AT LAST

 I learned a lot from this program.  I’m going to introduce what I learned

 I stayed as a trainee at Khon Kaen University Elementary School for one month.  I rented a desk in the staff room of the second grade teachers because I was in charge of arithmetic for the second grade of elementary school.  Aside from that, much of what I learned during school was about differences between elementary schools in Japan and the one of Thailand.  What surprised me the most was that the students sat on the floor instead of sitting on chairs when listening to math classes.  Of course, every student has their own desk, and sometimes they have to work on seats.  However, when they listen to their teacher, they usually sit on the floor.  When they sat on the floor, the physical distance between the students and the teacher was closer, so I felt that the quality of the lessons was good for both the students and the teacher.  Also, when they listen to the teacher, the students might be able to concentrate on answering the teacher’s questions and listening to explanations instead of taking notes, etc. so that understanding might possibly increase.

 Arithmetic classes usually take the following steps:

 Review → Input of new knowledge → Output by assignment → Summary

 I think this process is also well-used in Japanese mathematics education.

 The review mainly repeats the contents of the previous lesson.  At this time, I felt that the point was not to say everything by teacher but to draw knowledge from the students.

 The input of new knowledge is mainly to help students learn the process while solving textbook examples.

 Assignment output allows students to gain knowledge by distributing prints and solving problems, as well as for teacher, to confirm students’ understanding.  Often, five or six students complete a single print.  Group work.  Students are required to write not only the answer to the question on the print, but also the reason for thinking so.  They share the work among the members of the group in order to solve the problem through all means, such as text, pictures, figures, formulas.  This group work seemed very effective in acquiring sociality.  Collect prints at a suitable time and have a group with good ideas present them in front of everyone.  I felt that sharing the ideas will improve the ability of students as a whole class.

 In summary, teachers write tips and points to solve the problem on the blackboard based on the students’ opinions.

 At elementary schools in Japan, prints were rarely filled with group work, so it was very fresh.  I think there are so many benefits that we should actively take them in.

I also experienced actually teaching.  I had never taught at a Japanese elementary school, but I was able to finish the class.  What I was in charge of was a card game that made use of what students had learned in previous classes.  My English was translated by a trainee at Khon Kaen University, who was with my mentor, and the class was conducted.  I studied numbers and simple Thai and then went to class, but of course I couldn’t use it.  The students seemed to have enjoyed it, and the class was successful, but I felt the frustration that the words could not be conveyed by myself.  I wasn’t even able to say “be quiet” to the students who were excited about the game.  It was very frustrating.  When the teachers of Thailand departed from students’ attention, they sing in Thai language, “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands,” and again attracted the attention of the students.  I could not do it.  I had a lot of thoughts, but I was very happy that the students listened to me straight and answered the questions well.  I have learned the difficulties of teaching students in different languages, but with some measure, it might be possible.  I think that being able to do this is a huge advance in the globalized world, so I felt that this might also be a very interesting subject to study at university.

There are many other events that left a lasting impression outside of math classes.

 For example, snack time.  Thai Elementary School has snack time twice a day.  The first is after the first period and the second is after the fifth period.  Both are time that students be hungry.  When I was in elementary school, I was often hungry and couldn’t concentrate on classes, so I thought this was a very good idea.

 The other thing is to always say sutra at the morning ceremony.  In Japan, public facility is unlikely to support a particular religion because of the separation of religion and politics.  In Thailand, Buddhism has been chosen as the state religion, so it may be natural to have sutras in elementary school, but it was a big shock to me.

 Even the slightest event, where a teacher and a student pass each other in a corridor, shows a difference from Japan.  In Thailand, it is customary to use both hands when giving thanks or greetings.  When they pass by students in the corridor, students usually put their belongings on the floor once and greet them with both hands firmly.  In Japan, it is no more than a bowing, but Thai children is very polite.

 Thus, I cannot talk about everything that I learned from this program.  It was a wonderful experience to stay in Thailand for a month and to interact with the students and teachers.  As I said before, I want to get a job related to education in the future, but I haven’t decided yet. I can’t claim I certainly become a teacher.  However, as long as you want to be involved in education, the results of this experience will become blood and flesh in the future.  Until I actually arrived in Thailand, it was my first time to stay abroad for a long time, and sometimes I was nervous and thought that I didn’t want to go.  But now I am really grateful to be brave and apply for this program.  Thai people are so kind and I am very lonely to leave here.  However, I want to use my experiences and feelings here to further expand my world.  I hope to come back someday and meet nostalgic people and report what I have learned after returning to Japan.