Lessons Learned

I was working with my students in the level 2 English course today. These students are majoring in English, and to be quite honest, I’m not sure why. Some of them are excellent students; they always know the answer, are willing to speak-up in class, they participate. The other ones – well, they couldn’t be less thrilled about the subject matter. While I understand that part of the problem could be my teaching style and techniques, I also see a lack of effort on their part.

The other day we did an introduction activity with partners. The students were paired up and had to introduce each other to the class. I required basic information like name, age, major, favorite color, and my personal favorite, “when I grow up.” I learned two very shocking things about my class. The first thing that I had an immediate facial expression for was their age. The entire class is aged 17-18 years old. For starters, if you looked at them you would not think they were a day over 13. Good genetics and proper skin-care aside, the maturity level of these students is what I would equate with early high school aged students in the US. I, despite some of my comments, am very culturally sensitive, and realize that I need to stop comparing white rice with sticky rice. I was surprised to say the least, and the next question I wanted to ask was, “What skin care line are you using, and can I get that at the local market?”

The other thing that I quickly learned that surprised me was that nearly all of the class – mostly female students, all wanted to be flight attendants. I mean, it makes logical sense that you would want to be multi-lingual as a flight attendant. But it made me wonder what exposure they’ve had to different career choices up to this point. I find it hard to believe that I’ve somehow struck the landmine for the entire Thailand airline industry. Or, if secretly Thai Airways was funding the LCCT and they do an annual in-depth seminar on the travel industry and perks of being a flight attendant. Whatever the case, I don’t think Thai Airways has anything to worry about with their future staffing patterns. Their English ability? Now that’s a different story. But next week we’re watching A View from the Top.

Another one of our activities today was learning about the differences between used to and use to. Quick run down on the differences – I used to live in the United States. I did not use to live in Thailand. Anyway, the students had to complete sentences, write them on the board, and read them aloud to the class. I had two sentences that caused me a bit of a culture shock. The first one – In elementary school, I used to smoke. Again, I have recently learned that these students are older than I initially thought, but smoking in elementary school was something I was not prepared for. Maybe it is the anti-smoking campaign that has littered the United States, or the taboo that has recently been associated with cigarettes and nicotine, but either way, I was definitely caught off-guard with this student’s sentence. In order to make sure I was not getting lost in translation, I asked the student to clarify. She told me, to-ba-o.

The other sentence of the day that really struck a chord for me was the one that said, My parents didn’t use to beat me. I was sitting toward the side of the classroom and had to readjust my position to make sure I wasn’t catching a glare on the whiteboard. Sure enough, it said beat me. The fact that a student would share this with her peers, but also in a classroom setting, I was completely taken aback. As we read these sentences aloud, there did not seem to be a second glance toward the student who shared such personal information. I could not believe it – had I entered a culture where it is a social norm to beat your 17 year old daughter? And, what’s even more sad than that is the fact that the student who shared such information didn’t think there was anything wrong with disclosing this information to a classroom full of her peers and teacher. The heart breaking part for me is that she has accepted it as a part of her life; something she can’t change like her date of birth, gender or skin color. That is the part that really made me empathize with her and others in her situation. The complete acceptance that life is what it is, and there is no changing it – for better or for worse. I realize that my job as their teacher is not only to help them with their English skills, but also impart some multi-cultural components into their lives. This experience today made me realize that I need to help them understand that there is a life outside of Thailand. A place away from Lampang, and away from a culture that believes it is acceptable to beat their children – or any human being for that matter. A place where any individual can be a flight attendant, nurse, or teacher, and also have the option of being a pilot, doctor, lawyer, or even the President of the United States. I realized the broader scope of my job today, and that gave me hope. I pray there is salvation – for her, for me, and for everyone in a similar situation.