In the US, I would be going to 10th grade, but here I am going to the equivalent of 11th grade. I was placed in '11th grade' because the students in '10th grade' are more well-behaved. Thai schooling is composed of two schools- rather then having three (elementary, middle, and high) like we do in America. They have no 'middle school'. They have Pratom (like elementary school) and Matayom (like high school). Who needs those awkward days of middle school anyway?
Pratom is for the young students (students= nok rian in Thai) and it has Pratom one through six. This is the same as grades one through six in The US. Matayom- where I go- also has grades one through six, but is equal to The US's grades seven through twelve. I am in Matayom five along with my sister, Pee Pbahn.
So far, I have done a lot of introducing myself in Thai to several classes that my adviser/exchange liaison has taken me to. I usually say my name, age, where I'm from, my favorite Thai food, how happy I am to be here, and why I chose Thailand. Then, I let them ask me any questions they have in Thai. My adviser (Adjan Ooi) helps me with understanding the questions and answering in Thai. On Wednesday, I had to go up on stage and introduce myself in front of all 3,560ish students! As you can guess, I was very nervous and shy- I did a very poor job with my Thai pronunciation and tonnage and I couldn't say much, but all of the students clapped very happily after every sentence I said!
The classes I have attended with my class have been math (in English), computer programming (in English), history (in Thai), English (in English),Thai language (in Thai), and art (in Thai). I will get an actual schedule this Thursday (so excited!). Currently, my school in hosting a national volleyball tournament, so the teachers are too busy to arrange an actual schedule for me. This means that I can either A. attend classes with my sister, B. skip class and watch volleyball with my friends, or C. skip class and go eat or chill out in the 'teachers lounge'. Of those options, I like to go to class the most!
The whole 'attendance' thing it totally flipped here. It is common for kids to skip and seems to be totally acceptable by classmates and teachers. Maybe it is different then usual with the volleyball game, but sometimes if we ask to go watch the game instead of going to class, the teacher will just cancel class and let us all go to the game! Sometimes, only four or five students show up for class! It is the same with the teachers, too! Quite frequently, a teacher just doesn't show up for class! My classmates and I are totally fine with that. We have a party- the boys arrange the desks and play ping pong, and the girls giggle and gossip.
Anyway, there is sooo much to say about Thai schooling- I will write another post about it later!
As for now, Rat-three-sa-wad-na-ka! (good night!)
-Thook a Thaa (my Thai nickname)
 |
| my classmates with my gifts- dream catchers I made and various American candys |
 |
| purchasing my school uniform |
 |
| the national volleyball tournament held at my school |
 |
| lunchtime- I had yam-woon-send- a noodle veggie meat salad |
 |
| introducing myself in front of the whole school |
No comments:
Post a Comment