Back Home

Just to let you know, I made it back home. It was a long day of travel - woke up at 3 am Thai time, flew for 5 hours to Tokyo, spent 2 hours there, flew for 8 hours to San Francisco, spent 6 hours there, then flew for 5 hours to Boston - but the journey was smooth. I have a lot to reflect upon and will post once more in the next few days. I wanted to thank all of you for following and for such thoughtful comments. I will respond to your posts as soon as the jet lag subsides. I look forward to talking about everything in class on Thursday!

And, yes, we made it out without any difficulties with the protests. Here's the cover from Saturday's Bangkok Post when we left:

Modes of Transportation

As I sit on the 5 hour flight from Bangkok to Tokyo, I'm thinking about creating a geography lesson around modes of transportation based on this trip. Over the course of the last ten days, I took a cab to the airport, a plane from Boston to Chicago to Tokyo to Singapore to Bangkok, spent most of the week on a bus, traveled throughout Thailand on long boats, took an overnight train with a sleeping car from Bangkok in the southern region to the northern mountains of Chiangmai, rode an elephant, used a tuk tuk to get from the night market back to my hotel (picture to follow), rode on a vintage railroad car through the western countryside near the Myanmar border, ended up back on a plane from Bangkok to Tokyo to San Francisco to Boston, and unless I find a ride, will cab it back home from Logan. That's a lot of transportation and I would assume at least half of those vehicles would be new to young students.

Any thoughts on what you might do with students around transportation and/or geography for this trip?

Another bad picture, but I took this sitting on a long boat through the Ping river in Bangkok.

My picture of the tuk tuk I took didn't come out well so here's a random web image of the vehicle. All I can say is that our driver went very fast and I may have feared for my life for a moment or so. There's a reason the woman in the photograph is holding on to the bar in the car!

Ayutthaya

It's our last day of touring in Thailand and I've finally gotten a little better at selfies. I still need a lesson so any tips are greatly appreciated!

We had the chance to visit the city of Ayutthaya which was once the capital of Bangkok. It's a modern city surrounding ruins of sacred structures that date back 1000 years. In the 1700s, Burma invaded the city and destroyed the Buddhist temple, removed the heads from the Buddha statues, and set fire to the temple. Many parts of the structures remain.

The center structure that looks like a corn cob is the main temple and the side structures are the pagodas. The Buddhas in this temple looked more like Hindu gods. Nearby, we also visited a large reclining Buddha.

There are a number of different poses for a Buddha statue. This one is called the reclining Buddha and a statue in this shape means enlightenment. This trip has made me realize that I need to learn more about Buddhism and have a lot to relearn! I have more questions and lots of new things that I want to read about.

We had a great school visit to a high school. This school was an all girls private school and has a strong focus on learning English. I don't have pics to post now but I'll add some in a few days. There were many differences from our schools - more teacher-centered rote learning - but  it was amazing how well prepared students were and how independent they were. The students were even tending to their own garden as part of their class. We went to the library there and I took a picture of the Hunger Games book in Thai for you!

Keep your fingers crossed that we get off to the airport fine tomorrow. The headline  of the Bangkok Post this morning was "Farmers to descend on Airport" so who knows what tomorrow will bring!

(sorry, I couldn't flip the images on blogger)

Bridge Over River Kwai

Up until this point, most if the sites we have visited focused on the history of Thailand pre 20th century with a particular focus on the older Buddhist temples. But today we turned to World War II.

During the Second World War, Japan had a special relationship with Thailand. Some people describe Japan's role in Thailand as an invited ally to protect Thailand from French and British imperialism whereas others have described Japan's presence at this time as occupation. During the war, Japan built a railroad through Thailand into Burma (now Myanmar) to transport supplies and troops across Southeast Asia. Japan used British, Australian, Dutch, and American POWs to build the railroad. The pace was rushed, the terrain was incredibly dangerous, and disease and malnutrition ran rampant. About 100,000 people died in building the railroad. In the 1960s the movie Bridge Over River Kwai won an Oscar for its portrayal of the event.

