tales from thailand: "Thank You Teachaa"

I cannot believe how fast the past 5 months have gone by! I am officially done teaching and it definitely has not hit me yet. I still feel like I will walk into class next week and have the students welcome me with the traditional "Good Morning Teachaa" greeting. Thursday of last week was officially our last day and the teachers threw us a going away party with lots of traditional Thai food and pizza! It was really said saying good bye to some of our co-workers- they were the only friends Alexis and I had in Salaya! Even with the language barrier and communication struggles, I knew that the fellow teachers in our office would have been there for Alexis or I if we had a problem and they were all very friendly and welcoming towards us. At the farewell party, Alexis and I were presented with certificates and small gifts. Some of the goodbyes were tearful and I will miss them all very much.

Earlier in the week, Alexis and I had to make a farewell speech to the entire school at the morning ceremony. It was so bizarre because it felt like only yesterday we were giving our introductory speeches!! The Director presented us with fancy mugs that displayed the school Logo and then we had a special goodbye meeting in his office where he told us we were forever welcome at Kanchanapisek and if we were ever in Thailand we could stay with him and his family. That's the thing about Thai people - they are so kind and welcoming!

Now on to the students. Oh man am I going to miss some of the little cuties that I taught! The last few weeks of teaching were by far my favorite because I was giving conversation quizzes where I got to work with students one on one. Lecturing in front of the classroom I had very little patience with the large group of chaotic children but working with them one on one made me realize that they are all very sweet individuals. Thai Valentine's Day really made me realize how much of an influence I have had on these students and I am very happy to have positive feedback from the students. I will miss playing the games that I played with them, like Hangman, The Hot Seat, Jeopardy, and Scategories. Some of their answers were so creative! Their level of excitement for any mention of Justin Bieber or One Direction will stay in my memory forever and anything Stitch or Winnie the Pooh themed will forever remind me of my students.

One class in particular really warmed my heart on the last day of class. I teach them on Mondays so last week when I walked into class, instead of saying "Good morning Teachaa" like they have to, they had prepared a speech for me. The entire class stood up and read off a speech in English saying "Teacher Shannon is beautiful and an amazing teacher. We will remember you always. Thank you Teacher." I was so thrown off, usually I have to respond with "thank you, you can sit down" but I was truly speechless! Tears sprung to my eyes and I couldn't believe they had planned that out together. I was touched by their adorable effort and I wanted to hug every single one of them!

Although the Thai school system can be extremely aggravating, and there is little to no structure in the classroom, I am going to miss Kanchanapisek very much. I have always loved working with kids, and this experience has brought my love for kids to a whole new level. Between artwork, games, and conversations- I have seen a lot of creativity in these students and I hope each one of them lives a life full of happiness. Even though my time with them was short, this experience will stay with me forever and whenever I am having a bad day I am going to think back on my teaching experiences- young Thai children "wai-ing" me, the laughs that resulted from a poor english translation, and the smiles a simple game of hangman brought to their faces. While teaching was a very tiring experience, the good definitely out weighed the bad and I hope that my basic teaching skills will help these students in some way! Thank you Kanchanapisek for all of the amazing memories and I will never forget this experience <3