[SEA-Teacher Batch 6] 8th-10th Aug, Day 6-8 - Observation Week!

Sawadee kha!
So, I will continue my stories about my first week in Ayutthaya. In Wednesday, there was Asean's Day in secondary school. So, the teachers told us to use traditional clothes from Indonesia. I wore kebaya.

Asean's day!

That day, I observed Mattayom 2/2 that learnt special mathematics and Mattayom 2/1 that learnt matchematics 3. Special mathematics teacher in Mattayom 2/2 is an intern teacher, named Niwat or I called him, M. He is really good in teaching because he used activities to motivated students and I adore to his teaching skill. The students in Mattayom 2 are also so creative because after they finished the worksheets or some tasks, they decorate it. I also asked him the books that he used for the source. He gave it to me, but the book was in Thai language. And he said that he not really used the book for teaching, he just followed the main topics from that book and he found the others activities and sources from the internet.

Beautiful!❤

In the morning of this Thursday, I observed M’s class again. He taught in 2/3. This class is very funny and they enjoyed the activitiy that given by M. In the afternoon, me and my friends helped the school staffs to decorate and prepare for Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day in Thailand held when the queen’s (for now the queen is the mother of the king) birthday. The queen’s birthday was on Monday. But at Satit Ayutthaya School the celebration held on Friday. And on Monday, Thailand had a holiday.

The queen was born on Friday, so all of the decoration was blue. Because in Thailand everyday have their own color.

We helped the preparation for Mother's Day.

In Friday, we have to used blue costume.

With all of the Satit Ayutthaya's teachers and the mothers of some students

And this day I have decided the classes that I would like to teach in the second and the third week. I will assist the teacher and teach special math in M.2/1, M.2/2, M.2/3 and M.2/4. So, I have to discuss and coordinate with M as a special math teacher in those classes. And M gave me a hardcopy of the topics that he would like to teach in the next week. So, I can prepared it.

The topics that we would like to teach

I also helped M to prepared the classroom activities for the next week.

The properties for classroom activities

The facilities and infrastructure at this school are very sophisticated and complete. This school uses smart tv that connected to computers for learning media. Computers can also be connected to the internet, so the teachers can search their teaching material directly through the internet. Although there are several smart tv that are not functioning properly but it still can be used for learning activities. And at some teachers classes (like M), they used Kahoot! at some lessons to checking the students' understanding and as a plus point for the students' assessment. It was fun and interesting because in Indonesia, I haven't heard Kahoot! before.

[SEA-Teacher Batch 6] 6th-7th Aug, Day 4-5 - Sawadee kha Satit Ayutthaya School!

This is my first week in Ayutthaya. In Monday morning (6th August 2018) we met Miss Cherry for orientation. Miss Cherry gave us the example of lesson plan and Thai Curriculum and explained it. Then we practiced to make the lesson plan. By the way, I got a thai name. My thai name is ฟ้า (f̂ā). It means sky, because that day I wore blue hijab.

The first meeting at Ayutthaya Rajahbat University

After that, we went around the university and had a lunch. The canteen serves halal food and not really expensive.

It's only 30 baht

Then, we went back to the meeting room and met Miss Noi (supervisor for secondary school) and Miss Nongnut (supervisor for primary school) and they took us to Satit Ayutthaya School (STAY). Satit Ayutthaya School is a part of Ayutthaya Rajabhat University. It's same like Lab School UPI. But this school is a laboratory school that belongs to Faculty of Education ARU. And this school is the sixth best school in Thailand. In Thailand, children are enrolled in elementary school from the age of six and attend for six years, Prathom 1 to Prathom 6. Secondary education starts at age 12. It consist of three years of lower secondary education, Mattayom 1 to Mattayom 3, and three years of upper secondary education, Mattayom 4 to Mattayom 6. And then, the curriculum in Thailand focused in these core learning areas:
1. Basic skills (Thai and Math)
2. Life Experiences (Science and Social Studies)
3. Character Development (Ethnics, Arts, Music and P.E.)
4. Work Education (Technology and Basic Vocational Skills)
You also can get more information from here.

In the first week we have to observe the class, the students, the teachers, the methods, etc. This observation period aims to make us know which classes will be used as classes for teaching in the second week and the third week. I will observe mathematics subject in Mattayom 1 and Mattayom 2. In this school the math subject is divided into Basic Math that learns about the concept of some topics and Special Math that learns about the topics of basic math in daily life and usually learned using classroom activities. Both basic math and special math are studied for 3 x 50 minutes a week. So the students have to study about math 6 x 50 minutes a week.

The schedule of mathematics subject for Mattayom 1 and Mathayom 2

The school starts from 8.00 a.m. until 16.30 p.m. and has 5 days in a week (from Monday to Friday). Tuesday, August 7th 2018 was my first day at school. Me and my friends joined ceremony in our school. Every school in Thailand doing ceremony everyday. It's different from Indonesia. And we introduced ourself in front of all the students and teachers. I got so nervous hahaha. We also met some intern teachers from ARU. Pin, M, Dy, Dream, Sukit and Zom. They're so friendly, funny and so kind.

