English Teaching Seminar, Isaan Thailand.

The other weekend I was forced to partake in a teacher training seminar on Saturday and Sunday. This meant no weekend for me.

I have come to dread these seminars after being through 4 of them. I can truthfully say that one out of the four was in some way useful. Two of them were just down right boring and a complete waste of time.

I wasn’t confident about this seminar either as the person who was arranging it had arranged the previous seminars. It wasn’t until a few days before that we actually knew who was coming to train us. And also one of our newest teachers was asked to present a section on motivating young learners.

So I went with serious doubts and was expecting it to be very boring and mundane. The first guest was a really lovely lady, Dr. Saisunee, she did a presentation on Authentic Assessment, I am not going to go into this but in short it is about how we should assess students and also set tests now, not how they did in years gone by.

I actually sat through a presentation on the same topic last year by a foreign guy and it was delivered terribly and was so boring I was looking for rope to hang myself. Thankfully Dr. Saisunee presented the topic incredibly well and I enjoyed it, I also took plenty out of this as well.

Then the rest of the weekend we played games, yes games. There really wasn’t too much more to it. We did browse the topic of how to control a classroom, teachers offered their ideas and they were written onto a board for all to share.



So we played games, smiled and laughed.

One funny game they did was a game where you can only ask, ‘yes/no’ questions. I have played this game before with native speakers and older students and it is fun.

The victim has a name of something placed on their back, they then have to try and work out what it is using the least amount of questions.

Now, playing this with Thai teachers was funny, some of the teachers from kindergarten have very low English ability but they had come along and were trying their hardest to participate.

It was pretty hilarious when a person has, penguin on their back and they ask, ‘Do I have fur?’ Yes, can be a little misleading.


Or the victim has ‘snail’ on their back. He asks a Thai teacher, “Do I have more than 6 legs?” Of course the answer is, ‘yes’. And this goes on and on.


Dancing, dancing and dancing.






And even some limbo.

In the end the weekend was fun, but I didn’t take much out of the weekend that I hadn’t already learnt at some time before. The other thing that hurt is losing a good whack of money from my private students.

I teach 7 hours a weekend, 5 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday, that is 28 hours a month. In those 28 hours I only take a few thousand Baht less than the wage I get for an entire month from my school for working 160 hours a month.

Thankfully I won’t need to go through this for another entire year.

Brunty

Scout Day Thailand 2009.

Earlier this month we had Scout Day at our school. Here a shrine or memorial is set up for the morning ceremony.

Scouting was introduced to Thailand on July 1st, 1911 by King Rama VI, who is known as the father of scouting.

On guard were our student soldiers, they are part time soldiers for three years and this then exempts them from national duty.

These are soon to be soldiers, in the waiting. When they pass the necessary tests they will be issued their greens.

Scouts is a little unique here in Thailand as it is part of the school curriculum. All across Thailand all schools have scouts once a week.

So these teachers have been scouting since they were 5 or 6 years old.

A senior teacher paid respect to Thailand’s scout founder.

It was a perfect day for the ceremony, hardly a cloud in the sky.

This is obviously a scout salute of some kind. I have never been involved in scouts and have no idea about it.

Our Brother or Director then came out to begin the ceremony. He was given a salute, much like they weirdoes from the navy used to. In the army you salute properly. I don’t know if he is the highest ranking scout, or he does the ceremony because he is the boss.

The Director then stood at the lectern and saluted the teachers and students, who returned the salute.

The Brother then lays a flower garland at the base of the memorial.

Brother then lights a candle and an incense stick.


Next 3 very high and respectful ‘wais’ or a Thai greeting is done, while all watch on.


Then it was time for some reflection, a minute of silence to pay respect.

The ceremony wasn’t near finished but I had to leave, I had plenty of work to do. Way back near the office and well away from seeing any of the ceremony were these small scouts.

These students still have another 10 years of scouting to go, they look pretty happy though.

