Songkran Part 1 (4-12)

The summer course is officially over. Thursday was the last day. Since it was the day before the Songkran holiday, many students were not there. The day began with a Songkran activity. Students and teachers wore colorful shirts for the holiday. (Teachers had been wearing black and white the rest of the week in mourning for the king’s cousin.)

Tony and I were told to sit in the front with the sisters. I think that’s because we are old, and on Songkran people traditionally show respect to the monks and the elders. Teachers either brought or were given jasmine wreaths to give to the statue of Mary. We also showed respect by pouring water on the statue, as Buddhists do to the Buddha images.

Then teachers poured water on the hands of those of us in the front. Some also gave us jasmine wreaths or necklaces. All said words of blessing, and many said a few words in English, which was nice of them. When they finished, a line of students came to each of us and poured water.

Then everyone formed a circle and danced around and many photos were taken.

The last part of the activity was thanking us foreign teachers and Sister Chutima, who is going to another school. We were each given a bag/purse. The three students in each class who received the top points from their summer course exams were given gifts, too. Fortunately, I had given a review “test” on Wednesday, thinking we could go over it quickly on Thursday. Word that we were to give a test Wednesday hadn’t reached me.










Then we had the last two classes of the morning. Since I knew students would not be in the mood to study, I took my Bingo game and we played. They disappeared very quickly when it was time to go, as students were finished at noon and had no afternoon classes. Two boys stayed and finished cleaning up. They were a good group. They all tried to do the work and did little copying even though a few of them have very low skills.

Teachers, however, did have to work until 4:00. Sister Angie, Kate, Tony, and I went out for lunch. Lovely had already made plans to meet a friend. It was nice to eat together and have a relaxing lunch outside the school.

The administration could have been nice and given teachers a half day off before the holiday, but instead they had a teachers’ meeting. It’s things like this that lead to many teachers leaving. Khun Toom told me that most of the good teachers are going to other schools.

On the way home I noticed a parade coming down the street and stopped to watch it and take a few photos of my last parade here. After a few minutes, I noticed that a woman was waving at me. It was Khun Kwan, who was helping carry a banner.

Other people waved at me, too. I was the only person standing still watching the parade and talking photos. It was really hot to be walking in a parade.










Monday I saw Bitoy’s report card and the lack of any mention of the Intensive English program stood out. I knew that our grades count for only 20% of the final grade, but seeing it really rubbed in the fact that our classes basically count for nothing. There is no mention of the IE program on the report card. Thus parents pay extra money to have their children in this program and receive absolutely no feedback as to how they are doing. I’d realized that the 8th grade students had probably figured out that their grades for my class didn’t affect them much when I noticed that their behavior became worse and they worked less. Even some of the pretty good students did less second term. They knew they didn’t need much from my classes, as their grades in the Thai teachers’ classes would be good enough. Realizing all of this again made me glad I won’t be part of it in the next school year.

American parents would be in the school office demanding to know how their students are doing in the special program; Thai parents/people don’t question or confront. But this may be why some good students are leaving the school. Kru Toom told me last week that about forty students have left and only eighteen new students have enrolled. Sister Angie said that there will be only one 7th grade class again; there were three 6th grade classes. Kate said that Sister Viphaporn told her that there may be only one IE class instead of two for some of the elementary grades.

They are using the same bad English books again next year. These books are some of the worst I’ve seen. The elementary books are full of English language errors. But they are Catholic produced. I wondered if the author or the sales representative is related to or a friend of Sister Viphaporn’s. The school received examination copies of several other texts, but teachers did not select the texts. These will sit on the shelves of the teachers’ resource library and will not be used except to copy an occasional exercise. When I learned this, it made me even more glad that I will not be at the school next year. Most of us foreign teachers didn’t use the bad texts, but the Thai teachers did. Thus the program was not coordinated and students had different skills presented by the different teachers.

So I am ready to move on. I spent a lot of time this week planning the first part of my travels in Vietnam. Now I need to divest myself of a bunch of things in the house and decide what goes with me to Vietnam and what will stay here to go to the U.S. later. Kate and Lovely will take a lot of the household items. I’ll mail books to a former PCV who teaches at a good (She describes it as a “better, not good, school.”) school where students speak and read English and the books will be used. Personal items will be stored at Khun Yindee’s house while I’m traveling. Dealing with this will be my project for the vacation next week.