Students in Thailand are fairly different in some ways from students in the States, some good and some bad. For the most part, the students are very well-behaved. Respect is very important in Thai culture, and if a student isn’t behaving properly, we would usually just tell them they were being disrespectful and they would straighten right up.
But the students are also weak.
One day, three of my students weren’t in class. I asked one of the teaching assistants where the students were.
“They’re in the nurses’ room,” he said.
“So they’re sick?” I asked.
“They think they might get sick,” he said.
“So they’re not sick?”
“No, but they might get sick,” he said.
We also had a series of students rolling around in wheelchairs.
“Why is Frank in a wheelchair?”
“She has a fever.” (Yes, Frank is a girl.)
“Why is Jena in a wheelchair?”
“She’s menstruating.”
One day, it was raining lightly in the morning. Our academic building is about 250 meters from the dorms. All of the teachers walked to the academic building. The students refused to walk in the rain, so the teaching assistants had all of the students shuttled to the front of the building in a van so the students wouldn’t get wet.
One of the big events at the end of each camp is the class and teacher performances. For the first camp, the teachers made a version of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” This featured most of the teachers dressing up as zombies and our math teacher dressing up in drag. (Sorry I couldn't upload the video; the internet here is slow and wouldn't allow it. I might try again later.)
The second camp, we did a mockumentary about Lady Gaga visiting the University. Again, it featured our math teacher in drag.
Overall, the camp experience was worthwhile and interesting. I’ll have to see what my situation is next year; maybe I’ll go back.
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