The uniform for year 1 to 3 students are white shirts and blue shirts. For years 4 to year 12 it is green for the girls and khaki for the boys.

And if you are interested some extra information.

Thailand’s scout motto is:

เสียชีพอย่าเสียสัตย์ Better to die than to lie.

Scout promise: On my honour I promise that I will be loyal to the Nation, the Religion and the King; help other people at all times; and obey the Scout Law.

Scout laws: A Scout's honour is to be trusted.A Scout is loyal to his Nation, his Religion, and his King and is faithful to his benefactors.A Scout's duty is to be useful and to help others.A Scout is a friend to all, and a brother to every other Scout in the world.A Scout is courteous.A Scout is kind to animals.A Scout respectfully obeys the orders of his parents and his superiors.A Scout is very cheerful and is not afraid of troubles.A Scout is thrifty.A Scout is clean in thought, word and deed.

A Good Pie, Exam Cheating and H1N1 Virus, Thailand.

Before I launch into a rant about this week at school I will go over this lovely meal. A friend of mine, his wife makes really good pies. I get a dozen a time and put them in the freezer. She makes chicken, beef, pork and vegetable, bacon, chunky beef, curry and so forth and they are delicious.

I pay 40 Baht a pie, a bargain I say for the quality, cook up some vegetables and a meal for a king or a dick like me.

The other great thing of late was this convection microwave. It cost me 300 Baht. A friend had it in the kitchen and it got wet in a downpour and stopped working, he bought a new microwave.

I informed him that Thais can fix just about anything, he said I could have the microwave and get it fixed. The repair man had it for a week, he cleaned it up, repainted the inside with a special paint and it is working like new.

Now in the mornings I simply tip all the ingredients in together for my oatmeal and go and have my shower. When I come out my breakfast is ready to eat. Cooking vegetables are so easy too, should have bought one a long time back, but I wouldn’t have got it for 300 Baht.

This week at school has been pretty horrible. We had exams on Tuesday and Wednesday and this meant sitting in a classroom all day proctoring. We had to make sure students didn’t cheat.

The days were long and boring but you get through it. After the tests finished it then meant marking your exam papers. I started with my youngest class, primary 1. They are kids aged from five and a half to nearly seven.

When you teach these kids 5 days a week you get to know then well, you know who are strong and who are weak in English.

The first test I was to correct, each student is numbered from 1 to 30. The number 1 student is a boy and his English is weak. I was expecting plenty of mistakes, in class he cannot read the easy sentences, identify the colours we have learnt, match words to pictures and so forth.

So I started marking his test, correct, correct, correct… Okay, I knew something was going on. I then went straight to the weakest student in the class, I straight away knew when I glanced over it what had happened.

The teacher that looks after the class, their homeroom teacher is a lovely lady, really lovely. She is the politest lady I have met at the school. Always so friendly and I have always gotten on well with her.

The problem is she is too soft; she hates to see the kids not do well in the exams. I first came across this a few years ago in her class when again very weak students were just doing too well.

Later that day when I arrived in the classroom. I called the 5 weakest students to the front of the class. I had them come to me at the teacher’s desk and try and read some of a blank test. None of them could, I had expected this.

I then explained, I was not angry at them or they were not in trouble. I asked them how they could do the test.

I was then told, ‘the teacher helped me.’

I asked how the teacher had helped. I was told, ‘the teacher had translated frpm English into Thai’ and had also coloured objects where students had to read and colour.

I was really pissed, I had 4 exams on at the same time, so I was walking between them to monitor and also offer assistance if a student asked. I do not help students at all. I will point to examples on the test or the words that might be in bold in the instructions. I never prompt a student in an exam.

So I then again told the primary 1 students that they were not in trouble. I asked the students who were helped by the teacher to raise their hand.

About 18 students out of the 30 raised their hands. I am sure smoke was coming out of my ears.

