CAVEAT: Khemmarat Pittayakom is a large school with many students, many buildings (some of which we have never entered) spread around a large campus, many academic departments, and (we are sure) many student activities. We saw a small piece of that whole. The complete story of Khemmarat Pittayakom is not one we can write, but we hope our readers enjoy our little window into that bigger story.
We started our new teaching assignment on May 20. We were introduced to the 1,800
or so 7th to 12th grade students after the flag raising, asked to make a
few remarks, and presented with
bouquets! That is Mr. Itthipon second from the left and Deputy Director for General Administration Mr. Teuy, third from the right (Director Paijit was away from the school that day), and English teachers Doe (far left), Peanut (second from right), and Khwan (far right).
Then we met with the English teachers and were given a tour by Mr. Itthipon of some classrooms and the library.
On May 21, we took a picture of some of the students gathered for the flag ceremony, and we started our classroom teaching.
The campus has a lot of trees and shade, but the students gather every morning in front of the flag pole in the sun. We participate each day, but always stand back in the shade under the trees.
In addition to the flag of Thailand, the flag of Khemmarat Pittayakom School (purple and yellow) is raised, along with flags with primary colors corresponding to the colors of each of the school's five sports teams.
In addition to the Nation's song, the Khemmarat Pittayakom song is played every morning.
We were given an office right across from the assembly area -- with an air conditioner! The office is a place for us to hang out between classes, but it is also an "English place." Mary put many English training materials on the walls, we hold teacher training sessions there, and it was the training camp for students participating in a regional impromptu speech contest and for students preparing for a regional spelling competition. We even had a few students visit just to spend a while talking with the farang--- we were delighted to welcome them.
But mostly our job has been classroom instruction. Here a group of students compete to be the first group to finish a "triangle puzzle" that requires them to match opposite words in English. The students love games and the winner always gets a big round of applause from all.
And this is Kru Jum, in whose class Mary was teaching this day.
Here's a different class, playing a game in which students came to the front of the class to make up a sentence to share with the class.
George is still working with sentence diagramming and was delighted to see one of the Thai English teachers, Peanut, begin using it in her classes.
Students volunteer to complete the diagram at the board.
Most of the classrooms are open-air and have fans, but they still get warm on hot days. Mary was assigned one class in an air-conditioned classroom with high-tech equipment.
Mary announces the winner of a game - the group that wrote the most sentences using correct English and a variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives.
This was Kru Khwan's class.
George had a 7th grade class that seemed to be having fun with diagramming here.
Here students play a comparatives game in one of Mary's classes. Groups compete to write sentences using graphics as prompts.
As part of a Bingo game, groups compete for most Bingo wins, but first, they must come up with sentences using the terms in the Bingo game.
Itthipon visited our classes on occasion, checked out what we were doing, and sometimes offered some Thai translation assistance.
The Canteen
As we got more comfortable at the school, we did a little more exploring and discovered the canteen behind the building where our office is. While the students have many choices for lunch (and many go the short distance into town for lunch at the street-side restaurants), the canteen offers a wide range of food choices at very reasonable prices. Mary decided it was a nice place to get mid-morning snacks and green tea.
And nice desserts.
Welcoming Ceremony
On a Friday morning in the middle of June, two of the teachers mentioned to George that there was a party that night to welcome new teachers and we should come. George thought that would be a good opportunity to get some pictures. George mentioned it to Mary but she had work to do at home and was also concerned about it being hot. We assumed it was an occasion for other teachers and that George could go by himself and take pictures. It also wasn't clear exactly when festivities would begin. George got there early while they were still setting up. Director Paijit was there and, wonderful guy that he is, came over to George to make him feel welcome even though he speaks nitnoy English and George nitnoy Thai. The room (the "gymnatorium" that had been used for the wai kru ceremony) was set up very nicely. This would be a fancy occasion!
The banner on the stage featured pictures of Kittisak, the Deputy Superintendent for Management and Budget Director, who was leaving to become director at another school (on the right), and Kosak, incoming Deputy Director (on the left).
