or training whatsoever. My lessons have therefore been based on lessons I remember as being successful when I was at school. The proof that they were successful? I remember them! If my student's remember me in years to come, I'll be a very happy Teasha Roo! I take each lesson as it comes, and try to get them up and moving, shouting out, playing games and drawing... Typical Drama student I hear you say! I love that I can take my time teaching them until they fully understand - unlike the UK where, when I was student, it seemed that as long as the teacher had reached the end of the text book by the end of term, it had been a successful class.

Thumbs up!

I'm not sure if I could pick which is more successful - a Thai or a British school. Both are incredibly successful in their own rights. So I've decided a mix between the two is what we need. Students who respect their teachers enough to listen and thank them for the class, but not to the extent that they feel they have to, in fear of the consequences of not doing so. Thai schools seem to be based on 'Respect you Elders', and English schools based on 'The kids of the future'... I believe a school with equal respect both ends from teachers and students would be absolute top notch. Rant over. :)