I taught the rest of the class as per normal. I went back to the office and didn’t say a word to the supervisor of the English programme or to the teacher who had helped them.

I composed a letter informing all the primary 1 parents of what had happened, exactly the truth with no sugar coating. I then had this translated into Thai.

It basically informed parents that all scores were null and void. All students would be retested next week and the test will be done in class and monitored by me. If the parents have any complaints, direct them to the administration of the school.

I know that the teacher involved is going to be embarrassed and also angry, but after warning her not to help students every time we sit exams for the last 3 years I have had enough.

I don’t expect all students to be grade ‘A’ students. If a student cannot do a part of a test, so be it. I can then inform the parents that they need to offer extra help in that area. Hiding a student’s weakness only creates a bigger problem down the track.

Apart from this, there has been idiocy happen about the swine flu or H1N1. Some of the powers to be must have been sniffing way to much glue in a very small and enclosed area. Some of the recommendations they rules they have put in place over the past week, go against what the World Health Organization recommend.

In our classrooms have had the airconditioning turned off, the windows and doors have been opened but there isn’t a breeze to be felt. It is stinking hot in the rooms and students have droplets of sweat fall off their noses onto their books in the swealtering heat.

I have said again and again. The air conditioning is not going to spread the H1N1 virus, it isn’t an ‘airborne virus’ it is spread through contaminated droplets expelled when speaking or sneezing, human to human contact or a person touches a surface that has the virus on it and then transfers it by touching their mouth or face area.

Today the idiocy went to new heights, apparently, again apparently some students in year 10 had been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, so the classes around them were sent away from their room and all the classes were ordered to be cleaned.

Students who weren’t sick started asking if they could go home as they were scared. It was really pathetic.

If these kids are made aware that if they follow some basic hygiene steps they have a very good chance of not contracting the virus.

When I asked some students how the virus was transmitted or spread the answers were absolutely comical.

Students would not believe me they could sit in a room with a person who had the virus and not contract it. They could not believe that a person with the virus could sneeze or spit on a part of your body, say arm and hand and you would not contract it.

When I asked about how they can prevent contracting the virus, nearly all answered, ‘a mask.’

When I told them that this could increase the risk of getting the virus, if they wear the mask incorrectly, which 99.99% of the kids do! They thought I was insane.

Also they said washing their hands, I asked how long should they was them for, what was the recommendation from the World Health Organization, they thought 10 seconds. You should wash your hands thoroughly for 20 to 30 seconds.

And so forth, the students have been filled with propaganda, lies and deceit. If the students were told the simple facts it would stop a lot of the rot that is going on now.

The virus is a worry, but if you do get it and seek medical attention early most will just have a cold, some will get very ill and others will sadly die.

Next week, I have no idea what it will hold. Today a memo came out informing us that there will be no air conditioning until the 14th of August at least, classrooms need to be thoroughly cleaned twice a day, teachers, students and parents are encouraged to wear a mask and so forth.

I am sick of it all, I am sick of the over the top panic, student parents who have kept some kids away for over 20 days of school now. You cannot wrap your fuc$ing kid in cotton wool all the time. These idiot parents don’t realize that the kids have more chance of probably catching it at the local market or super market.

The school is virtually a controlled environment, teachers watch over the kids, if a student looks sick they are separated from the other students and their parents are called.

At a supermarket you don’t know who has handled the packet of chips before little Johnny and rubbed mucus and snot all over the bag. It is there environments that worry me.

Anyway, I could go on and on. But I am over it all. I have a headache, sore throat, sore arms and legs, I have a temperature and I feel like shit. So I am going out to spread this to as many people as I can.

Brunty :)

Rebecca Wilson, Australian Journalist and Radio Big Mouth.

There is a female (if you can call her this, referring to her as human is degrading to us) called Rebecca Wilson. She is a so called journalist who has a huge mouth and often spits absolute shit out of it.

