New Pics

Thailand

I have internet again!!!!!!!! So I have added some photos to the Thailand photo album. I went wake-boarding at Club Taco and one of the Thai teachers took me on a tour of one the many floating markets in Bangkok. Click the Pic.

First Week at School

Hello from Bangkok!

I'm sitting here watching an amazing lightening storm over the city, so beautiful. And I realized that I haven't blogged in a while. My first day with children was Aug.5th. I had one day to set up the entire classroom, before children arrived. Even while I was moving furniture, windows were being installed. It has been a whirl wind week. With lots of tears, mostly from new toddlers, but some of the tears were mine. I'm trying to bring Montessori to a land where children are allowed to do whatever they would like. A culture where I can't put out  pretty breakable dishes because they aren't safe. However, children are allowed to run around in cars without car seats, seat belts or even just sitting down. The idea of what is safe and what isn't safe is completely different here. Children don't feed themselves, nannies and maids chase them around with a fork; I call this the floating fork. They don't sit down to eat, and I'm not just talking about children of privilege. This is hard because Montessori is about independence. Does this work in culture where children will live their whole lives in the family home until their grandchildren are taking care of them? What do you think?

I have three students. One a french girl, who has been in a Montessori school before in Bejing, two, a Thai girl who has never been to school, and three the granddaughter of the owner. The diference between them is amazing. They are all wonderful and learning to explore and concentrate without stupid grown ups being in the way. I have given very few formal lessons, choosing to sit back and observe. I only jump in when:

1. They might hurt themselves

2. They might hurt others
3. They might hurt the classroom materials

The storm is over, I'm listening Pasty Cline staring at the city lights. I can't wait to see what next week holds.

Love,

Scooter

Progress at the School

Education Expo

So, here we all are at the Education Expo, at the Queen Sirikit Convention Center in downtown Bangkok. It is a very small convention center for Bangkok. The Expo ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10-7. I worked the whole day all three days, so tired by Sunday night. Luckily, today, Monday is a holiday in Thailand, so I have the day off to rest and catch up on life. Nobody can tell me what the holiday is about, just that it is a Buddhist holiday.

The Expo was very exciting and gave me a chance to talk to many parents from around the world. Even the ones who didn't speak English, which was most of them, wanted to talk and find out more about Montessori. Montessori is old and new here. Let me explain. They use many blended curriculums in schools in Asia. So, many schools say they use a Montessori curriculum, however there are no trained Montessori teacher in these schools. So it isn't a true Montessori school or program. And since some of these school have been in Bangkok for quite sometime parents here think they know Montessori. They want to know what is unique and new about Montessori Academy of Bangkok. Well, for a start we are a true Montessori School, with trained teachers in each classroom.

Plus we are a tri-lingual program, English, Thai and Mandarin. That was what most parents were excited about and me too. I told Kent we should have done this when Kristina was 1 year old. Then she would have the gift of three languages. We aren't very good in states about teaching languages to our children. Most people in Thailand speak at least 2 or 3 languages. And I'm the only teacher at the school who does not have a second language. However, I am a native English speaker, this is very important to all of the parents. This may sound strange, but parents over here like that I look very western. At times in Colorado, I felt that if I wasn't blond and blue eyed I would have been able to go farther at schools. Because they are struggling to find diversity here my appearances are an asset. I am the diversity. Strange feeling.

This is my School

I don't know if you noticed, but I haven't written much about the school. Well, this is why. Surprise it isn't done yet. It is still under construction. The first picture is the front of the building and the second is the back. It was pretty disappointing to travel for 19.5 hours and see this. They are working very hard to get it done, like 24 hours a day. And I have been promised that it will be done by the end of July. We are also telling potential parents the same thing, they laugh under their breath. What can I say, I want/need it to be true.

My new life

Today was my first day at work! The school is still under construction. So, we did paperwork and editing in the morning. It was great to do something familiar. In the afternoon we went to see Montessori materials. It was amazing to see a conference room laid out with the pink tower, binomial cube, red and blue rod and geometric solids that we could inspect before we ordered.

After work Kiri(Principal and Casa teacher) and I went for beers at the jungle bar next to my hotel. Where we had yummy food that I can't spell and beers. They place ice in the beer to keep it cold. Also the service is amazing. They plug in fans and light an anti-mosquito coils, just for us. Kiri started calling it jungle bar. It has no walls and a tin roof, with ponds, tropical plants and fountains all around. There are about a million of these jungle bar/restaurants lining the streets.

I've decided to stay at the hotel for a little longer, before jumping out on my own.