6/3/2004 - A Teacher in Thailand
At 8:00 a.m. the children assembled for morning exercises, outside. They sang to the king, prayed to Buddha, pledged to be attentive and respectful to their teachers. Following a long period of announcements, they moved to classrooms. Classes, 45 minutes in length, went on for the remainder of the day. In the English office where I had a desk, there were 20 teachers who came and went, sometimes leaving their children in the office with the teachers who were not teaching during that period. Teachers worked busily at their desks, correcting papers, preparing lessons, and talking and eating constantly. They didn’t seem to notice the noises coming from every direction—a radio playing somewhere, music class just down the hall, children’s voices from the playground directly in front. Each day, I asked for my schedule for the following day. It was usually not available.
Almost every day I learned my schedule in the morning. Almost every day, classes did not occur as scheduled, so I learned not to worry about it much. I had a bag of materials ready to go, and when someone signaled, I followed and often found myself with 50 and sometimes even 200 children at a time…
Cathie Currin
Visiting Teacher Program
USA to Thailand
In the Photo: Cathie Currin at “Departure Day” in New York
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