Ceremony

geometrical transformations game

[SEA-Teacher Batch 6] 4th-5th Aug, Day 2-3 - Sawadee kha Ayutthaya!

Sawadee kha!
So, yesterday and today we just visited some places in Ayutthaya. Yesterday morning we visited Ayutthaya Rajabhat University. We went there by tuk-tuk. The cost is just 5 baht for each person. After we arrived at the university, Miss Cherry bought us some drinks.

Chocolate with tea. Love it!

And every weekend, there is a weekend market around the university. There were lot of things that sold in the market.

After we got around the market, Miss Cherry guided us for university tour. We met some ARU's students. Then, we went to department store to buy some items we needed. And after that we went back to the dorm.
At 5.30 p.m. Miss Cherry, Tong and Aran picked us to the Ayutthaya Night Market. In that place, I ate lot of foods that I just can watched in instagram before. It was so interesting!

Rainbow crepe that I and Danti ordered by ourself hahaha

And today, Aran and Tong invited us to go to some famous temples in Ayutthaya. First, we went to Wat Chaiwatthanaram.

Wat Chaiwatthanaram (1)

Wat Chaiwatthanaram (2)

Wat Chaiwatthanaram (3)

We addicted to take a selfie(s)

After that, we went to Wattakarong. There is a floating market that sell a lot of Thai foods and Wattakarong is an interesting place.

Wattakarong

I told you that we love selfie(s)

Kak Odhit, Syelin, me, Danti, Ardan and Kak Hendry

I having fun so much. And next week I have to go to school to observation. Wish me luck! Bye bye!

[SEA-Teacher Batch 6] 3rd Aug, Day 1 - Sawadee kha Thailand!

Sawadee kha!
It's just like a dream comes true that I can joined a SEA-Teacher Program Batch 6 and going to Phranakorn Si Ayutthaya Rajabhat University (ARU) Thailand for 28 days!

This is my very first time to go abroad. And took a flight by myself. I just really worried. I arrived at Soekarno Hatta International Airport at 3 a.m. Actually me and Danti made a promise to go to Don Mueang together. And after I met Danti and Ardan at gate 3, my worries are decrease. After we checked in and waited for the flight, we (me, Danti and Ardan) met Kak Odhit and Syelin. I'm so blessed meet Danti, Ardan, Kak Odhit and Syelin cause they're so friendly and funny.

Syelin, Kak Odhit, Danti, Ardan and me!

So, we went with the same flight and our seat close together. We departed from Indonesia at 6.30 a.m.

Soekarno Hatta International Airport in the morning

We spent about 3 hours and 30 minutes until we arrived at Don Mueang International Airport. After we passed the imigration and took our baggage. We're looking for some Wi-Fi to called Miss Cherry (mentor from ARU). After our phone connected to Wi-Fi, we got a message that Miss Cherry and our buddies named Aran dan Tong waited outside the airport. 

Aran, Miss Cherry and Tong. They're the best!

So we went to the outside of the airport and met them. And also took some pictures hahaha. And you know what? After I posted the photo, my friends excited to Aran hahaha

The photo that I posted and made my friends excited to Aran haha. And yea, i looked so tiny huhu.

Because there were two person left (Vilia and Hendry) that haven't arrived at Don Mueang, we went to Thailand Mall (I forgot the name hehe) nearby the airport to took a lunch. Miss Cherry and the buddies were so understanding. They took us to the food court and looking for the halal foods. The food court here was so cool because they used the card to bought some foods in this food court. It's just like a Game Master in Indonesia hahaha. Me and Syelin ordered a chicken soup. The taste of chicken soup is a little bit sour and spicy.

The chicken soup

The price of the chicken soup is just for 40 baht (in Indonesia it's around Rp 18.000) and we bought some mineral water that just 10 baht (actually I wanna bought Thai Tea, buy Tong said that there's more delicious). So, for the lunch we spent 50 baht. It's not really different with in Indonesia. After we ate, we're looking to bought the real Thai Tea in Thailand hahaha. The price of the original Thai Tea is just 40 baht. And well the taste is more delicious than Thai Tea in Indonesia especially Thai Tea in Gerlong (the street nearby my university) hahaha.

After that we're looking for some SIM card to used in Thailand. But the SIM card in that mall is so expensive. So, we just went to the dorm to take a rest. We went to the dorm using a train from Bangkok to Ayutthaya.

Tickets train

At the station, waiting for the train

And we used tuk-tuk (Thailand's public trasportation) from station to our dorm.

Tuk-tuk

Tuk-tuk fit for 8 person

After we arrived at the dorm, we tidied our belonging. But i got a problem because my body lotion spilled out:(

The mess:(

After I clean up the mess, I took a bath. For a dinner, Miss Cherry and the buddies gave us much of foods and it's really great!

Foodies!<3

Khawp khun kha Miss Cherry, Tong and Aran for the best services in day 1!

See you tomorrow!