Thai Nightlife

Jess, our Physical Therapy major, contributed this post about her teaching experiences and Thai nightlife.

Okay, so it has been almost a full week since our arrival in Thailand and Friday was a really amazing day to be with the kids. Our co-teaching team of Winette, Kara, and I has been really successful. By the end of the week we had a good system to be sure to keep the students engaged for the whole class time, with the only negative point being that none of us ever want to hear “Old McDonald had a Farm” ever again. We had an opportunity to return to some of the classrooms that we had attended earlier in the week and we found that they remembered most of the things we taught them. It was a really exciting experience and I notice that we are building as a team and discovering what works best to give the students a better learning experience and determining a way in which we can use the class time most effectively. We also have been able to communicate with some of the teachers to develop lessons that coincide with their regular subjects. It is really cool to be in the classroom, having to apply lessons and think on our feet, especially if the students are not engaged or if the material is not challenging enough.

After a long day of teaching, Jeff, one of the teachers in the High School, took the whole group to the Hilton Sky Bar to relax and enjoy a beautiful view. Other teachers from Salesian School also joined us and we had an opportunity to further talk to them about their experiences. We watched as it rained for the first time since our arrival and then went to dinner. At dinner we ordered “Thai style”: everyone ordering a dish and then sharing the meal so that everyone would be able to try several new dishes. We even ordered the soup we made during the cooking lesson! Dinner was delicious (like most Thai food in my opinion) and then the group split up, some going to the night market and Winette and I went with Jeff and Aek, another teacher at the High School, to a club near the Hilton where we were able to see live music. There was a Thai band performing there that did both Thai songs and covers of American songs. The group was really good and they had amazing voices. The woman singer noticed that we were familiar with all of the songs and talked with us between sets. After the band performed one of the saxophone players from the jazz festival came in and played. Apparently he is very popular around this area and the place was packed. There was a man and a woman at the front that were dancing really fancy and it was a really cool scene to enjoy. After music and a lot of dancing we left and took a taxi back to the Salesian School to end another awesome day in Thailand.