General News

>So, what does a teacher get in Thailand? Well, I don’t know about the norm, but when my students go home they generally bring back some fruit. Something like this…

I would say I’m pretty lucky! Coconut, mangoes, dragon fruit…don’t mind if I do!

For the record, I would say even this is a bit beyond the norm for what I usually get!

(Posted by Aj. Erika)

(I actually wrote this a little over a week ago, but our internet was down for about a week so I wasn’t able to post it.)

I just wanna brag on my students a little bit. Tonight the second year students gave their first speeches of the year.

We all worked really hard, and after a lot of writing and rewriting, the students got to a place where they could give practice speeches. After watching themselves and making suggestions for self-improvement (along with my suggestions) they were ready to take on the whole school! This year they had a decent sized audience with 25 people staring at them.

They all took it so seriously and were nervous. I was even nervous, although I did feel confidant in their abilities to do a good job. As the time drew near for speech night to start, I felt myself feeling like I used to when going to a special night in elementary school. The same nervous excitement.

Having all those students really helped with the atmosphere. There was a real feeling of support and enthusiasm. You could hear it in the applause and reactions to the speakers. They even kept their chitchatting to a minimum! That says a lot for this talkative bunch that is almost half girls!

As I listened to the speeches I found myself being impressed. Of course, I’d heard their speeches once before, and I’d read all of their outlines. Obviously this helped with my overall comprehension. They surprised me, though, and snuck in some new things – most of which were really good!

My confidence in them was well placed and then some! At the end of the speeches, I was so proud of them and I felt like they were proud of themselves, which is more important.

I’m definitely looking forward to more where that came from!

The following pictures are just stills we took from the videos.

PS – I’ve added a subscribe feature at the top right of the blog. If you are interested, you can keep up with us that way. It will also save you trips to the blog if it hasn’t been updated! However, we’re really going to try to keep this thing updated!

(Posted by Aj Erika)

>(I actually wrote this a little over a week ago, but our internet was down for about a week so I wasn’t able to post it.)

I just wanna brag on my students a little bit. Tonight the second year students gave their first speeches of the year.

We all worked really hard, and after a lot of writing and rewriting, the students got to a place where they could give practice speeches. After watching themselves and making suggestions for self-improvement (along with my suggestions) they were ready to take on the whole school! This year they had a decent sized audience with 25 people staring at them.

They all took it so seriously and were nervous. I was even nervous, although I did feel confidant in their abilities to do a good job. As the time drew near for speech night to start, I felt myself feeling like I used to when going to a special night in elementary school. The same nervous excitement.

Having all those students really helped with the atmosphere. There was a real feeling of support and enthusiasm. You could hear it in the applause and reactions to the speakers. They even kept their chitchatting to a minimum! That says a lot for this talkative bunch that is almost half girls!

As I listened to the speeches I found myself being impressed. Of course, I’d heard their speeches once before, and I’d read all of their outlines. Obviously this helped with my overall comprehension. They surprised me, though, and snuck in some new things – most of which were really good!

My confidence in them was well placed and then some! At the end of the speeches, I was so proud of them and I felt like they were proud of themselves, which is more important.

I’m definitely looking forward to more where that came from!

The following pictures are just stills we took from the videos.

PS – I’ve added a subscribe feature at the top right of the blog. If you are interested, you can keep up with us that way. It will also save you trips to the blog if it hasn’t been updated! However, we’re really going to try to keep this thing updated!

(Posted by Aj Erika)

July 4th in Thailand, you ask? Well, yes! We have some Americans here, and it sure doesn’t hurt for the students to learn a little of that culture. Plus, it tastes good and is fun! This year was no exception – we had a great time playing games, eating food, and listening to or playing music.

Another 4th has come and gone! It makes me miss the US. This year we didn’t have firecrackers (which we usually do – and they’re usually pretty awesome!) because we couldn’t find any. Maybe a residual effect of the protests here where they used them to scare people. Anyway, it just doesn’t seem as much like the 4th without fireworks – but, it was still a great party. And the hamburgers were delicious!

PS – Photo credits go to whatever student was holding the camera at the time.

(Posted by: Erika)

>July 4th in Thailand, you ask? Well, yes! We have some Americans here, and it sure doesn’t hurt for the students to learn a little of that culture. Plus, it tastes good and is fun! This year was no exception – we had a great time playing games, eating food, and listening to or playing music.

Another 4th has come and gone! It makes me miss the US. This year we didn’t have firecrackers (which we usually do – and they’re usually pretty awesome!) because we couldn’t find any. Maybe a residual effect of the protests here where they used them to scare people. Anyway, it just doesn’t seem as much like the 4th without fireworks – but, it was still a great party. And the hamburgers were delicious!

PS – Photo credits go to whatever student was holding the camera at the time.

(Posted by: Erika)