Sawaddi Kha Bangkok
It was 10 AM when Miko
and I arrived at Don Muang Airport, Bangkok. We come from the same city but
different universities; he comes from UPY (PGRI Yogyakarta University), so we
went together to Bangkok. Fortunately, at the baggage claim we met Aman the student
from Halu Oleo University, Kendari. Then, the three of us went to the arrival
to meet Miko’s friends which were PNRU (Phranakhon Rajabat University) students
who joined the Sea Teacher program batch 3. They went to Miko’s university so
they knew each other. After that, the representative of PNRU come to pick us
up. They were the PNRU students who went to Sea Teacher too but from batch 4.
However, we couldn’t go directly to the campus because we had to wait the other
students who arrived at 10.45 AM, they were Cocom from UHAMKA, Jakarta and Nina
from UMP, Purwokerto. Unfortunately, they had problem in immigration so it took
a long time to find them. Finally at 12.30 PM we found them, we went to the
campus then.
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| Pad Thai |
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| Girls' dormitory |
Before we went to our
dormitory, we ate lunch first. We ate Pad Thai, famous dish from Thailand at
Phranakhon Grand View; the university hotel. Pad Thai was a kind of noodle that
mixed with bean pasta and there were shrimp and tofu too. The taste was not
that bad, I still could eat it. After that, we went to our dormitory, we had to
pay 57 baht/person to get the key and entrance card. The girls’ and boys’ were
on the different dorm. They boys’ dorm was next to our dorm. Sadly, our rooms
were located on the fifth floor, the top of the dorm. So we had to carry our
luggage to the fifth floor through the stairs. Fortunately, the Thai students
helped us to carry them although we felt sorry for them at the same time. They
were Tan, Zeen, Tokta, and Nan.
After we put our
luggage and took a rest, Tan asked us to go to Tosca Lotus to buy things that
we need. But before that she made a lottery to determine our buddies. I got
Totka as my buddy. After that, we went to Tosca Lotus, it’s like a mall that
sold daily needs near the campus. There we met Py and Fern. They helped us to buy sim card. It cost 269 baht, unlimited for a month. It’s quite
expensive for us, about 120.000 IDR rather than the sim card in Indonesia.
Then, we went to the supermarket to buy water and other needs. Afterward, we went to the food court to buy
the food. We bought rice with chicken and made it take away because it’s
already 6PM and we had to do the prayer. We went back to the dorm by taxi and
found out another student who just arrived this evening in front of the dorm with
her buddy. They were Nanik from Mataram University and her buddy, Lin.
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| Briefing with campus coordinator |
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| In front of Phranakhon Grand View |
In the next day, we had
briefing with the campus coordinator, named Ajarn Suwan. We met at the CTE
(College of Teaching Education) building along with Ajarn Pichy, Ajarn Som, and
Ajarn Apichart. A Thai student, named Bobby picked us up in front of the dorm.
At the same time, new students from Pattimura University just come last night.
They were, Arma, Dirk, and Yeri.
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| First food I ordered in Bangkok |
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| The top-up card |
The briefing ended near
the lunch time, so Bobby brought us to the campus canteen which sold halal
food. When we wanted to eat the food, we had to buy a card for 30 bath, this
card was used as money. So when we came to the stall to order the food, we used
the card to buy the food. The food was quite delicious and the taste just like
Indonesian food. It’s perfect for those who don’t like Thai food, because
mostly Thai food is sour.
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| At Baan Bang Khen |
After that, we went to
the dorm and sit in front of the dorm to discuss what we would do next because
the Ajarn told us to go to Lumpini Park to see the cultural festival. However,
because of the time and Lumpini Park was quite far so Tan and Bobby took us to
Baan Bang Khen. This place was quite near from the campus. Baan Bang Khen was a
good place to visit. It consisted of a number of museums which constructed in
old house that designed in vintage way. It’s aimed for those who wanted to do
the time travel. It cost 20 bath for the ticket and we would got free water or
a discount if we ate at the restaurant. However, we decided to use the ticket
to get the discount.
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| At Baan Bang Khen |
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| At Baan Bang Khen |
The place was very
unique and much recommended to take photos here and posted in the instagram,
kke. The museum was constructed in store model. In every store they put many
old things that we couldn’t find at this era. We entered all the store at the
museum and took some photos of course, kke.
