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| School children on the playground |
Samut Prakan is a town south of Bangkok near the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. This is a densely populated area with many fishing and industrial activities. It is also located south of Suvarnabhumi Airport near the Gulf of Thailand coast. The BTS ('Skytrain') Sukhumvit line will soon be prolonged to Samut Prakan. But at the time being, you can only go as far as Bearing, one station after Bangna. So, in order to get there, it is easier to hail a taxi although the traffic is slow due to the major road constructions along the Skytrain.
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| Going upstairs in order |
One of my former colleagues is currently subbing at Sriwittaya Paknam School for a two-month period. She invited me to come and visit the school at the end of a working week. I readily accepted because I was keen in visiting a Thai school being a former teacher myself.
Sriwittaya School is a private elementary school. In the Thai language, Pak Nam means 'river mouth' (Nam generally means 'water'). This is because Samut Prakan is a town on the left bank of the Chao Phraya estuary. Although this is a Thai School, it functions slightly differently because the use of English is part of the school curriculum. It means that there are many native English-speaking teachers in the staff.
One of the first impression I had while being there, is how clean the premises are. Being in Thailand, children are not allowed to wear shoes. They wear a school uniform like all schools do in the country. The classrooms are air-conditioned and equipped with a white board. The children are well-disciplined following the rules of Thai society at all levels. The buildings are not different from any other school anywhere else in
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| Young kids restin time |
developing countries. But I was particularly impressed by the use of technology there. It is also very organised, which is in keeping with the general trend in this country. Each foreign teacher is assisted by a Thai class teacher, who caters for the Thai curriculum. With the 2nd grader-class I attended, they chanted the Thai alphabet pointing with their little fingers on the script of the laminated worksheet they had. In another class, I visited, the children had become fluent enough in English to have a conversation with me. They were an older co-ed group.
I had already visited a more traditional village school in Isan. But I found it interesting to actually attend the actual instruction of a more modern school in the country.
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| Schoolyard view |
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| Group of young boys at recess |
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Two girls in the classroom
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| Classroom |
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| A schoolboy on his worksheet |
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