Chomsurang Upatham School (All Girls School)

Chomsurang Upatham School, this last school was the most impressive school that we visited on our trip.  The school is located in the downtown core of the city and students can spend up to an hour on transportation to attend the school.  The school is a grade 7 to 12 and has a student population of 2800 (all girls).  When I think that the Park West student population is only 2000 across an entire division and made up of both Male and Female, it makes this girls school very impressive. I am not even sure that any Winnipeg school has that many students of the same sex.

 

Within the educational component, this school offers an English program to some of the students where they speak and work in English.  Most of these students have some form of English before they attend the school.  Overall, there were 2 classes from 7 to 12 that offered this English option.

The teachers that work come from the US, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand and all have experience in teaching somewhere else before being hired at the Chomsurang Upatham school.  The school is similar to the other schools we have seen in that the hallways are basically outdoor with separate classroom doors.  There is a large library located in the center of the school that contained an impressive amount of books and a few computers.  At the front of the school, a running track around a soccer field is in place and there is are 2 large basketball courts in the back that have a covered roof but no walls.

We were given a presentation by 2 groups of girls on their recent Gold Medal Science and Math presentations.  These girls spent 3 month working and preparing their projects and including building the models, testing their theories, revising their ideas and getting to the conclusion.  The science topic was on making paper from a kind of leaf as a way to  make it environmentally friendly. The math project was on the construction of 3 different types of support beam bridges.  The most impressive aspect of their project was their presentation.  They were fluent, clear and knew each of their own parts and it was done all in English. As well, we were fed different kinds of berries and jellies that we just don't see in North America.  These berries had a hard chewy shell with a creme filling inside. It took some time to get use to but I can honestly say I have never scene nor tasted anything like this.

There are many outside accesses, study areas for the students to work together, practice, study, etc.  There is a court yard fountain/pool and the students are responsible for a garden that is grown in the back corner of the school.  They plant, water, weed, harvest and use the grown crops as a part of the school meal programs. 

One of the things that was being taught to the girls was a form of "Sword Fighting."  The best way that I could describe it was as a Karate Kata or set of moves that demonstrate a story or actions.  The girls work in partners to go through the moves in a slow (tai-chi) steps that recreate a "fight scene." 

This is only taught to girls and could be considered as a "girl dance."  When asked if boys learn a different kind of "dance," I was told that there are some routines that are taught to only boys and girls.

By far, this was the best of all the schools that we had seen for examples of the different types of classes, for the numbers of students and we all agreed, that we could have spent the whole day at this school just so we could see more examples of the classrooms, the students and talk with the teachers.

Other Views of the Chomsurang Upatham School

Mon Village and School Visit

Thursday, February 20, our second school visit happened as we visited a Mon village along the banks of the River Kwai.  To get to the village, we had to take a wider long boat (all of us were able to sit in it) and travel 30 minutes upstream.  The Mon people are originally from the Burma area along the Thai-Burma border.

The school is basically a hut.  No walls but large posts holding up the roof and a set of 20 desks, a teacher’s desk, 3 chalk boards and a ping pong table.  They just received a working (as it was) bathroom that kept the children from having to take a long walk to the other bathroom.  On the day we were there, 6 children were in attendance.  There are approximately 20 kids who attend this school but on this day, they were not around.

Compared to the first school we visited, this school would be considered poor.  Only when you look around at the children and their faces, you would never know that.  They were all smiling, taking part in the lesson of learning Thai, English (as they will most likely work with tourist), Burmese and learning to read and write in their native Mon.

The children were extremely willing to show us what they knew as they sang the English alphabet we all know from growing up, the Thai anthem, the Burmese anthem and the Elephant song.  To see these children so willing and ready to learn with what little they had in the classroom is something that all of us should see when we wonder why we can’t have white board markers that work.

The Grand Palace of the Kings

 

The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and consisted of the Royal Residence of the King but also the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.  It is built in an area that covers 218 000 square meters and is surrounded by 4 walls.  The Grand Palace is heavily patrolled with active members of the Thai military as well as Grand Palace police.  There is a strict dress code to enter including having to wear long pants or a long skirt covering the knees, a shirt that covers the shoulders and shoes that have straps or have the toes covered.  As well, there are two lines as you enter; one for Thai’s which is free and one for Foreigners in which you pay.

 

King Rama I decided when he came to power that the current capital was dirty and unsuitable and decided to move the capital to the other side of the Chao Phraya River.  His intention was that the new palace would serve as his residence and the administrative offices of his government.

 

 

As you first enter the palace, you will see that the gates are very large.  This was to accommodate the elephant to allow it entry to the grounds.  As you enter the main grounds, you are greeted by large demon soldiers who are placed there to scare the evil spirits and keep them from entering.  The next thing you will notice is all of the gold, the jewels, the shiny buildings.  This was definitely built for a King and Buddha.

 

The Emerald Buddha was a little bit of a disappointment for me.  I was expecting this massive amount of Jade but it is actually a small Buddha that is placed on a high tower.  I guess when you take a picture to show for tourism, you want it to be as big as possible.  You were not allowed to take pictures within the temple where the Buddha was (and you had to remove your shoes), but it was amazing. The pictures I took were from the doorway.

