Day 3: Back to School (Again)

Tuesday, January 17 2017

After graduated from high school, this is the first time I get back to high school again. Our coordinator, Ms. Kim, comes at 07.30 am to our dorm. She picks us up and drops three of us at Udonpichairakpittaya School.

Udonpichairakpittaya School has about three thousands students from lower level (junior high school) and upper level (senior high school). When we arrived, they held a ceremony. It is a daily routine for the students, teachers, and staffs there. In the ceremony, Mr. Alex, one of an English teacher introduced us to the students. After that, we meet with our mentors. Since I am the only one who’s going to teach science (chemistry), I get my own mentor. Her name is Ms. Aom. She teaches chemistry in matthayom 6 (grade 12). She has two classes to handle for two days in a week.

Her English is not that expert, but she always tries hard to communicate with me. She is very kind and nice. She takes me to all class that she handles and tells me to introduce myself to the students. The students here are very friendly and I like to talk with them. I spend this day by observing my mentor’s teaching method in Matthayom 6/1 and 6/2.

The method that she commonly uses in class is expository method where the teacher acts as the center of the class. There is no media such as power point presentation and LCD projector, but the teacher only use the whiteboard and student’s worksheets. She basically can control the class well because she has loud voice, so she can easily attract students’ interest. There is also no cooperative method in the class, just individual assignment.

The class starts when teacher repeat some of the last material, for example about carbon compounds. I assume it as an apperception in Indonesian teaching style. The teacher continues the material to something more complex. From carbon compounds, students later learn about polymer and how to produce a polymer from carbon compounds with certain functional group in its chain. At the end of the explanation, teacher gives some individual assignment for the students and homework if it’s necessary.

Teaching style in Thailand has some differences with Indonesian style in some points, like (1) expository method, (2) teacher-centered learning, (3) cooperative method, (4) scientific approach. In Thailand, teacher commonly uses learning cycle 5E, and no scientific approach. Students learn in a teacher-centered class. It’s very different with Indonesian style. In Indonesia, students learn to study by themselves, and the class works in a student-centered learning. That’s why Indonesian teaching style nowadays rarely uses expository method, but uses cooperative method instead.

Being at school is not that bad, I keep talk to myself. When they ask what I think about Thailand, I keep answer with the same thing: “Thailand is like my beloved Indonesia. The streets, the people, the food, and the weathers are nice. I feel like being at my own home.” Maybe some people think that my answer is very ordinary and everybody can say the same thing without thinking. But for me, the person who’s going away from home, to feel this comfortable is important. What’s the point being in Thailand if I don’t enjoy it, if I get homesick and always miss my home. I like this place because it feels similar like my own home, and for me that’s the highest honor I can give to a place I’ve never been before.