Wai Kru

This morning our school held a "Wai Kru" Ceremony, a ritual during which Thai students formally pay respects to their teachers. Initially I was excited because it meant I had one less lesson to prepare for today, my busiest teaching day of the week. But it was actually a really neat ceremony that left me feeling really good about my decision to teach here, something I've questioned more than once in the past few weeks. (See last few postings)

First, the entire student body knelt and said a chant in Thai, expressing gratitude for the hard work that we teachers do and asking us to bless their academic studies. This was followed by a song in Thai that had a similar message.



Then a representative from our respective homeroom classes presented us with flower arrangements they had prepared the night before. Other students gave us flower bracelets (not sure what they are called officially) and the student who gave me my bracelet knelt down, took my hand and very sincerely told me she wished that I would be very happy in my life.

How cool is that? A high school student wishing her teacher happiness? Not something I can imagine transpiring while teaching in "the West."



The ceremony itself was great, but the best part was when one of the Year 13 students who was an M.C. talked about how the students voted him the most "eloquent" speaker.

"Eloquence" was one of our weekly vocabulary words, and I wondered if he maybe incorporated it into his speech after learning it in my class. Then I thought, nahhh, he probably just translated it from Thai.

But afterwards, he said, "Ms. Taryn, did you hear me use "eloquent" in my speech?" and proceeded to tell me he deliberately put it in there!

We teachers live for these sparse, yet validating moments. I've spent more time lesson planning in the past five weeks than I maybe ever have in my life, and because I'm still getting used to the curriculum here and figuring out my students' ability levels and the UK teacher lingo, etc. etc., I often wonder if all the time I spend preparing lessons or drilling grammar is getting us anywhere; whether anything is sticking. It seemed like it wasn't, considering I spent the first week drilling subject-verb agreement with all classes, a mistake that still shows up all over the place in their written and spoken English.

But it's nice to know that something is sticking, and that the work I've put in is appreciated.

Happy Wai Kru, and a special shout out to the teachers who don't get ceremonies where flower arrangements are placed at their feet. Outside of Asia, teaching can be a thankless profession.

Year 8's Arrangement (My homeroom)


I should have sent these kids back to class, but instead participated in a class-delaying photo shoot