Today I had my students attend a lecture (in English) by artists that were giving a presentation at the Bangkok Institute of Art, 2 KM from out school. It was really interesting but their assignment was to listen to these Thai artists present in English and critique the speaking of these fluent English speaking artists. It was about an hour and they were very funny and entertaining. They make less than 4000 dollars a year as an artist but would never want to change what they do. They feel their purpose to make people look at the world in different ways and to think for themselves and not to be told how to think. After the lecture we went to an elementary school that is part of the Bangkok School of English. When we came back to class, the students said they were surprised and afraid for the artist who said people need to think for themselves and not be told how to think. They said it is OK to think his thoughts but not good to say in public. The country is under military rule and have been strict about people speaking out about the establishment.
Artists were speaking to a small crowd of about 40 people at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. Eleven in the audience were my students critiquing English grammar.
FYI...........A year in the life of a Thai Student:
For most schools in Thailand, there are only two semesters with no mid-term breaks. School have 220 teaching days per year. Term one usually starts in the first week of May. This then continues until about the first week of October. October marks the height of the rainy season and is when they get the most floods. The second term then starts around the first week of November. As most Thai people are Buddhists, they don’t get a break for Christmas. However, they do get a 3-4 day break for the New Year. Term two finishes either at the end of February or first week in March. There is then a two month long summer break. April is the hottest time of the year. The school offers summer school for one month during the holidays. It is not compulsory but about 70% of the students attend.
At the end of the school day, I had some returns I needed to make at MBK/Siam. MBK has many stores and it also has sections among it's six stories, where vendors sell different commodities. One floor is dedicated to the sole selling of electronics. Phones, earphones, speakers, chargers of every kind, power strips, iwatches and many items but every vendor, hundreds and hundreds of them, all selling knock-off copy cat items. In twenty minutes of shopping, I heard, "Mr., can I help you?", "let me show you something", "Hey Boss, wait, wait". "What are you looking for today?" Finally, I took out my cell phone and pretended I was chatting with someone. The phone was off, but at least I could ignore them more politely. Ruthless they are, ruthless. The competition is so difficult and the marked price is 30-80% inflated so the hagglers can dicker the price. If you do not play the game, you pay 3 to 4 times the real expected selling price. I have gotten into haggling and bought things I had no intentions of buying but I knocked them down 80% and I say, "I'll take it."
Crispy curried pork with red chili paste. After our visit to the art center Maloo bought this meal for me. HOT but Great~!
Below: High school students playing football, soccer after school was out.
Below: The Live play of "The Killing Game" is playing at the the cultural theater for one month, but it is in Thai and I have not read the book.
Thailand Facts:
The population of Thailand is 67,091,089, which is ranked 20th in the world.
In 2015 Bangkok was ranked the best city in the world according to Travel and Leisure magazine
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