Bangkok - Rangsit - Pathumthani
It’s Saturday and we
had a free day for the whole day. Tan and Nam Peung asked us to go to JJ Market
(Chatuchak Market) to buy some souvenirs. At 11.15 AM we went to the market buy
bus. It took about 45 minutes to get to the market. The market was a large market
and a good place to buy souvenirs because of the cheap price and many things we
could find here. I bought many things, such as cardigans, small pocket, tote
bags, and some key chains. Time flied, and it’s already 3.30 PM, so we decided
to go back to dorm but before we had to eat our late lunch first.
In the next day, we had
nothing to do except preparing our stuffs to be brought to the school. At
12.30, Cocom and I decided to go 7 Eleven to buy things we need in the school.
However, in 7 Eleven we only bought rice and decided to go Max Valu to buy the
other things. There, we bought some bread, seasoning powder, pasta, spaghetti,
and soap. It was a hot day and the way back to the dorm felt so far.
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| Max Valu |
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| At Max Valu |
It’s 2.45PM when Cocom,
Nani, Arma, and I met Tan, Pla, and Lukpad at the bus stop. However, only
Lukpad and Pla who would go with us, but Pla had to stop in different bus stop.
The bus was very full, so we had to stand up and protected our belongings.
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| The bus number 522 to Rangsit |
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| At Rangsit Market, waiting for Teacher Preaw |
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| Bus to Pathumthani |
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| The bus ticket |
At 4 PM, we arrived at
Rangsit Market, there we met Teacher Preaw and had to say good bye with Lukpad.
From here, we needed to take another bus to Pathumtani. Fortunately, we got a
seat so we could enjoy our way to Pathumtani.
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| At the taxi |
However, we had to get
off from the bus to go with taxi to the school, because there would be no buses
to the school, besides it would be expensive. So, teacher Preaw asked us to go
with taxi. It’s about 45 minutes to get to the school. At 5.45 PM finally we
arrived at the school dorm.
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| Morning assembly |
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| My desk |
On Monday, we have
morning assembly as well and on the second period we started to teach M.5
already with team teaching formation, which consisted of Cocom, Arma, and I.
When the bell rang, Teacher May brought us to M.5/6 class but unfortunately the
students haven’t come to the class yet because they have biology class in the
lab. So she told us to wait them first. After ten minutes waited for them
finally they were all completed. The three of us, Cocom, Arma, and I opened the
class and introduced ourselves as the pre-service teachers in Princess Chulabhorn
Science High School Pathumthani for two weeks.
For the first meeting we decided that it would be only for the
introduction because for today we only had one period for each classes.
Today we taught five
classes, which were M.5/6 for the second period, M.5/1 for the third period,
M.5/2 for the fourth period, M.5/5 for the fifth period, and M.5/4 for the
seventh period. For those classes we asked them to do introduction so that we
could know each other. In this section we played the introduction games. The
teacher would choose one of the students or the volunteer to come in front of
to the class. The student wouldn’t introduce his or herself but he or she have
to choose another student and told the whole class about him or her. After
that, the student who got chosen have to come in front of the class and did the
same thing like the previous student. This activity would end if all of the
students already got described by their friends. By the end of the class, we
asked every classes to take a group selfie. We asked the tallest student in the
class so all of the students could get into the frame.
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| Welcoming by the principal |
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| The school t-shirt we got from the school |
At the lunch time,
Teacher Preaw brought us to the headmaster office. There we introduced
ourselves and he told us the fact that there were no English teacher for M.5
that’s why he thanked us for teaching the students. Also he gave us the
official shirt of the school. It was yellow shirt and he said that it was the
edition and the teachers haven’t got it. We ended the meeting with took photo
together. After that, we came back to the class to teach M.5/4.
We came back to the
office at 1.50 PM, it’s quite tiring but also satisfying too because we could
finish the first day smoothly. Every class has their own stories and
uniqueness. Their English skills were quite good although they did not get the
English lesson for the whole semester. Knowing this shocking fact made us
surprised and concerned to their English. It made us to give our best in
teaching them English so that for these two weeks we could give them a meaningful
English lesson.
