Chomsurang Upatham School
English Program
Ayutthaya
Just when I think the trip can’t get any better, we visit another school and get to spend time with the students. We first visited an 8th grade class that is in the English Program. The teacher is from Austraila. On Fridays, the kids practice public speaking and today they had brought their favorite things from home to talk about. One girl and brought her martial arts belts, another a farmer’s manual that was her mother’s when she was young and the majority of kids brought their stuffed animals. One of the teachers in our group is an elementary PE teacher who travels with the his school’s stuffed bear mascot named Bondi so it was very nice that Bondi got his picture taken home with all of the student’s stuffed animals. These girls were all 8th graders and their English was very good. This is one of the absolute best schools in Bangkok and the students have to take very difficult exams to be accepted. Public school is free for all children in Thailand but many parents will send their kids to private schools such as this one because the quality of the education is often much better.
Next, there was a reception with in which we I tried a new fruit that was just delicious. It was called a mangosteen. I am not a huge fan of Asian desserts that have a jelly base but I did not want to not be polite by not eating them. The jelly with the blue on top was very tasty. Two different groups of students presented their Gold Star Award Science Projects. 
One of my favorite parts of the visit came next when our Asst. Superintendent and myself were able play basketball with a group of girls who were having some fun during their lunch time. There were a lot of kids on the other side of the basketball courts who were practicing their sword skills. After playing, I was able to share the pictures of Hopkinton Middle School and of my own sweet kids, Grace and Colton. They were very intrigued by the pictures of my daughter Grace and I dogsledding. Thailand never gets snow.
Next we visited the school library, in which we had a nice time to speak casually with different clusters of students in the English Program. It was fun hearing about their lives and what they like to do for fun, such as reading comic books and Harry Potter. The girls like Taylor Swift a lot as well. There was an English newspaper in the library and the headline concerned farmers wanting to block the roads to the airport in protest for the government not honoring their rice contract payments.
Food Market
As we made our way from the parking lot to the temple ruins, we meandered through a market that has some interesting looking foods. One of my favorite snacks I saw being made. It tasted like peanut brittle. Pamellos have been a delicious new food for me to try in Thailand. It seemed as though fried fish skin was a common snack here because there were many vendors selling it. The smell was strong and fishy for sure.
Visit to the Temple Amidst the Ruins
There was a very large statue of Buddha in the Temple and a few groups of students on a field trip were visiting. All Thai students wear school uniforms and when they go on field trips they all wear a special field trip shirt so that they are easy to spot by their chaperones. I was intrigued by the students shaking a long cylinder while praying in front of the Buddha statue. At first I thought it was part of some ritual but later discovered that they were shaking the cylinder until one of the long sticks came out. Then they would read a fortune for what was noted on the stick.
Wat Lokayasutha, Ayutthaya
I have been looking forward to visiting the “Reclining’ Buddha statue because it shows that he has reached Nirvana (Heaven) and he has a smile on his face.
Wat Chaiwatthanaram Ayutthaya
Our last temple visit for the trip was very interesting because the heads and arms of all of the statues were missing because they were destroyed when the Burmese were at war with the Kingdom in this area back in the 1700’s .
It reminded me very much of what the “Red Guard” did to many of the Buddha statues in China during the Cultural Revolution. They had a mission to destroy anything “old” so many ancient relics were destroyed. This temple is also much more in the Hindu style of temples. The king had built it for his daughter.
Hi Mrs Verra!
ReplyDeleteI hope that you had a wonderful time on your trip over all and I'm glad it was such a good experence in this fourin country. I thought it was very interesting how the school you visited had public speaking on fridays. I thought that that was a very interesting thing to do with in a school and it sounds very beneficial for later in their lives, as public speaking is a very important skill.
I was wondering if you investigated their curriculum and learned what things they learn at school. If you did, was there a similarity between what we learn in our middle school education to what these girls learn? Do they study geogrophy like we do and cover the regions of the world? I'm so happy you had such a great trip, Thank you for sharing it with me on your blog, see you on Monday!
-Sara Cahill
Hi Sara. Yes, we did chat with the students about their curriculum. They take most of the same courses we do plus more science and foreign language. At this school the kids will take two of the following languages by the time they graduate....English, Chinese, Japanese plus their native Thai language which is very difficult to learn to read and write. The trip has been great! I have so much to share with you guys in class. Thank you so much for the interest in my blog and all of your thoughtful questions.
DeleteHi Mrs. Verra,
ReplyDeleteI hope you are having a good time on your trip. Are all the temples you visited Buddhist?