We went to a museum about the building of the railroad and the treatment of the POWs and visited the cemetery where the British and Australian soldiers were buried. Then we went to the bridge and took a vintage 1940s train along the railway. 

The museum exhibit was curated by an Australian scholar and it was interesting to look at the exhibit narrative. All of the display panels were written in British English and it was obvious from the language used to describe the POW experience that the target audience for the museum was European and American tourists. One key thing to think about if you take students to museums is to challenge them to look at the texts and artifacts like they would look at any text. There's an interpretation in the way that the curators select objects to display and the words they pick to use in the text. For example, does the exhibit describe Japan's role in Thailand as "occupation" or as "defense against British and French imperialism"? It's a telling difference that suggests a particular point of view about Japan during the war. Did you notice anything about the exhibit you visited at the MFA? Have you visited other museum exhibits where you noticed a certain point if view on display?

I keep posting horrible selfies because they're all I can post on my phone at this moment, but here's me on the bridge over river Kwai. (FYI, "Kwai" means river on Thai so the film title actually means bridge over river river!)

If you're familiar with the film, or at least the movie trailer, this was one of the more surreal moments of my trip. Walking over the Bridge on the River Kwai while someone played this music in the background.

In Awe of the Past

We had the opportunity to visit Sukhothai Historical Park in Sukhothai which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The temple ruins date back 1000 years; it's amazing to see such massive ruins and to think that the structures were created without modern tools. I'll post more pictures when I return, but Google the site if you can. One of the things that I found interesting was that Hindu and Buddhist structures were remained next to each other even as the new dynasties adopted Buddhism. I need to do more research on the site, but I really enjoyed walking throughout the park.

We're spending a lot of time on the bus today. Apparently there were more protests by farmers demanding to be paid the money they were owed bythe government   for their rice. The road we were supposed to go on was blocked so we had to take another route to our next destination. I haven't had a chance to connect with the news so it's hard to really know how serious the situation is. If you come across any info, post a comment. Hopefully things will run smoothly here on out.

I'm not sure the size of these Buddhas come out in the pictures, but they were huge.

It is thought to bring good luck if one touches the trunk of this elephant statue and makes a wish. My wish for a safe and happy journey came true!

Rafting through the Countryside

Today took a slightly different pace from the frenetic action of the previous days. In the morning we visited the Mae Taeng Elephant Park in Chiangmai. The elephant is the national symbol of Thailand and quite revered. You see images and statues of elephants throughout the country and images are even woven into various aspects of many of the Buddhist temples we visited. As industrialization and farming have endangered the habitat of the Asian elephant, there have been many attempts to create preserve areas for elephants. At this park we were able to take a ride on an elephant through water and around the preserve for about 45 minutes. Throughout the visit I kept thinking about the fine line between ecotourism and exploitation as I was uncomfortable with the use of the elephants to entertain tourists. On the one hand, tourist money supports efforts to protect the endangered animal and provides an income to many, yet on the other hand, there might be more humane ways to support the elephants. This may seem off topic, but as teachers, we face these moral and ethical dilemmas, particularly if you work with students on social action projects or if you plan field trips where similar dilemmas arise. We will give this more attention but feel free to post questions, comments, or thoughts.

The afternoon raised similar concerns for me. We visited a village of various minority ethnic tribes. It's hard to describe the village but there were villagers in traditional dress who lived there and tourists would come around to take pictures of their homes and lifestyle. You could then buy their products. I felt very uncomfortable there because it seemed like we were there to objectify "the other." One of the women I started talking to was a refugee from Burma where she was part of the padong (?) tribe. She fled Burma during the war because there was no water or food. I was shocked that she spoke near perfect English which she told me she learned by speaking to tourists in the 7 years she has spent in this village. She was very honest about her experience and felt that living in the village was better than her life in Burma and presented a better opportunity for her young son even though they had no official citizenship and no standing in Thailand. I bought a few scarves she made because she told me she was saving money for her son's education. I still left conflicted about the village and my role as a tourist but felt that maybe I was able to make a small difference. I bring this up because it also relates to projects you may undertake with students around social action or global awareness. I'm curious to know if you have any thoughts about this.