Picture courtesy of ebroadcast.com.au

I am sorry for that picture; I just hope you had eaten before seeing it as you could have become violently ill.

Rebecca has pissed sporting codes off many times with her hate male attitudes, and football codes. She did this to Australian soccer when she offered her opinions on the state of this code.

Her opinions are often biased, male hating that only she can deliver. Today I read her article only because of the header; ‘Put a Sock in it Shark’ referring to the Great White Shark or golfer Greg Norman.

If you don’t live or come from Australia you mightn’t even know about this story or man. The GWS put Australian golf on the map; he did what no other great golfers from Australia managed to do. He made the world look at this blonde haired Aussie who played golf like no Australian before.

Anyway, Norman split from his former wife a long time ago now; the divorce was of course media attention and it didn’t help as he ended up marrying family friend and famous tennis player Chris Evert.

Really, who gives a shit? He and she are grown adults; media are mostly dogs and want a header that sells newspapers. So this all got old quickly for many.

Eventually Norman and Evert went about living life as a happily married couple. Norman then last year surprised many when he was in contention for the British Open in his late 50’s.

Norman then made a comment about his new zest for life, Asked if he would have won more big competitions with Evert by his side 20 years ago, Norman said: "Chrissy would have instilled a different thought process going into it and I would say the answer probably would be 'yes'."

Well of course all the fools, and pieces of crap, like Rebecca Wilson cried foul.

Norman explained his comments, saying tennis great Evert would have been a good influence. "In the context of the interview, he was asking about sport because Chrissy was the No. 1 tennis player in the world,"

Norman said. Being aggressive and being conservative, she would have been relaying different things on to me,"

This makes sense to me, his former partner wasn’t a top line athlete, she didn’t understand the mental pressures and so forth. Evert did, she was at the top of her sport. Maybe or maybe not, she could have helped Norman win more major titles. It was a valid comment.

But Rebecca Wilson then wrote this article, if you want to read it in its entirety then click here.

Here are some of Wilson’s words from her article. Hers are in green. My rebuttals are in blue.

Suspicions have been raised over the years about Australian golfer, Greg Norman's lack of humility and his undeniable ability to choke. For some reason, though, we have forgiven him his sins, instead opting to give the Shark the Aussie benefit of the doubt.

Well fuc* me, these are words of jealousy and utter hate for a male. The guy is a golfing legend and ambassador for Australia. He has continued to play in Australia and support golf at home.

Ability to ‘choke’, this is very rich coming from this criminal. Oh, more on that soon. Moral high ground toting bit*h.

There will be a legion of Norman followers who don't care if he has turned into a complete tosser, who is so under the spell of a female that it is sick-inducing.

Can you justify what he has done to be this so called complete ‘tosser’, Wilson? Can you at least name a few things? How could any paper and editor allow this completely and unjustified personal attack be printed?

Since they married, Norman has hit a purple patch in his golf form. He has made several cuts and went very close to winning last year's British Open while the adoring Evert looked on.

Again and again in the past year, Norman has fronted the media and espoused the virtues of Evert. "She has shown me a new aspect on life," he dribbles.

"I can play good golf because she is around. She understands me. It is one athlete to another."

So what, He contributes his happiness and current success to his wife. Wilson you are a disgrace.

If he had said this once, we may have forgiven him. He has said it over and over, preferring to believe in his own mind that we actually care to hear it all a third or fourth time.

A man crediting his wife to his success, a terrible thing indeed.

His comments had everything to do with him being a love-struck puppy dog who has forgotten all sense of reason since he first met Evert.

For saying he could have won more majors if he was with Evert instead of his former wife, so bloody what?

Norman is arrogant enough to believe he is the first bloke in his early 50s to have ever found love with another woman after 25 years of marriage to someone else; that he is the first athlete to have married another athlete;

The Shark has become a wet fish whose next move could be a comb-over for that dyed blonde hair.

