Holiday School

As we have mentioned previously, we go to what Sutham likes to call a “holiday school”. This means that there seem to be more days off or in-school activity days than actual school days. So far, Emily and I have taught very few full weeks of classes, and not just because we have taken days off or because of holidays. For some reason or another, at least a few of the fourteen classes we teach a week will not show up. For example, every time there is a school event which causes classes to be cancelled, like Cultural Day or Christmas, students will also skip class on days prior to prepare for the event. Last week grades 9, 10, and 11 went on a Boy and Girl Scout field trip from Tuesday until Friday, which meant that none of them were in class on Monday either. Obviously preparation was needed to skip four days of school…it’s not as easy as it looks, you know. Emily and I both teach classes from every grade, so when half the school is gone we have half as many classes. In addition, grades 7 and 8 took off classes on that Tuesday because, apparently, they needed the entire day to “clean” the campus. Upon further inspection it looked more like each class had picked one person to sweep some leaves while the rest played tag or napped. Oh yeah, and don’t forget grade 12. Although they were not on the field trip either, they were supposedly “studying math and science without teachers” all week. I’m sure they were extremely productive considering that they graduate in less than 2 months and their senioritis is off the charts (apparently it’s a world-wide phenomenon).

In general, the 12^th grade classes are real wildcards. On any given day they could be in our class or they could have taken a Senior Skip Day, or maybe just a Skip Emily and Erin’s Class Day, but we figure out by simply waiting to see if they show up. At least 25 minutes is needed to make this determination though, because that’s how much time they need even if they do plan on showing up (side note: classes are only 50 minutes long). My personal favorite of their class-skipping tactics is when they simply lay outside instead of coming to class, but chose to do so in plain view of the English wing. Either they aren’t very sneaky or they like to rub it in our faces that we have no control over them. You would think that they would be scared of the repercussions of their actions, but all the other teachers say is, “Oh well, its grade 12.” They sure do keep you on your toes, though. Little rascals!

Sports Days also seem to be a weekly occurrence. Although our school held its own class-cancelling, 2-day Sports Day in November, some of our students are so sporty that they also need to attend the event at neighboring schools. Any time there are a lot of boys missing from class its safe to guess that they are off playing soccer (football) somewhere. There was also a week-long trip that the boys in grades 7, 8, and 9 took to become monks in honor of the King’s birthday. If Emily or I had a class in any of these grades we were left with half of a class (not complaining though, we got a lot more done in that week with only girls than we ever had with the rowdy boys present). Then there is “student army training” for the older boys. Even though every Tuesday at school is a half-day of classes, with the afternoon reserved for this army training (and boy and girl scouts for the younger students), there are occasional day and week-long training camps in addition. Next there are the academic competitions that are always happening. One day it’s a science competition, the next it’s math, and so on. This means your brightest students, which keep you sane, will be gone for a day. The English competition happened to occur on a weekend, so no missed school day for us, but an extra school day instead. No wonder none of the students like English!

On top of all those missed classes, add in the holidays like the King’s Birthday, which was then combined with Constitution Day to make a 4-day weekend; a half day for Loy Kratong; and another 4-day weekend for New Years, and you have yourself a “holiday school”. The best part is, none of the teachers seem to know about the events or the exact dates of the holidays beforehand and none are too bothered by the fact. This means that Emily and I are definitely kept in the dark, so each day we wait to see which of our classes will show up, and if they do, how many students will be present. It’s always a mystery! We certainly can’t complain though because holiday schools are prettttty relaxing, and we’ve heard some horror stories from students in our program at much stricter schools. As Sutham put it, “I used to teach in Bangkok and it was so much work, so I came to this school for a vacation. I’m slowly easing into retirement.”