ETA: I did a little research on the village once I returned. It seems that other people have written about the concerns I raised. This blog raises important points, if you're interested in learning more. http://wheresidewalksend.com/thai-hill-tribes-debate/. I also looked at a brief statement by the UNHCR from 2008 that raised concerns about the exploitation of a few ethnic tribes on the eastern border of Thailand. It wasn't the village I visited but I wonder if there were similarities. I'm off to find out more.

One of the teachers posted about the day on her blog with pictures. Check out what she thought about the day, see what her middle school students wrote, and see me riding on the elephant: http://www.mwverra.blogspot.com/2014/02/elephant-camps-and-hill-tribes.html. 

I'm halfway through my trip. Post any questions that you have about my trip or Thailand and I'll try to respond!

And just to add, we got in a little fun rafting. I'll post a pic as soon as I get to a computer! The landscape is absolutely amazing here in Chiangmai.

Edited to add - photos!

Chiangmai

There hasn't been a lot of time to write so I will have a lot to fill in when I return. After an adventure on an overnight train, we spent the day in the northern city of Chiangmai where we visited one of the oldest Buddhist temples and did a little shopping. The highlight of the day was a school visit to a UNICEF funded school for refugee children from Myanmar. We spent the morning in the kindergarten and 1st grade classes. Instruction was more teacher centered than you're used to but the kids acted just like your students. We will look at some pictures to see the classrooms when I get back. I can only upload a few pics from my phone and not my camera pics. So I'll fill in when I return to the states. We're off to see elephants and I will post soon!

One of the oldest and most sacred temples in Chiangmai.

UNICEF school:

What was interesting about the school was that it was located on the land of a Buddhist temple. Some of the young boys were studying to become a monk. In this picture, one of the young boys in training was standing on the second floor balcony of the school while we were on the grounds.

Bangkok

Johanna, here's a bad picture of me at the floating market outside Bangkok! You mentioned it was a favorite place.

Spent the day riding a boat to the floating market where there are canals filled with boats of people selling food and fruits from the boats with other market stalks around the canals. You have to bargain and my skills are definitely lacking!

We also visited the Grand Palace where the king of Thailand used to live. I'll write more about this but I was really struck by the syncretism; there was such a combination of Thai, Chinese, European, and Indian influences and you could really see this in how the Buddhist images and structures were influenced by Hinduism. It's so important to help students see the cross culturalization and how ideas spread from one place to another and are changed by local cultures. There are simple ways to help young students with this concept. Any thoughts?

More food pictures from the floating market:

One Night in Bangkok

After sleeping over at the airport in Singapore (well, sleep is relative), we made it on a 2 hour flight to Bangkok. We're all exhausted but pushed through to take a boat ride to the Summer Palace, a former residence of the Thai king. The grounds were beautiful. We spent the evening meeting with a Thai representative of UNICEF and the head of the Thai division of the NGO Right to Play http://www.righttoplay.com/international/our-impact/Pages/Countries/Thailand.aspx. Check that organization out to see the way they integrate play-based learning to build children's life skills around the world. I'll post pictures and links once I figure out how to use my phone and blogger!

Summer Palace info:

http://www.ayutthaya-trip.com/news/bang-pa-in-summer-palace.php#.Uv95zaYayc0

Air Travel

Greetings from Singapore. Our first 24+ hours have been spent in airplanes and airports. We had bad weather out of Boston and our of Chicago. We arrived to snow in Tokyo and had a canceled flight to Bangkok. They feared we would be stuck in Tokyo due to snow so they put us on a flight to Singapore. We now have a 7 hour layover in the middle of the night at the airport. I wish we were able to see the city instead of the airport but its not bad. 