I wish he and Evert would go back to the island where they married, get a room and stay there for the next decade or so.


Wilson tries to back up her attack in the article, read it in its entirety. Maybe I am biased as I am a golfer and respect Norman for what he has achieved and done for golf.

What amuses me is this. Wilson, How can this woman who has been caught drink driving twice and also caught driving without a licence claim all the above.

What a responsible and sensible woman she is. Drink driving twice and sadly not jailed, then ignoring the judge, the court system, respect for the law, the safety of Australians, the drunkard then drove without her licence.

If you ask me, this is all pretty rich coming from her. I don’t like Wilson, never have, so this could be biased. She has no talent and relies on her ‘controversial views’ to get attention.

When you watch her on TV, or listen to her on radio, her monotone voice and rock hard, emotionless features are so off putting. I am so happy that I don’t live in Australia and have to endure this anymore.

Sorry to my readers, I had to have my rant. Hope you enjoyed my opinion of you, Wilson.

Brunty

Tai Orathai, An Ambassador for Thai Music, Beauty, Grace and Elegance.

I had ventured to the Sunee Grand Hotel and Convention Centre here in Ubon Ratchathani to watch a free concert of a Thai superstar who I have the utmost respect for. But before I could watch the star attraction I had to endure more dancing and singing.

Thankfully this man who I have seen before and is blind took to the stage, he plays the ‘kaen’ a Thai instrument, and I can truthfully tell you I was gob smacked by him the first time I ever saw him play. If you have ever tried to play the kaen it is incredibly hard. This man was the best I had heard play the kaen. He launched into a minute solo that was really well received.

This is a very popular Thai folk singer and I have seen her many times before, her voice is astonishing, her level of notes and how she vocal dances as I call it is astonishing. Thai folk music has a very strong following in Isaan.

There was some more dancing to be seen, traditional Thai dancing to the folk songs.

The show lasted a good 45 minutes but I was happy to endure this as it was top quality.

Finally the time came for the main attraction, after waiting close to 3 hours the startling, graceful, and amazing person that is Tai Orathai took to the stage. Tai is a Thai country singer and has a huge following across Thailand.

Tai Orathai is all class. There are so many untalented Thai bands, especially girl bands that rely on flesh and sexual innuendo to sell their music while lip-syncing. I cannot stand this type of artist or group. Actually this is a world music problem of today. Image takes precedent over talent.

Tai Orathai doesn’t need this, her voice is something you need to hear live and marvel at this amazing gift that she shares with us.

The way she conducts herself is a credit to her and her family. She is always so poised and elegant. She is the role model that many Thai girls need to endeavor to be like.

Tai sings songs with meaning, her lyrics often tell a beautiful story.



It was so heartwarming to see a crowd of not jut middle aged and old crooners, but also many young Thais who wanted to see their idol sing and if lucky, touch her.

This is Tai, after each song she thanks the crowd for their applause with a Thai ‘wai’, elegance and grace surrounds this lady.

It was such a pleasure watching Tai sing her songs with such meaning; I left with a huge grin and was so happy to see her perform again. She will be performing again on the 25th of this month with some other stars at a concert near my house.

Below there are some of Tai Orathai’s songs, there are plenty of her songs that you can find by simply searching her name through Google.

Ging Kow Ler Yang (Isaan for have you eaten yet, already)

This song is about her partner and if he had eaten, yet? She's worried about him as he works really hard and she thinks of him all day. When he gets home, she will cook for him a wonderful meal. She really appreciates what he does for her. She hopes he doesn’t work too hard.

It is a beautiful song and her voice is just simply stunning.

Kor Kae Roo Kao (I Only Want News)


I am sorry for the poor quality pictures, I will make up for this on the 25th of July and I am hoping to interview her on the night. I spoke to owner of Sunee Grand Hotel and they were contacting her management for me. So my fingers are crossed.

Brunty