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| The material about causative verbs |
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| The material about causative verbs |
In the next day, I
realized that Thailand and Indonesian teaching system were quite different. In
Indonesia, for English lesson would be taught by one teacher and taught all of
the four skills. However, commonly in Thailand, English would be taught by more
than one teacher. It could be two or three teachers four each skills. For
example, in Princess Chulaborn Science High School Pathumthani, the three of us
would teach writing and grammar and there would be another teacher who taught
about speaking, listening, and reading. So, English was taught skill by skill
with certain teacher.
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| Teaching learning process |
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| Teaching learning process |
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| Teaching learning process |
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| Teaching learning process |
So, today we have 3
classes with two periods each to teach, but before that we have to attend the
morning assembly in the assembly hall in front of the school. Because Teacher
Preaw asked us to teach the students grammar and writing so we decided to go
with Causative Verbs. For the two first periods we taught M.5/1, then M.5/5 for
the next two periods and ended with M.5/6 in the seventh and eight period, here
we took turn in teaching the class and it applied for the every team teaching
classes.
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| The students played the game |
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| The students played the game |
With material of
Causative Verbs, we decided to start the lesson with games. The teachers would
made a group of five, consisted of four and five students. Then, we would give
some cards to each groups. There would be some words written in the cards and
the students were asked to arrange them into a good sentence. After they
finished, the groups would take turn come in front of the class to act the
sentence so that the rest groups could answer the complete sentence which was
written in the board. The group who got the most points would be the winner.
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| Explained the material |
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| Explained the material |
After they finished the
games, the teachers would explained the causative verbs found in the sentences
from the games. The words found were let, make, have, get, and help. We taught
them about the meaning of those words and how to use it in a sentence. After
that, we asked them to make sentences which consisted of those verbs and asked
to read it out loud so their friends could hear it.
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| Students in the class |
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| Students in the class |
By the end of the
lesson, we asked the students to do the exercises on their book. Because they
didn’t get English for the past semester so some of them didn’t bring their
book. Fortunately we brought some books for another class so they could use
them. After they finished did the exercises, we checked their works by asking
their answers.
Overall, the students
were quite good in communicating with English but because of this school is
science school perhaps the students got low motivation in learning English. So,
this made us to challenge ourselves to attract them so they could learn English
as much as they want to learn science.
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| We wore the sport uniform |
On Wed, 31st
Jan we have to wear sport uniform, we wore the school t-shirt, trouser, and
sport shoes. Normally, in the morning assembly the students would have some
physical activities but because there were a student committees campaign so there
would be no physical activities.
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| Teaching learning process |
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| Teaching learning process |
Today, we have two
classes to teach with two periods each. They were M.5/3 and M.5/2 for the first
and the third period. We taught about Causative Verbs just like the other
classes yesterday. However, because today was the first meeting with M.5/3 so
we started the class with the introduction games first then causative verbs
games followed. There were three
students absent in M.5/3, two students were ill and one student absent. While
for M.5/2, three students absent too. Two students have science project and the
other one was absent. We still taught causative verbs in these class, but
because it’s the first time to meet M.5/3 so they didn’t reached the exercise
part. So, the exercise part would be given in the next meeting.
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| How the game conducted |
Because there still
some time left in M.5/3 so we decided to do a simple games. The games was
played by the whole class. The class was divided into two big groups and asked
to go in front of the class. Each groups made a line so in front of the class
there were two line from two groups. The first student from each groups would
get told a sentence. They have to remember it and told the next students in
front of them by whispering, so that the other students wouldn’t hear that.
This game called whispering game and the group who finished first and got it
right would be the winner.
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| Teaching learning process |
On Thursday we have
only one class to teach, which M.5/4 class for two periods. It started at 10.30
AM until 12.10 PM. We taught the same material like yesterday, which was
Causative Verbs and started it with games first. The students enjoyed the games
but when it came to the study the material some of them got sleepy and were not
paying attention to the teacher. So to overcome this problem, the teachers gave
some intermezzo to attract their attention. The teacher would say hi and the
students have to answer with hello. The teacher made some variation with these,
it could be hi-hi-hello or hello-hi-hi-hello or it could be harder.