On the 12 and a half hour flight from Chicago to Tokyo, I kept watching the map of where we were flying and I thought it would be a great lesson to create a Google Earth or a MyHistro tour for students about where I was traveling. You'll become familiar with those tools in your tech session this week. We could spend a little class time going over how to create a Google Earth tour if anyone is interested. We'll also look at that when we talk about geography. I also thought there would be good connections to citizenship by talking about passports or even chronological thinking concepts like sequence of events of a trip like this for young students. Do you have any ideas about how you might use the logistics of travel as an opportunity to learn?

I'll update when we arrive in Bangkok!

Here's a picture of teachers blogging with their students from Singapore at the airport. We had a great time talking to students! The kids thought it was really cool.

Although I fear we might not get to Thailand (I'll update you in class), this blog http://www.thailandfromabove.com/ makes me hope that things will work out. The photos - taken by a drone! - really illustrate the rich Thai culture. Take a look at some of the photos - they're amazing!

Our Visit to Wat Nawamintararachutis

In preparation for our trip, we visited Wat Nawamintarararachutis, a Buddhist meditation and Thai cultural center in Raynham, MA. We had an opportunity to meet with five of the Thai Buddhist monks who reside at the center to learn about Buddhism in Thailand and practice some of the procedures we'll observe when we visit a few of the sacred Buddhist temples there. When the center officially opens in June of this year, it will be the largest Thai Buddhist monastery outside of Thailand. 

This "wat" - or temple - is dedicated to Therevada Buddhism, the sect of Buddhism that is prevalent in Thailand, as well as Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, and Burma. Meditation and concentration is critical to attain enlightenment in this tradition and the monks there spend much of their time in this endeavor. We brought gifts to the monks - baskets of fruit, food, and a small monetary donation - and participated in a blessing. Although I didn't understand the words the monks chanted during the blessing, it was very moving and I appreciated the time they took to show us how to properly present our gifts and be part of the chant. I was one of the people to present the gifts and I was nervous that I might do the wrong thing. I knew that as a female, I was not supposed to touch the monk; when I presented our gifts I had to place the offerings on a special mat before the monk was able to take the item.

The last time that I was at a Buddhist temple was in Beijing, China where I visited the Yonghe Temple, which is a Tibetan Buddhist temple. I was struck by a number of differences and I think one of the things that I will do prior to my trip is learn a little more about the various sects of Buddhism and then compare the temples that we visit in Thailand with the other temples that I have been to.

If you have a chance to visit Raynham - about 45 minutes south of Chestnut Hill - I highly recommend that you visit Wat Nawamin. It's an amazing opportunity to learn about Thai culture and Buddhism.

Traveling to Thailand

This February I'll be traveling with a group of K-12 educators to Thailand! The purpose of our trip is to learn about the history and culture of Thailand and to consider how our experiences can not only inform our work but help bring global learning into our own classrooms. Throughout our course, we'll explore various ways to engage elementary students with the world and follow other educators on their journey to do so.

The educators that I'm traveling with are going on the trip as a professional development experience. We spent the months before the trip learning about Thailand with a few meetings after school. Our first speaker who presented at two of our meetings worked for a few NGOs in Thailand and he gave us a basic overview of the country and its culture. Our second speaker currently lives in Boston but was born in Thailand and is active in educational issues in the country; since we plan to visit schools on our trip, it was extremely beneficial to hear about schooling from an expert. One of our final preparation experiences involves visiting a Buddhist Temple in Massachusetts, which we have planned for the end of January.

All of the teachers on this trip are expected to bring their experience into their classrooms. In the next few weeks, we'll explore some of the blogs that they have created for their students and we'll think about how you might engage your own students with global learning. I'll also be blogging from Thailand while I'm there so you'll have a chance to see the student perspective as well. I'm excited to share my travel with you!

YOUR ASSIGNMENT: In the comments section, write a brief post where you consider SOME of the following questions:

• What are some ways that you might enrich your students' learning through a travel experience? 
• What do you think your students could learn? 
• Have you ever used your experiences in another place (state or country) to teach students about a specific topic? Have you seen examples of this type of teaching in your pre-prac experiences or your own education?