school days...

First day of lesson planning today at my new place of employment, SB School. About 20 km outside of Bangkok, SB is a private k-12 school. They have a special language-intensive English Program in which (theoretically) 80% of the students' classes are taught in English and the remainder in Thai. Class sizes in the EP range from 3-14 students, so I'm expecting some tiny classes. As it stands now (plans here do seem to change spontaneously, without apparent logic and certainly without prior notice) all of my students will be from the EP and I'll be teaching the equivalent of grades 4-9. I'll be teaching English Fundamentals (mostly grammar) to grades 4-6 and English Conversation to grades 4-9. I met a couple of my soon-to-be students at the school today and they showed me around as I snapped shots of the campus...

SB pool

SB has an Olympic sized pool which will hopefully be the catalyst I need to get me into better swimming shape. The heat and humidity here make running a near impossibility (for me, at least... accustomed to Oregon's somewhat brisker climate). There's talk that I might even get to help out with swimming lessons for the younger students, which sounds like good fun.

Courtyard at SB

Each morning in the courtyard, I've been told, the whole school convenes for assembly - the teachers and students sing the royal anthem as they raise the flag of Thailand. Paying respect to the royal family, especially the king, is taken very seriously. Talking bad about King Rama IX can get you put in jail..

SB cafeteria

Lunch is provided for the kids and staff everyday in the cafeteria. A little different than what we think of as cafeteria food back home... today we had a spicy chicken, pumpkin and basil curry (with rice, of course - a meal is not a meal here without a scoop of white rice) and slices of crunchy green mango for dessert. something of an improvement on our wiener wraps, chik'nwiches and rectangle pizzas.

Handwashing station and view from the side of SB


Main stage in the outdoor auditorium area at SB