A day of many differences for me today. I started in the classroom and saw both ends of the student spectrum. The seniors who are at the top of their class, and the eight graders. The seniors know English very well, and I didn't have to slow down much for them. The eighth graders a really had to stick to basics and try to show them some things, I hope they learned something.
This afternoon Judy and I visited the Si Satchanalai Industrial and Community Education College. This is not a college as we would know in the United States. It is actually a secondary school serving grades 8 and up. Students may go to this school and receive an industrial education instead of the more traditional education. They can learn computer sciences, technology, and auto mechanic types of things. We had a very good visit with the administration and staff and got to see a lot of interesting student work (Think Science Fair on a very big scale); for example one student had built an automated hand dryer like you would find in the bathroom. Something we may take for granted in US, but here very unique, and intriguing to see a student had done the planning and assembly.
From there it was out to the very naturally soothing Si Satchanalai National Park, for a short walk around the park (too hot to hike too far, but we did get to see some of the natural beauty all the same). Though it was a bit disconcerting to see a river full of fish and then settle down for a dinner which included fish. (Hmm...fresh caught perhaps?) Our groups venture into the world of frog and squid for poritons of our meal resulted in us teaching a new word to our Thai teachers as Karen (here from PA as part of Fullbright) found the meat selection to be rather chewy!
No comments:
Post a Comment