I Understand Why It’s Called the Land of Smiles…

I woke up Friday still depressed, still doubting my decision, and to be honest still wanting to go home. I finished unpacking my things, getting my room together, and then took off to school.

I went to the teachers lounge where I got my schedule I teach either 3 or 4 classes every day. I teach 7^th to 12^th grade, and my classes range from advanced to the worst students in the school (that’s going to be a challenge).

I was supposed to observe a few classes the rest of the day and that was it. The Thai English teacher told me to come with her; her first period was two hours and I was to observe.

The dynamics in a Thai classroom are quite different. There are no bells, there is no sense of time “Thai time”, and kids are very relaxed yet very respectful. They all come to the classroom from when the class starts until about 20 minutes in; we are not supposed to say anything and just let it be. They take their shoes off and go sit down. When most of them are sitting they all stand up and in chorus say “Good morning teacher, how are you”, to which we answer “Good morning students, I am fine thank you and how are you?” etc. and then we tell them they can sit. They don’t get grades, and no one is allowed to fail.

Back to my first class, the teacher spoke to them in Thai and then told me to go to the front and introduce myself; after I did she told me to teach the class. I had to wing it and teach 45 students for 2 hours. I was a little bit scared at first but just went with it. It was actually pretty cool!

After that I observed another class and just walked around the school. The students were sooooo excited to see me whenever I walked by! They all wanted to great me, touch me, and ask me questions. They kept calling me beautiful and going to great lengths to grab my attention. By the end of the afternoon I felt a million times better than I did before….