Teaching Three Classes in Thailand!!

On Saturday night, May 2nd, all of us were treated to a fabulous dinner cooked by Da at their lovely home very near Thasanee and Jaroon's. Nirut is seen pictured at the far left in the pink shirt; next to him is Thasanee (who could not be a more caring host to us!), then Gan, the son of Da and Nirut ,shown standing, then Ted at the head of the table, then Am is peeking in, then behind me is Da, a lovely, beautiful woman, then me, then Maren, and then Oye, Gan and Am's cousin and younger sister all at once! The meal was wonderful and so plentiful!! Sticky rice,pork, fried chicken, tropical fruits, vegetable wraps with steamed veggies (yummy) that Nerut kept preparing for us, etc, etc,etc. Plus, they bought us different types of Thai fruit wines as accompaniment!

Then, on Monday, May 4th, Thasannee's school had its orientation day for the freshmen (9 th graders) who came from all different middle schools and so did not necessarily know each other. Ted, Maren and I were on! (We had NO idea before Sunday night, when I was still feeling very queasy from some sort of "bug" I suffered on Sunday, that Thasanee had told her administrators that she was setting up her three Monday morning classes to be taught their English classes by native speakers!)

So, all three of us went into our teacher modes! Maren taught her three classes "You are My Sunshine,"and a tongue twister, "She sells seashells by the seashore!" Ted went into his professorial mode and broke his students into groups of three to role play some "Errors in Communication!" And I divided my classes into five teams of six or so students each, for a spelling bee contest, mainly using English words with "sh" or "ch" sounds, as that was one of Thasanee's goals for her students. In their feedback later, supposedly one student wrote, "We don't need Thai teachers anymore!" We think they liked the participatory nature of our teaching. Beforehand, we were so nervous, but once in front of the classroom, it was fun!

That evening, we went with both Thasanee and Jaroon, plus Da's whole family to a traditional Thai dinner accompanied by a show featuring traditional Thai dances and songs, with one part of the show focusing on native aboriginal peoples, and the other, showcasing students at Chiang Mai Drama School. If you can see the photos well enough, you can see in one of them how long the women's fingernails are, for the purpose of enhancing the gracefulness of their movements!!