In 1903, King Rama V decided to build a new residence that would be the official residence for the future King Rama VI and had it designed in the similarity of Buckingham Palace in England.  He

used the same designer to create this residence that included some aspects of the Thai Culture at the time.  Today, you can see further British influence in the positioning and changing of the official guards.

 

 

Other Views of the Grand Palace

 

 

This was a model of a Massive Royal Capital King Rama IV wanted built.

It was a copy of one in China or Cambodia.

It was too big to reproduced in real so he had a model ordered to be built.

 

 

Buckingham Palace with Elephant Guards

Coming Home

I am now waiting to board the first part of my 3 plane trip home.  I am flying to Hong Kong where I will be boarding an Air Canada flight to Vancouver.  That flight is to be 11.5 hrs long and I go back in time.  I will be making a connection to Winnipeg from there and hopefully home by 11:30 pm.

This has been an amazing learning adventure.  Aside from the beauty of the country itself, the culture is incredible.  Thailand is a diverse place that has many different cultures and people.  From Burma to the Chinese, Thai people are very proud of their culture, their religion and definitely their King. I don’t know of any other country that will stop at 8am or 6pm to listen to their anthem being played on loud speakers.

This was the first time leaving North America to travel and I understand why some people have a travel bug.  What is wonderful about this type of trip was that we were immersed in the culture and the learning that we did.  Meeting venders in the night market of Chaing Mai, to the hill people, to the children in the schools; every day was a new lesson.  Our guide, Mr. Lewis, was full of information and stories that added to the adventure and opened up the history and importance of Thailand.  For me, it was a new kind of travel.

 

I fully believe that this kind of opportunity needs to be opened to more teachers.  You can’t learn what I learned in a classroom or by media but once you have experienced this, you can definitely open your students to a side of the world that many may never see.  You can “Prepare the students for the World” because you have experienced the world.

Over the next couple of days, I hope to add more pages but these will be of just the sites that I witnessed as well as things I did.  This site will be opened for a while so that there is a reference to those who wish to check back.

Ban buakkrognoi Community School (Wat papao) 1st School Visit

Boston Educators (and me) with the Staff of Ban buakkrognoi Community School
in front of the Ancient Temple of Wat papao

As a part of this Educational Tour, we were scheduled to visit 3 different schools in 3 different regions. Each of these schools are different in type and set up.  Our first school visit happened on Tuesday in Chiang Mai.

With the Thai Constitution of 2007, there was a statement included that “All children should have equal right to study at least 12 years and the state need to provide education with good quality thoroughly without collecting money.”  As well, it also stated “The poverty, disabled, infirm and anyone who are in trouble should also have equal right to get education.”  This was the “Education for All” slogan.

Using this government directive, the Ban buakkrognoi Community School (Wat papao) was established on August 27, 2009 for children ages 4 to 14 as a pre-school education center.  It was established to help the disadvantage and poor who came to Chiang Mai but did not have status in civil registration system or the children from other cultures needed this unique education system.  Basically, these children were taught the Thai language and how to read and write in it.

 

 

The vision statement of the school is “Education for the disadvantage to prepare their readiness; body; mind’ emotion’ society and wisdom for learning in the basic level.”  It also wanted to strengthen the moral, ethics, discipline and good accountability of children towards Thai. The school has a set of 5 objectives including:

1)      To prepare children’s readiness; body, mind, emotion society an wisdom with full potential

2)      To train children’s communicative skills of Thai language, life-skills such as listening, speaking, reading, writing and basic math

3)      To look after children’s health and provide their immunity

4)      To create continuous educational system for children to study further in Department of Education, Chiang Mai Area 1 and another area

5)      To make children understanding the good conduct whereas they are living in Thailand following to Thai constitution, laws

 

 

The school opened with 28 students in 2009 but as of the day we visited, they now have 271 students In the grades from pre-kindergarten (ages 3-4) to the age of 16.  The school also employs a staff of 13.  Some were fully qualified teachers but others were in the process of becoming teachers.  They have to work for 5 years in a school before they can become certified to teach.

 

The school was established on the grounds of a Temple, which is why they have the name Wat in it.  It has gone through some construction over the last few years but the basic buildings are the same.  The rooms are opened air; desks are in rows; they have chalk boards and a few posters, and every room has the picture of the King and Queen.  There is a computer room that has One computer for all 271 students.  As the school is on a temple, some of the children are “Novice” or are taking training in the Monk teachings.

 

This was the school that we gave all of our donations that were brought from home.  Pencils, books, stickers, crayons, markers, dice, flash cards, word cards, and the best thing I thought was a Lacrosse game from Dan Norton.  Dan is a player and a coach of lacrosse back home and he wanted to spread the joy of the game.  What I found funny was as he tried to explain what the game was, their first connect to the idea was HOCKEY.  See, we have influence all over.

 

 

Some other views from the school:

School Uniform of the Director of the School

 Dish Duty

 Playing a Game similar to Jacks

Director, Principal and Vice Principal of the School

Wide Open Doors During the Day

Closed at night like a Garage Door