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| Teaching learning process |
While on Friday, we
were going back to the university. However, before that we have one class today
to teach, which M.5/3 was. In the previous meeting, we already taught the class
about causative verbs, however they haven’t done the exercises. So, today we
gave them the exercises about causative verbs.
Based on the exercises
we gave, we could conclude that most of the students understood the materials
although we need to give extra explanation to them. After that, we decided to
make a game. The students need to continue what the previous students said, so
at the end it would create a story. One students have to come up with a
sentence. The teacher gave an opening sentence which said “last holiday I went
to Bangkok.” After the teacher said this, the next students have to say another
sentence according to the first sentence and this happened to the next students
till the last students. The M.5/3 class story
was about the experience of coming to Bangkok to buy pencil, pen, and book, but
they ended up buying computer to play a game with. That was an interesting
games, because the students could show their creativity in making up a random
story.
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| School alley |
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| Students in sport lesson |
From this first week
teaching, we found out that the school had made some cooperation with certain
school and universities. Furthermore, the school has signed the memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with Japanese school and universities, such as Tennoji
Senior High School, Ritsumeikan Keisho Senior High School, Chuo University,
Shimane University, and Shizuoka University. In order to encourage students’
ideas and knowledge about science project, the school has an annual educational
visit for those schools and universities.
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| The upcoming school visit from Japan |
Moreover, Princess Chulabhorn Science High School Pathumthani has
excellent support and collaboration from mentor universities who are leading
universities in Thailand, namely, Thammaart University, Kasetsart university,
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, and National Science and
Technology Development Agency.
For the curriculum system of the school, mostly
focused on mathemathics and science through the science project and independent
research activities. The emphasis
is also on a solid foundation
of social sciences, world languages and fine arts. English language is
compulsory with one of other
languages: Japanese, etc., particularly, ASEAN languages, etc.
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| The English book used for M.5 |
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| The English book used for M.5 |
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| The English book used for M.5 |
While for the teaching
system, the school applies the system of five days school.
There are ten periods for each day with fifty minutes each. In general, the
school will start at 8.00 AM until 16.20 PM, but the students have to go out
from their dorm at 6.20 AM because the dorm will be closed at 6.30 AM. After
that, they have to eat their breakfast in the canteen and attend the morning
assembly at 7.20 AM. The morning assembly is held in every morning from 7.20 AM
to 8.00 AM. Furthermore, the school only has one break time which is for lunch
time, with different time between junior high and senior high. The break time
for junior high is between 11.20 AM until 12.10 PM, while for the senior high
is between 12.10 PM until 13.00 PM.
As
it stated on its name, Princess Chulabhorn Science High School Pathumthani
mostly focused on Science and Mathematics, that is why the school applied the
Project Based Learning System. This means that the school emphasized the STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics) project which is required the students to create a new innovation
on STEM product. So that the students tend to do the practice more than the
theory. The students need to analyze the project, then the lesson too, and
present the lesson at last. This technique is aimed to develop students’
critical thinking. Furthermore, those who does not finish any projects will not
pass from the school. Even though this school is a science school, but other
subject such as English also important. The students should get the minimal
score of 64 in each subject in order to pass the the school.
Moreover, the learning material and sources that the school mostly used are
textbook, work book, and internet. The teachers will use these in order to
prepare the lesson and teaching in the class. Furthermore, there are some additional learning sources for the
students in order to develop and
increase their knowledge and skill on certain subject that are study tour
(learning outside the classroom) and
competition. These kinds of learning sources are not formal, but it is believed that these
sources are important to support the development of knowledge and skills (soft
and hard skills) of the students on certain fields especially on Science and Mathematics as well as
Technology.
Lastly, for the students’ evaluation, there are two
kinds of evaluation in Princess Chulabhorn Science High School for each
semester; midterm and final test. Both of them are conducted only once in each
semester. Additional evaluation, such as quizzes that done in every end of the
chapter could be implemented. For English itself, the students usually will
have quizzes five times in one semester.
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