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| Inside the restaurant |
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| The dessert we ordered |
Then, Tan and Bobby
asked us to go to the restaurant inside the Baan Bang Khen to eat the dessert
with discount. We ordered two Patbingsoo with different flavor; mango and Thai
tea. The desserts were delicious but I prefer the Thai tea. The two patbingsoo
cost about 400 baht, quite expensive. Fortunately we got the discount and pay
together. So I only need to pay for 35 baht.
When the second seminar
ended, Ajarn Suwan asked the class to take us on campus tour. The brought us to
the public facilities in PNRU. They were sport center, health center, internet
center, library, and ended up at the Thai traditional house. The facilities
here were very complete not like any campuses in Indonesia, besides this campus
was very wide. So it was very tiring, especially for Indonesian’s student who
rarely walk.
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| Attending Ajarn May's class |
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| Attending Ajarn May's class |
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| Attending Ajarn May's class |
In the fourth day,
there were some schedules changed. Actually today we were planned to go to Wat
Phrasri Mahadhat Secondary Demonstration School of Phranakhon Rajabhat
University at 9.00 AM, but it changed to attend the course “Psychology of
Guidance and Counseling for Teachers” with the Math student of second year.
Unfortunately, our buddies couldn’t pick us up like usual. We just asked to go
to CTE building and there would be the student waited for us. However, at 9.00
AM the girls just went out from the dorm, moreover we needed to walk from the
dorm to CTE building for about 7 to 10 minutes. Fortunately, we met Ajarn May
on our way so we could find the building. But because of us the class that
should star at 9.00 AM had to start 20 minutes later because of us.
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| Wat Phrasri Mahadhat Secondary School |
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| Receiving school's souvenir |
At noon, we got a
message that we were going to Wat Phrasri Mahadhat Secondary School, then from
the dorm we directly went to the demonstration school in front of PNRU. There,
Ajarn Rudy the English teacher of the school told us about the school. We also
met the students who had done the exchange program overseas for about a year.
So those students could speak English fluently. Before we went to the tour, the
school gave us a souvenir, it’s an elephant doll with the school name written
on its stomach.
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| School visit at Wat Phrasri Mahadhat Secondary School |
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| School visit at Wat Phrasri Mahadhat Secondary School |
We went to see the
teaching learning process at the school from outside, Ajarn Rudy also told us
the facilities at the school. One of them was the library, so he brought us to
go to the library, he told us that the books in the library would get changed
in every year. Because their previous books would be given to some schools in
the provinces which in needed and they would get the new books. We ended the
tour by took photos near the library.
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| Orientation ceremony |
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| Orientation ceremony |
On Wednesday, we had
the orientation ceremony. We went to the President Building at 8.50 AM with
Tan. Ajarn Pla opened the orientation as the master of ceremony. After that,
the Dean of College of Teacher Education of PNRU, Dr. Direk Pornsima gave the
report and followed with the opening remark by Associate Professor Dr. Preang
Kitratporn, the President of PNRU. Then, the sea-teachers gave the token
appreciation from their universities to PNRU President and the President gave
it to the Dean of CTE.
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| Sea teacher orientation |
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| University introduction |
The next session was
continued with the overview of project implementation by Dr. Wilaichitra. At
this session, the sea-teachers introduce their universities and the teaching
learning system in their universities. Afterwards, Mr. Ahlo Yersor, the fourth
batch sea-teacher presented about his experiences gained from sea teacher
project. In the last session, Dr. Wilaichitra gave us time to meet and discuss
with the administrators of the school that we were going to teach.
Unfortunately, the administrators of school which was Princess Chulaborn
Science High School Pathumtani didn’t come so I just met my supervisor, Ajarn
Pichy.
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| Attending Ajarn Wilaichitra's class |
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| With the second year students |
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| With Ajarn Wilaichitra, Ajarn May, and Arma's lecturer |
After the orientation
finished, we went to Dr. Wilaichitra’s office to join her class in Information
Technology Development and Service (ITDS) Center. It was the second year of
English teacher class. The students were asked to find some certain information
found in the passage. Every groups consisted of two until four students with
different topics. The sea-teacher students then asked to join the groups and
helped them to do the assignment. After we finished to do the assignment, the
group were asked to present in front of the class.