Paijit's wife arrived. We know her from the noodle restaurant that she and her husband own on the Mekong River. Piajit indicated that George would be sitting with his wife at the long table in the center of the room. That was the first indication George had that he might not just be taking photos that evening (and that maybe Mary should have come).
There was a formal ceremony (like the one in which we had participated before our departure from Baan Nong Phue) for Kittisak and Kosak.
Strings were tied around wrists,
including George's (by Paijit and his wife and by Itthipon below).
There was a farewell for Kittisak and then welcomes were extended by Paijit for the newcomers, including George. (Age is respected in Thailand. George thinks he came first in line because he was the oldest -- by far.)
George was presented flowers by Oil, Doe, and Itthipon on behalf of the Foreign Languages Department
and a Thai print by Dr. Dan (Ph.D. in physics) (on the left in the tan tunic) and the Science Department.
There was beautiful Thai singing and dancing.
Kosak gave a fine vocal performance.
And, throughout the evening, dinner seemed like a continual feast of wonderful Thai dishes that could be enjoyed as the spirit moved one.
Near the end of the evening, George was honored to find himself sitting with (left to right below) Khemmarat Police Chief Chaiwit, the Member of the Thai Parliament from the Khemmarat area, Mr. Pisit Santapun, and Khemmarat Mayor (and our landlady) Latda, along with Paijit's wife.
Teacher Training
Early on, Itthipon asked that we provide some English training for teachers at Khemmarat Pittayakom. He set a 2-hour time slot on our schedule and put up an announcement in the office for teachers. That had been one of the purposes of the office they had provided us. Not surprisingly, the teachers are busy and many have their own classes to attend to during that time slot. But we did have one session with a good number of teachers from various departments.
Health Activities
One day we noticed that medical personnel from the Khemmarat Hospital had set up shop at lunch time and were administering on-the-spot health checks for Khemmarat students.
Another day there was an anti-drug rally and parade for 10th graders from our school and for students from other schools as well.
Recently there has been a flare up of dengue fever in the area. We understand that 10 people have been hospitalized, although, fortunately, none have died. One morning, there was a special presentation during the flag assembly on how students can protect themselves, and a brochure was passed around for all students. (We can't read the brochure, but Mary saw some mosquitoes in our sleeping quarters the other night, so we deployed her mosquito net!)
George's Birthday
Birthdays are a big deal in Thailand and, as a result of a (false) report of George's death (see July 12 blog post), folks came to know his birthday. So, to his surprise, he got a birthday luncheon this year and it was quite a meal! The Foreign Language teachers set it up (thank you all!) and attended, some with their teacher-spouses. Also Director Paijit and Deputy Director for Management of Student Affairs Piripon (foreground) were there.
There was a cake and a lovely version of Happy Birthday.
Teaching
But it's all about teaching students. Here Mary's students are working in groups to see who can come up with the most correct sentences, using the verb "to be" and a variety of nouns and adjectives.
Here the students each have a "Big Town Character Card" and they are taking turns asking each other questions in English about their characters.
This is a Board Slap game in which two teams compete to be the first to slap the correct answer, as Mary calls out questions from previous lessons on opposites and verbs.
Below, the students take turns making up sentences using different tenses for the verbs "make" and "do" and completing Bingo cards in the process.
A Bingo winner! Mary checks the win.
George got the opportunity to work with 3 students who would be competing with other schools in this region of Isaan in an impromptu speech contest. We were able to put the office to good use for a day or two before we left for the contest in Trakan. It must be intimidating as the student stands at the podium before a room full of judges, teachers, and other students. (George was asked to serve as a judge so he wasn't able to take any pictures during the competition.)
We had lunch afterward in Trakan. Below are (from left) Kesinee, Naam, and Fern with Itthipon in the first photo. Fern is the youngest and this was her first competition; she did well, but got nervous and didn't make the cut to go on to the next level of the competition in Ubon. Naam was sick that week and ended up not competing in Trakan. Kesinee, a 12th grader, did very well and was selected to go to Ubon.
The space for the competition in Ubon was very nice.
Kesinee worked hard in preparation.
