Some facts about Thai schools and my work
The second semester working as a teacher in Thailand is completed! This semester seemed to me less interesting, longer and more as a routine in compare to the first one. More or less, I got used to everything, grasped the details, I had the same students as in the previous semester, so I knew what to expect from them. Next one and a half moths I’ll be far from my teaching duties, hence I’d like to draw the line under this semester and share some facts about my experience and about Thai schools in general.
1. “How do you deal with them?!” I’ve been asked frequently by my friends. Well, with a few exceptions, I don’t have “to deal with them”. I teach high school students, so they are 16-18 years old. They are already well behaved and disciplined with a stick (in Asia it’s still widely used disciplinary method.) The most common problems I face are chatting and not listening and, of course, the cellphones. Yet, I have my methods how to deal with it :)
2. In the smallest class I teach there are 15 students, in the biggest – 42.
3. Every morning in any Thai school starts with a morning assembly where all teachers, administration stuff and all student must be present (even the dogs of our school don’t miss it!) We start with the listening of Thai anthem and raising Thai flag, anthems of the school and raising its flags, and a Buddhist praying.
4. Thai students must leave their shoes outside of the classrooms. The only exceptions are the students who have a military class that day: it’s better not to take a risk and to let them not to take off their heavy military boots haha :)
5. All students must wear a uniform. There are two variants of it: an everyday one and a sport one. Bags or backpacks are also identical.
6. Girls are not allowed to have very long hair. The only acceptable hairstyle is a ponytail.
7. Teachers also wear a uniform. Every day the color of it changes: beige, indigo (the color of our region), yellow (the color of Thai monarchy), pink (the color of our school) and indigo again. Female teachers are not allowed to wear pants, a skirt or a dress must be below the knees. We are also not allowed to have our hair down and to wear very bright make up. Teachers are not allowed to have piercing and all visible tattoos must be covered.
8. It’s very common when students get on their knees in front of a teacher when they ask something, answer or just talk with a teacher. First, I was feeling very uncomfortable when they were doing it in front of me, and I was asking them to stand up. Now I got used to it.
9. Teacher is a very respected profession in Thailand. Knowing this, Thai teachers ask their students to do a lot of things: to carry their stuff, to wash their dishes, to bring their food delivery etc…Students never say “no” to the teachers. At the same, with some teachers students have very friendly relationship: they comb teacher’s hair, take together Tik-Tok videos, spend hours in teacher’s room chatting about something.
10. Thai students it’s a hurricane of positive emotions. Even though working with them takes almost all of my energy, I always get a rewarding feedback. They boost my mood and charge me with their bright energy!