Here is a funny story that could only happen when teaching cross-culturally. I told my class of second and third graders that the next book I would be reading aloud to them was a classic, How to Eat Fried Worms. Sure to fascinate kids in a funny and gross way. Josh (my only 100% Caucasian student who is half American, half Dutch, but has always lived in Thailand) and Tan (pure Thai) started chattering excitedly in Thai. Josh works as a translator in my classroom on a regular basis. This is the English conversation that ensued:
Josh: A whole book about eating fried worms? Great! They're so yummy!
Tan: Yeah, I love fried worms, they're one of my favorites!
Josh: Me too!
Cindy: So in Thailand, people enjoying eating fried worms?
Josh: Of course, they're really good! Haven't you had fried worms?
Cindy: No I haven't. In America, people don't eat worms.
Josh and Tan with completely puzzled faces: Why not? They're sooo good!
Cindy: I guess we don't have the right kind of worms!
I guess I'll pick a different book to read aloud next.
Josh's parents later told me where to get fried worms and bugs at the market. They said they like the worms better, some kind of bamboo worm. Megan is intrigued to try them, I'm not sure I'm brave enough. I'll let you know.
This link might take you to my Facebook where you can watch a video of my students singing as we work on creating a movie.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=1120652296160
And here is the movie we created!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Pictures of school
Dan and Ruth (our principal) in front of the school, which used to be a motel.
The elementary 'hallway'.
Cindy's classroom before school started.
Dan at his desk.
Teachers eating in the staff lunchroom/auxiliary classroom which looks out over the playfield.
More pictures of our latest waterfall adventure are on Facebook, I think anyone can access this link, members of Facebook or not.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
We have survived our first week of school. I must say the students are absolutely delightful. Truly. I have three third graders and five second graders. Two are from Taiwan, their parents are missionaries here. One has one parent from Holland and the other from America, also missionaries. He is trilingual. One looks Asian, but says he is from Kansas. I haven't worked that one out yet. The rest are Thai. They are hard workers, so far at least. Despite their limited vocabularies, they love to read and groan when I interrupt them. Their math and reading levels are miles apart, so that could be challenging this year. Differentiation is not a great strength, but I'm working on it. Also, the reading books for the third graders are much too hard for them so we are finding alternative reading material for the time being. Dan and the girls are adjusting, too. Lindsey says she is enjoying it. She likes the small size, the feeling that all ages are connected together. The girls are working hard in their classes already and are enjoying being in a Christian school. That is a new experience for all of us. I was hoping the homework would be a bit lighter for them, but that doesn't seem to be the case. In a couple of weeks there is an all school dance. Ballroom dance is one of the classes offered here, so the students really enjoy the opportunity to use their skills, I guess. The school has arranged for the juniors to go to Chiang Mai to take the PSAT, in October. It will be interesting to see how Megan does on that.
Working full time is going to be challenging, too, I've gotten used to having tons of time for planning that I simply can't do here. At least here I have a house helper once a week and our family can eat a wonderful Thai dinner out for about $5. Beats McDs! Our cleaning lady came Wednesday, so we came home to a clean house, ironed clothes, laundry washed, dried folded, etc. We stopped at the market on the way home, there's a small stationery shop there where the girls needed to pick up a few school supplies. We bought huge frappucinos for 1.50 a piece, bought 8 steamed buns with pork and veggies inside for $2.75, some coconut custard and dragon fruit for dinner. I don't know how people work full time and come home and cook dinner and clean house, too. Of course, we're extra tired here trying to deal with the heat. I miss September in Seattle, it's one of my favorite months for weather.
I just found out yesterday that the woman who got forced into taking my job quit, so now my job should be there for me when we get back. I'm so thrilled to know that, I told poor Dan three different times. I miss home, friends, family, EHRC, cool weather and being able to talk to my neighbors. There's a story behind that last one. We were without running water in our house for four days, starting Saturday afternoon. The government is doing some project with the water system here, so it's not unusual for the water to be out for a day or so. Most people we have since learned keep a tank of water just for such occasions. Our house doesn't have one, although there is a garbage can we figured out on Saturday should be kept full of water for flushing toilets and bucket baths. Anyways, one of our Thai speaking friends here asked a neighbor for us on Sunday when it would be back on, she said it would be that night. No water. Monday no water. Tuesday no water. Finally, we had the same friend call our landlady to find out if she knew what the deal was. She came out to the house and just turned the water on at the street. It's quite common to hear announcements in Thai over intercoms on the street, but of course we can't understand. I would assume one of them said you can turn your water on on Sunday evening! Sigh, the joys of living overseas. Anyway, Tuesday night we had water so we could take showers at home, flush toilets properly and do laundry. Yippee! It's amazing how this frustration on top of the start of school really got us down.
Today (Saturday) we went to a waterfall about 30 minutes from here. The rainforest is fabulously green and beautiful and the water is fabulously cool and refreshing. I am trying to get pictures on Facebook of both school and the waterfall, but my connection seems to be too slow right now and uploading pictures to blogs doesn't seem to be allowed presently in Thailand. Is it just me???
Working full time is going to be challenging, too, I've gotten used to having tons of time for planning that I simply can't do here. At least here I have a house helper once a week and our family can eat a wonderful Thai dinner out for about $5. Beats McDs! Our cleaning lady came Wednesday, so we came home to a clean house, ironed clothes, laundry washed, dried folded, etc. We stopped at the market on the way home, there's a small stationery shop there where the girls needed to pick up a few school supplies. We bought huge frappucinos for 1.50 a piece, bought 8 steamed buns with pork and veggies inside for $2.75, some coconut custard and dragon fruit for dinner. I don't know how people work full time and come home and cook dinner and clean house, too. Of course, we're extra tired here trying to deal with the heat. I miss September in Seattle, it's one of my favorite months for weather.
I just found out yesterday that the woman who got forced into taking my job quit, so now my job should be there for me when we get back. I'm so thrilled to know that, I told poor Dan three different times. I miss home, friends, family, EHRC, cool weather and being able to talk to my neighbors. There's a story behind that last one. We were without running water in our house for four days, starting Saturday afternoon. The government is doing some project with the water system here, so it's not unusual for the water to be out for a day or so. Most people we have since learned keep a tank of water just for such occasions. Our house doesn't have one, although there is a garbage can we figured out on Saturday should be kept full of water for flushing toilets and bucket baths. Anyways, one of our Thai speaking friends here asked a neighbor for us on Sunday when it would be back on, she said it would be that night. No water. Monday no water. Tuesday no water. Finally, we had the same friend call our landlady to find out if she knew what the deal was. She came out to the house and just turned the water on at the street. It's quite common to hear announcements in Thai over intercoms on the street, but of course we can't understand. I would assume one of them said you can turn your water on on Sunday evening! Sigh, the joys of living overseas. Anyway, Tuesday night we had water so we could take showers at home, flush toilets properly and do laundry. Yippee! It's amazing how this frustration on top of the start of school really got us down.
Today (Saturday) we went to a waterfall about 30 minutes from here. The rainforest is fabulously green and beautiful and the water is fabulously cool and refreshing. I am trying to get pictures on Facebook of both school and the waterfall, but my connection seems to be too slow right now and uploading pictures to blogs doesn't seem to be allowed presently in Thailand. Is it just me???
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