The way to schedule worked out, I will be at
Ban Serm on Monday and Tuesday and at my second school Ban Tha Nong Phanta on
Wednesday and Thursday. School started
on Wednesday, so my first day was to be at the school I was not familiar
with. I got to school before my
co-teacher, Tom, and the director Paaw Rangsit.
When I rode up on my bike, there were students everywhere sweeping,
picking up trash and giggling at me. I
said “Good morning” and got mostly blank looks, but a few kids said “Good
morning”. I sat down and waited. The staff got here, they cleared a desk for
me in the director’s office and as teachers arrived I was greeted. Long story, short, I really like this school
that I was iffy about. It is smaller
than Ban Serm, 163 students k-6. Classes
should be small. We worked out a very doable schedule. There is a pond here where they catch fish
for lunch and a garden where they grow vegetables. My co-teacher and the director are very shy
about using English, but they are both pretty good. I am sure they get tired using it, it exhausts
me to speak Thai for any length of time, but they hang in there and we are communicating
just fine. It is such a pleasant
surprise to find that I like both schools and that they are different. It should be interesting to be at both. No classes today or tomorrow. We did have a teacher meeting. Just like the U.S., teachers are assigned
their extra duties in the morning and at lunch.
Books were being sorted and handed out to teachers and classrooms were
readied for the new school year. Today
is cleaning for most of the kids. The
little ones are playing with legos and other toys. Tomorrow the parents come so I am not sure
what to expect, but that is really a daily fact here and I am learning to go
with whatever happens. I am here to help
teachers and share culture for 2 years.
It is a pretty easy assignment and the Thai people insist on enjoying
life, so that makes it an even better deal.
Lunch in the school cafeteria was really quite
good. All the students bring their own
rice. “Trays” of food are dished out and
one class each day is responsible for serving each table and cleaning up. It was all very orderly, including the school
dogs waiting patiently for clean up and their meal.
Morning assembly
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