The Students

Many of our experiences in Thailand have revolved around teaching. Caroline and I have spent much of our time planning, teaching and talking about our students. Some of them were fantastic, some were mischievous, and all of them could laugh hysterically, at the drop of a hat. This week is finals week for the students. Even though Caroline and I are going to be at school until the end of March doing administrative work, the school will be void of students. We will miss them and we want to share a little bit about some of our most memorable students and classes.

Mattayom 6/7- Boys Club

LJ: All of my students in Mattayom 6/7 are boys. They are fairly rowdy and do not really care that much about school. Many of their classmates had already dropped out by the time that I began teaching them. These guys loved to laugh and they loved to have fun; an incredibly boisterous, stupid teenage boy sort of fun. So naturally this was my favorite class. Every morning they would shout “Good Morning Teacha!” at a volume that seemed to shake the room. So I took the chance to raise my voice and shout “Good Morning Class!” I have no idea why but this incredibly loud greeting everyday made everyone crack up, every single time. Anytime I attempted a silly joke or if I spoke Thai they would die laughing. Some students would fall out of their chairs! I know I am not that funny, but damn their laughter made me feel like a stand-up legend.

I learned quickly that if these guys were not entertained they would quickly begin using their phones and then I would just be locked in a power struggle all class. So I began teaching them differently than all my other classes. I put students on the spot and made them speak English, especially if they were not paying attention. And I always tried to learn a little Thai or had them teach me a little Thai. On one of the last days of class I had learned how to write some Thai words. As I was close to finishing the first word the class started pounding their desks and yelling in anticipation. “Ohhhhhhhhhh!” When I finished writing and stepped away from the board they all screamed out the word I had written, “Lampang!” Some of the them stood up and began clapping. This continued as I wrote the name of the town we are from, my name and the name of the school. We barely shared a language, but we shared many moments like these. We laughed together, we shared in each other’s small triumphs and I will miss them.

Sittichai aka The Walking Skeleton

LJ: Sittichai is a Mattayom 6/5 student who also happens to be the tallest student in school. Based on my observations he is also the skinniest student. He is so freaky skinny and tall that he really does look like a walking skeleton. Aside from his physical stature (I could definitely sympathize since I was just the American version of Sittichai in high school) Sitticahi also was the class clown. At least he tried to be. He would always try to speak with me in Thai or try to get me to say something inappropriate, but I knew his game. I messed up around Thanksgiving when I was giving a lesson about Thanksgiving.

I was trying to describe the incredible depths of fullness that many Americans find themselves in after this incredible feast. A few days earlier I learned a Thai word that perfectly describes this sensation. “Gut”. You say it just like the less formal English word for stomach and it means that you are so incredibly full that you cannot take another bite. If you say this word to another person it means that you feel like there is food filling your entire body and that you might explode. So I stuck my belly out and said that I feel very “gut” after Thanksgiving and I danced around a bit. This had the whole class rolling. I loved it, but there was an unintended consequence. Every time I met with that class or say Sittichai at school or around town yells, “Guuuuuuuttttttt gut! Teacha, guuuuuutttt gut!” I used to be annoyed, but now it is like our inside joke and I play along by sticking out my stomach and laughing.

Narissara and Kuntaros

LJ: My 6/1 and 2/1 classes were by far my most advanced classes. Despite the age difference I could actually get these students to have conversations in English. I actually felt like I was seeing progress with these students, mainly because they could do the basics; understand directions and build upon concepts they were previously taught. I loved teaching these classes because the students had a genuine intellectual curiosity and a solid English background that allowed us to do things I could not have in other classes. I could actually communicate and learn about the student’s lives. I enjoyed many of the students from these two classes, but my favorites were two girls that came after-school for extra tutoring, Narissara and Kuntaros.

