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
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