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?