- Francesca
Great question Francesca! The majority of the temples we visited because over 95% of the country is Buddhist but we also visited Hindu temples because over time, depending upon who was the leader in the different kingdoms, before it became a unified Thailand, the religions would switch back and forth. I also visited a Catholic church because they people of the Hill Tribes had converted to Christianity through the influence of missionaries from the United States and Europe.
DeleteHi Mrs.Verra,
ReplyDeleteThe statues in the last temple that you visited were missing their heads and arms. Why were the bodies left behind? I hope you had a good time in Thailand.
- Sarah Kang
The arms and heads were missing because people from Burma attacked the kingdom that was then in that region Thailand. It took them about a week to destroy the area. The statues were damaged because the people who were invading were Hindu and the people living in the area were Buddhist.
DeleteHi Mrs. Verra,
ReplyDeleteIs there any certain food in Thailand that you enjoyed most?
-Abby Jaye
Yes Abby, I really loved the sticky mango rice and the spicy soups. I absolutely love Thai food so I was very happy with the food we ate while traveling throughout Thailand. The only food I didn't really care for was the desserts that were jelly-like in nature. Fried bananas were one of my favorite desserts though.
DeleteHi Mrs. Verra,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that you are having a great time in Thailand! One question I had was why everything old was destroyed during China's Cultural Revolution. What was the reasoning? Also, at the last temple you visited you said that the statues were built for the king's daughter. I was wondering if the statues were supposed to be of his daughter or if they were supposed to symbolize something else. The final question I have is that you said that 95% of the Thailand population is Buddhist. What religion is the other 5% of the country? See you on Monday!
-Bella Onsi
Hi Bella, The Communists took over China in 1949 and later established something called the "Red Guard" that was made up of a lot of young college and high school-aged students. The government shut down most schools for almost ten years because they became very suspicious of educated people. These young people then roamed the cities and countryside destroying everything "old" during a period that was called the"Cultural Revolution". China lost many statues, artwork, old transcripts and many treasures kept in museums during this period of time. The government wanted the people to focus on the communist government and not to look to the past and anything that had to do with traditional Chinese religion and philosophy ( Buddhism and Confusianism)
DeleteWhen you got to speak in English to some students were they fluent? Was it difficult to try to understand them?
ReplyDeleteJenna, hanging out with the Thai students was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Their English was very good. These were top students who had been studying English for a few years. They really liked the little photo album that I brought to show them our middle school and pictures of you guys.
DeleteHi Ms. Verra!
ReplyDeleteI really love reading about your visits to schools! They were one of my favorite entries. Last year, my little cousin brought home Bondi, and I helped her decorate a picture in a scrapbook and take pictures of her and Bondi. It's pretty cool that my little cousin and students in Thailand both got to experience Bondi! have a couple of questions I didn't think would be right to ask until now. First, what was the best moment of your entire trip, something that really touched you and that you will take back to America? Who was the most intriguing person you met over the course of your trip? Did they influence your best moment? And finally, did you learn anything about yourself, maybe from the best moment, or from that intriguing person, or just in general? I'm glad you enjoyed Thailand, and I immensely enjoyed reading your posts! See you Monday!
~Eva
Eva, you have asked me such thought provoking questions throughout this blog and I have shared them with my fellow teachers at mealtimes and it has led to some really reflective conversation. So THANK YOU for enriching my trip. My most favorite moment of the trip was when I went searching for a middle school classroom in the Myanmar Refugee School and was able to talk to them alone for awhile and then play frisbee with them. The way that they played together and teased each other was just so universal....kids are kids wherever you go in the world. They appreciate people sincerely taking an interest in them and they love to play. My favorite person I met on the trip was a 15 year-old girl I met at the private city school. She hung out with me most of the time I was there and was able to slip away with her for a nice chat. At the end she asked me if we could take a picture on her cell phone so that she could remember me. She was just so curious about my life and students and my family. Her English was very good and she just had such a sweet and gracious personality. I used to travel the world before I got married and had kids and then took 10 years off to take care of my family and am so glad that was my focus. But I do know, that international travel is a big part of who I am and how I teach. I felt such joy on a daily basis to be learning about the history, current political issues, and culture of Thailand . I reveled in the physical beauty of Thailand's mountains and rivers. I met such warm and generous people and had the opportunity to eat delicious food and visit many Buddhist and Hindu temples. I learned that I need to keep hopping on planes and traveling to learn more about the world!
ReplyDelete