The competition was very challenging: the students had to choose between two topics that a judge would select from among 11, and some of the competitors had spent time in English-speaking countries so had very good English skills. Kesinee has never been outside of Thailand. George is very proud of her -- she gave it her all.
She wasn't selected for the next round, but we're sure she has a great career ahead of her. She wants to be an English teacher. George has invited her to write him periodic e-mails about what she is doing and he will correct any mistakes in her English with the aim that she will enter university next year with polished English skills. It was a pleasure to work with all three girls. We wish them good fortune in the years ahead.
A few weeks later, George was asked to coach 10th and 11th grade students who would be competing in a regional spelling competition. We're hard at work practicing pronunciation in our office in the picture below. The students are (from left): James, An, May, and Job.
All the teachers at Khemmarat Pittayakom have been warm and welcoming to us since we started. They go out of their way to come up and greet us. Some who are interested in learning more English get over their natural shyness and engage us in English conversation. (We don't have the courage to engage them in Thai conversation given our limited knowledge of Thai.) We met a large number of the teachers the first day we came to the school and have tried (too often unsuccessfully) to keep the right name with a face, and they have been patient with us.
Natawadi teaches Buddhism, is a world traveler, and makes very special efforts to greet us most every day. Here she stands next to photos of visas and landmarks from the many countries she has visited.
Her classroom is very interesting. It features a shrine to Buddha and a set of volumes of Buddhist teachings.
Apicha teaches art and music, plays a number of instruments, has written a song for the school about the importance of Thailand's participation in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (which will become an Economic Community next year), and has traveled far and wide. His English is good, but he comes to our teacher training most every week anyway. Here he is in his amazing classroom/studio playing the violin for us.
Itthipon accompanied us as we visited Apicha's classroom. Now, we can vouch for how busy Itthipon is (you have seen many pictures of him above) -- in addition to managing the Foreign Languages Department, we see him hard at work at most student assemblies organizing activities and also getting called out for various issues or emergencies around the school. In addition, he worries about our transportation to and from school and whether we have lunch each day. He has been a wonderful host teacher for us. So we were pleased to see him take a moment's break on Apicha's putting "green."
And, of course, all the rest of the Foreign Languages Department support us every day. Thanks to:
Itthipon
Doe
Oil
Khwan
Jum
Rung
Peanut
Pot
Tim (all the above are English teachers -- Tim teaches Chinese, thereby earning the Department the title of Foreign Languages)
And student English teacher Parn
Teachers' Farewell for Us
Our last day at Khemmarat Pittayakom will be July 26th and the teachers invited us to a wonderful dinner on July 24th. It was at a beautiful resort a little south of town on the Mekong River.
We gathered on the lawn for a group shot before dinner. In addition to Itthipon and all the English teachers, we were joined by Director Paijit and three Deputy Directors: Piripon, Teuy, and Kosak.
The dishes were beautiful and delicious. Here are a few of them.
There was singing and dancing to a karaoke machine. Kru Oil showed a side of herself we hadn't seen in school and found many singing partners including Kru Itthipon.
George found himself up dancing along with Deputy Director Kosak, Oil, and Kru Khwan.
A little visitor enjoyed the music as well and joined in the dancing.
Director Paijit presented us a commemorative medal with the image of Thailand's beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thais love their monarch; his and the Queen's picture adorn homes, shops, business offices, classrooms, welcoming arches where highways enter cities and towns -- they are everywhere. Some of them depict the King in his regal robes, but many show him as a man visiting the countryside. He was, reportedly, an avid photographer and many pictures depict him holding his camera. After all the photos he has taken in Thailand, George was delighted that the medal Paijit gave us has an image of His Majesty with a camera around his neck. George is holding the medal in the photo below and, after that, is a close-up.
Finally, Paijit and Itthipon made some very gracious remarks (in Thai and English) about our time at Khemmarat Pittayakom.
Ours has been a great experience at Khemmarat Pittayakom! The administrators and teachers could not have been more welcoming to us and appreciative of our efforts. The students have been warm and receptive to us and we hope they have learned from us. We hope they have wonderful careers ahead of them.
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