Both of these girls are in 6/1. I had offered extra English practice after school for all of the students in 6/1-6/5, but only Narissara and Kuntaros showed up. They were incredibly shy, but after a few sessions they began opening up. We talked about their families, politics, their professional aspirations, and how excited they were to be leaving Ngao to go to University. Kuntaros’s mother and Narissara’s father are both farmers and Kuntaros’s father lives in Chiang Mai during the week for work. Both understand that their parents give up a lot for them to succeed in school and they make the most of it. They both want to be teachers. Kuntaros wants to become a physics teacher and Narissara wants to be an art teacher. She is a great artist and painted Caroline and I a beautiful picture. I was very touched when Narissara, Kuntaros and some of the other 6/1 girls came into our office on their graduation day and offered us a blessing for our future and thanked us for coming to Ngao to be teachers.

The Notorious 2/3

CC: This class is nothing short of maddening. I have described them as small hamsters that suffer from psychosis. They are notorious throughout our department for being crazy and no one wants to teach them. I walk into most classes with these students jumping on desks, rolling on the floor and throwing things out the window. To top it off, their English is quite awful. I ask them to sit down, take out a piece of paper or to simply listen to me and most students in 2/3 will laugh hysterically in my face. Not necessarily because they’re being disrespectful but because they really think me speaking English is hilarious. Each time I taught 2/3 I would feel defeated and sometimes I thought I’d lost my mind. Ironically yet appropriately, the last class I taught was 2/3 and of course they were in rare form. They were screaming, jumping, hitting, and dancing outside the classroom. I got so desperate for them to sit down in their seats that I started begging them to “please come in the classroom”. They were so hyper and indifferent toward learning English on their last day of class that I literally had to beg them; 5 more seconds and I may have gotten on my knees. When the class was over, I swear the sky parted and I could hear Hallelujahs and angels dancing in the sky. All 34 of them ran out of the classroom screaming, yelling, and cheering. One kid even tipped over a desk, because why not? Teaching 2/3 was pretty insane and it taught me to never underestimate the energy and absurdity of an 8th grade class.

Sittichai- The Little Elephant

I have never met anyone like Sittichai and I will probably never meet anyone like him again. He is my favorite student because of his unique personality and the fact that I think he is hilarious. He usually greets me by kicking his foot in the air and doing a full body dance; “Teachaaa, hii, it’s meeee, little elephant!”. As we’ve mentioned Ladyboys are an accepted 3rd gender in Thailand. They are biological boys who have adopted the identity of a woman or a homosexual man dressing as a woman. Our school has a disproportionate amount of Ladyboys, compared to other schools, and LJ and I love it. Both LJ and I have more than 20-30 Ladyboy students, and they each deliver a different spice to the classroom. Some Ladyboys are rather discrete and do not exude a flamboyance that others do. Some are thin and have very feminine features and some are like Sittichai. Sittichai is 17 years old and he is in 11th grade. He is probably 5’5 and weighs 200 lbs. For Thai standards he is ginormous and that is why they have given him the nickname, Little Elephant. He has acne and his facial hair is sparse but long and stringy. By most opinions, he is not very attractive. He speaks with a voice of seduction; a seductively soft and high-pitched voice. Big hairy man, sexy lady voice. He usually walks on his tippy-toes and does a little twirl every few steps. If he hears music, he does a few pelvic thrusts and screams in a high pitch voice. Since Ladyboy culture is normative in Thailand, most people don’t look twice at Sittichai’s behavior, but I personally can’t get enough.

On the last day, I had my classes have a conversation between two students in front of my desk as I graded them. As two students were conversing, I heard someone seductively yell, “Ohhhh Teachaaaaaaa”. When I looked between the two students standing in front of me, I saw Sittichai directly in front of my desk, about 10 feet away from me. He was staring so intensely at me as he seductively twirled. Sittichai was literally dancing to his own tune, as he moved his hands through the air and thrust his gut as he danced. At this point his stomach was half out of his shirt and he was jiggling his body. I looked around to see if anyone else thought this was insane as I did. No one even flinched. It’s just Sittichai being Sittichai. I laughed and told Sittichai that he could dance for me another time. I apologetically asked the students to start their conversation again, as I could not focus. Sittichai walks to the beat of his own drummer and I will miss him so dearly.