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| Before we went to the school |
In the next day, the
four of us, Cocom, Arma, Hayani, and I went to Princess Chulaborn Science High
School in Pathumtani. It took about a half and an hour to get there. The school
was in the country side, it was surrounded by the rice field and very far from
the city, but the school was very big and good. The school was a boarding
school so the students had to stay in the school from Monday until Friday.
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| In front of the dorm |
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| Our dorm at students of M.6 dorm |
We stayed in the student
dormitory, so we had to go out from the dorm at 6.20 AM and went back to the
dorm at 4.20 PM. Because the dorm only opened in that time so we couldn’t go
back to the dorm as we pleased, besides the dorm would close at 8PM.
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| The office |
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| Inside the office |
After put our
belongings in our room, which was at the third floor we headed to the teachers’
office. It’s not only the English teacher but also for the foreign languages
teachers, such as Japanese and Chinese. Then, teacher Preaw – our advisor
divided us to do the class observation in different classes. I got teacher
Preaw’s class for grade 12. She taught the teacher about writing essay. First,
she divided the students into six groups consisted of 3 to 4 students. Teacher
Preaw then gave them different topics from each groups. Then, she told the
students what they needed to do and explained the topics. First she used
English and after that she used Thai Language. Teacher Preaw gave the students
the handout, which was about the topic, attention grabber, problems, and
solution. She asked the students to collect it to her desk after they finished
do the assignment.
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| Class observation |
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| Class observation |
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| Topics of the essay |
When all of us had
already went back to the office, teacher Preaw told us about our desks and gave
us the lesson plan and the course books. We would teach M.5 or grade 11 with
team teaching, Cocom, Arma, and I. We would start to teach the class on Monday.
After that, teacher Preaw asked us to help her in making question sheet for the
try out session for grade 12.
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| Teaching schedule of M.5 |
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| The school canteen |
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| At the school canteen |
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| Celebrating He Chalong Kan Tet |
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| The food we bought at the festival |
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| On the festival |
At 5PM we went back to
the dorm and asked by teacher Preaw to go to the assembly hall to see the
parade. The whole school celebrated the He Chalong Kan Tet, it’s like a
festival to make merit. At the assembly hall they had a food bazar, so we
needed to change our money in voucher, we had to buy 100 baht but if we still
had the coupon we could get the change. At the festival we bought the drinks
and fillet fried chicken with different flavors and also rice to eat at the
dorm.
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| Morning assembly |
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| With the foreign languages teachers |
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| Celebrating Chalong Kan Tet |
In the last day of the
first week, the school had no classes. It’s the second day for the Chalong Kan
Tet. As usual, the school started the day by doing the morning assembly. At 9AM
we were asked to go to the main hall to see the prayer with the monks. It’s
like a new thing for us, because we rarely could see this kind of things in
Indonesia.
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| The food stalls |
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| We got some ice creams |
In front of the main
hall, there were some food stands by the students, staffs, and teachers. They
provided some free foods for everyone. It’s included as the festival to make
merit. So we just needed to take everything which had no pork on it. The food was
very delicious and we took some ice cream too.
Overall, Princess
Chulabhorn Science High School Pathumthani is one of the twelve Prince
Chulabhorn’s College (PCC) in 12 regions around Thailand. This college was
established in 1993 to celebrate Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn’s 36th
birthday. She is Professor Dr. Her Royal Highness Princess Chulabhorn Mahidol,
the youngest daughter of Their Majestied King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen
Sirikit of Thailand. Since 1985, she has become the Chemistry lecture in
Mahidol University and a member of President’s Council of the Tokyo University.
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| School side |
Different from
Indonesian school, most of the school in Thailand have both junior high school
and senior high school, so does Princess Chulabhorn Science High School Pathumthani.
Besides, this school is a co-educational and a boarding school. So the students
have to stay at school from Sunday evening until Friday evening. All of the
students receive full scholarships from the government. The total students of
this school are 720 students with 24 students per class.
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| School side |
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| School side |
Because this school
is included as top five of science school so not all students could enroll to
this school, only those who got excellent academic records in mathematics and
science will be qualified. The success
ratio of the junior applicants is about 1:22, while for the senior applicant is
1:20. Only qualified students in 6 neighboring provinces are able to apply for
Princess Chulabhorn Science High School Pathumthani, they are Pathumthani,
Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Nakhonpathom, Samutsakhon, and Samutprakarn.
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