first week of school (cont.)

sorry--

The computer glitched, sent up an error message, so I was able to post but not edit or add. Here's a new post to continue; I'll try to remember to save periodically.

Picture me with microphone in hand; I delivered my prepared speech, got some oohs and ahs from the students. The director opened it up to questions and one brave lad ran up to the stage. He blushed, held his breath, looked at my face with wide eyes, blurted out: How old are you? and stepped back, clearly abashed at his own temerity. I smiled to reassure him, explained with the mic that in the US it would not be polite for a student to ask a teacher her age, but I know in Thailand it is very important to know each person's age (definitely an age-honoring society, and it's important to know where someone fits in the age heirarchy). I told him I'm 58 years old--he told the assembly proudly, but must have enhanced my stature considerably as Jiaranai laughingly corrected him--not 68, only 58. He apologized--sorry, sorry and ran off the stage, clearly relieved to be part of the crowd once again.

The next part of the ceremony has to be experienced to be appreciated. Jiaranai led me by the hand to the front of the courtyard in front of the stage, said "Don't be afraid" and left me. A circle of 25 - 30 upperclassmen (girls and boys) gathered around me and started shouting in unison. Thai teenagers can definitely be loud when they want to be. They shouted (encouraging things, I'm sure) as they closed the circle for about 3 minutes, ended with a loud Boom! and dispersed, laughing. I'm guessing my shocked face was indeed comical.

That afternoon I taught my first classes; so far I've used the same lesson plan all week for all levels. Glo is definitely accurate in her advice to not make things too complicated. The lesson consisted of me introducing myself (write My name is Sue Richardson on the whiteboard; I learned to take time to locate dry-erase markers and erasers at the beginning of each class--they tend to wander). Next a brief statement that Thai students know many words in English (generally true) but they are too shy to speak in English (invariably true). I want you students to have courage to speak English (act out courage, picture the Lion from the Wizard of Oz). Write "courage (noun)" on the board, say "Please repeat: courage". The first attempt invariably wimpy, then stronger. Some classes actually said "courage" with courage!

I asked the class: "Do you have any questions for me?" Blank stares. "What would you like to know about me?" Blank stares. So I wrote on the board: "Who has a question for me?", pointed to each word as I said out loud: "Who has a question for me?" That got them going, sudden babble in Thai as they realized the invitation; group process to figure out the English equivalent for what they wanted to know. I sensed hesitation, added: "If you have a question, please raise your hand." (with demonstration) Eager faces, looking at me and then at each other for reassurance, then a tentative raised hand. I jumped on it: "Yes, a question!", and the questions came forth--"Where do you come from?", "What color do you like?", "Do you have brothers and sisters?", "Do you have children?" "What is your team in the World Cup soccer 2010?" I needed the board to show my family tree--I think they had no idea what step-sons and step-daughter are. They wanted to know ages (ooh, mother 86, father 84; very excited about Julia 19--does she have a boyfriend?) When the questions petered out, I erased my question and wrote a statement: "I have some questions for you." Intent reading as I wrote; the first to get it gave a gasp and a squeal--

First I tested their knowledge of me: "What is my favorite color?" (blue), "What state do I come from?" They all knew America, but even though I'd said Massachusetts, they didn't associate that with state. A couple of kids guessed: California, New York. When I got to "What is my favorite Thai food?" (a question every class asked; I answered tom yam kung to all), they shouted gleefully "tom yam kung!" and clapped. For a couple of the quicker classes I asked some trick questions: "How many husbands do I have?" Astonishment, then eager laughter--"One!" and my answer: "Yes, that's right! and that's plenty!" A few kids got that one, too. "How did I come to Thailand?" generally brought confused interest--how, how, what does that mean--how? "Did I walk from America to Thailand?" (demo) "No, no!" One girl (in 15 classes) knew the word "airplane", several knew the word "fly".

Several classes got me to sing a song (I gave them Mary had a little Lamb); one asked me to speak French, all were astounded at the sound of that. I ended each class by going one by one to each student with the question: "What do you like to eat?" Mostly they understood the question, a few students needed a demo. Lots of inverted answers: chicken fried, noodles Thai, ice cream chocolate. The most fun was when I suddenly understood and said the answer my way: "Suki" is "Aha!sukiyaki"; KFC = Kentucky Fried Chicken brought cheers.

Generally the students were attentive, intelligent, interested in the phenomenon of communicating with someone who doesn't speak any Thai.

I hope my next weeks' lessons go as well...

Tuesday's assembly was shorter; then I was invited to watch the rehearsal for Thursday's pinning ceremony. Girls practicing their curtsey, boys their bow. They easily wai at every opportunity, but the curtsey and bow are clearly foreign.

Tuesday afternoon was my first private Thai lesson; I'm to have listening and conversation with Miss Su on Tuesdays, writing with Miss Siribon on Wednesdays. I'm definitely swimming in deep water here...

I'll also be taking music lessons. Mr. Burim the music teacher is wonderful. He is a strong and dedicated buddhist, was a monk for 3 months in his youth (fairly common, I think), is gentle with his students and with me. He reads music in our model, but prefers a different notation system which he is teaching me--bar lines divide the measure, so what comes immediately before the bar line is the first half of a measure, and after the line is the second half of the same measure. It works better with Thai rhythms. He's taught me two songs on recorder (they twist the mouthpiece the opposite way from my standard; he explained that's so you're not blowing your own breath back into your face--it works fine). He also wrote the melody for loi khratong in his notation (the notes, by the way, are not on staff lines, but are solfege: they sing do, re, mi, fa, son, lang, ti, do). One of the songs he taught me is a sad song from Laos; he gave the scale starting with la, for a minor mode. I think he'll also teach me to play a "saw"; it's a stringed instrument with a half-melon-shaped base, neck with 2 strings (and 2 pegs for tuning). The bow is permanently positioned between the strings. To play, finger different pitches (no frets) and bow one string or the other. I got a full octave pretty easily.

I'll close now--more ceremonies later; ideally I'll have pictures to go with the posts.