Blog Post: Initial Reflections from William & Mary Freeman Intern Fellow Tj Song
Global Playground is excited to welcome Tj Song as one of two Freeman Intern Fellows from the College of William & Mary who will be working with us this summer! Tj will be teaching English at Mae La Noi Daroonsik Secondary School, one of our partner schools in Northern Thailand. Read on below to learn about Tj’s initial reflections on his internship experience.
Hi! My name is Tj Song and I am currently with Global Playground as one of two English teaching fellows at Mae La Noi Daroonsik School in Thailand. Currently, I am a rising senior studying business data analytics at the Mason School of Business at William & Mary. It has been a little more than one week since I’ve stepped foot in Thailand and already, so much has happened. When I had gotten the news that I’d been granted the opportunity to immerse myself in a completely new culture and environment, I was excited but also very nervous. I told myself to go into this experience with zero expectations. It is currently day ten and I am just blown away.
Touching down after 31 hours of layovers and flights, the first thing I noticed was the homogeny of people and the way I seamlessly fit right in. Whether I was asking for directions, picking up my baggage, or calling a taxi, every person I encountered immediately burst into Thai, assuming I was a local. We would end up laughing after I explained that I didn’t speak Thai, but instead, English. Soon after, I was able to meet up with my fellow English teaching fellow and friend, Josie Massenet in Chiang Mai and it was instantly different. Walking alongside Josie’s bright blonde hair, everyone knew we were from out of town. The stark contrast between my experience and hers is something that I believe we are both not accustomed to from our lives in America, and I am personally excited to explore this further.
It takes four hours by car to reach Mae La Noi Daroonsik School from Chiang Mai. Surrounded by lush valleys, mercurial rivers, and drifting clouds, you would think that the school would be an idyllic location isolated by the mountains rising and falling towards the horizon. Instead, it is a center of life with motorbikes constantly whizzing past, students cupping their hands together in a light bow, and townspeople giving smiles to familiar faces. Since my first day, all the students and faculty have been nothing but welcoming. Constantly inviting us to go visit their home, play a game with them, or grab a meal, I have been meeting new people every day. I want to emphasize though, how much of a centerpiece the school is for not just the town, but the entire district. On June 16th, the school’s gymnasium was filled with rows of tables, chairs, and presentation display screens. Only the day before, it had been crowded with the kids and teachers and filled with flowers and gift platters for Thailand’s teacher appreciation day. Now, it hosted dozens of Mae La Noi district’s most important leaders. While I did not get to sit in on the discussions and speaker panels I saw while passing by, it left me pondering the importance of this school for not just the students, but also the community at large. The school is a prime location in terms of feasibility for hosting large groups, but I believe it is also a symbol for a place where the different ethnic groups of Mae La Noi can foster understanding and learning for all.
One of the closest connections I’ve made this week has been with Kru Ying, a Chinese teacher who is a part of the foreign language department I’ve been assigned to. As a Chinese American, I would consider myself conversationally fluent with the language. Getting to know her story, I am beyond impressed with how proficient she is in Chinese. Kru Ying may deny this vehemently, stating she has had no one to practice with and how grateful she is now to be able to speak with me. Truthfully though, I have been learning more about my mother tongue and myself from her too. She told me about when she was younger, how she was able to study in the Chinese province of Yunnan for a month, and that many Thai students who are majoring in the language also go there. When she described the province of Yunnan, she stated that there are many smaller ethnic groups living there, similar to Mae La Noi. In the short time I’ve been here, I have volunteered myself to help her teach Chinese classes on Thursdays. Overall, I am simply appreciative of how seamless it has been to communicate with her in something so familiar to me. Kru Ying is one of the reasons I feel at home here.
I recently learned that by law in Thailand, students under 15 years of age are required to go to school and must graduate from at least level 3. They will have graduated secondary school once they have finished level 6. There are four different majors offered once they reach level 4 at Mae La Noi Daroonsik School: math and science, English, Chinese, and “Greek life”. I’m currently doubtful of the accuracy in the Thai to English translation for that last major, but it is essentially about learning survival skills such as agriculture and fixing things. Many of the students’ families are self-sufficient to a degree, growing their own vegetables and tending to livestock. This extends to the students living on campus in the dormitories. Just a short walk from our accommodations on campus are terraces of crops, greenhouses, pig sties, fishponds, toad wells, and chicken and duck coops. The students are granted a space to gain experience with these real-world skills, as well as for the studies of biology students. But the importance of “Greek life” being offered, unlike many majors of study in America, is that it is current and applicable to the students’ immediate livelihoods. The children at this school study because they genuinely wish to better their future. I witnessed two students request Kru Ying to teach them Chinese during afterschool hours. Because they are in level 3, they have not yet declared a major so they cannot take Chinese courses. Their initiative is inspiring, with many students from the school displaying similar dedication. The culture of learning here is drastically different from America because this is their best chance given so few other opportunities.
Now, I have only a little more than seven weeks left here at Mae La Noi Daroonsik School. There is so much to learn with what feels like so little time. I still have many questions about the lives that the students and faculty lead. Thus, by the end of my experience, it is my desire to understand more about the cross-cultural differences between America and Thailand, and also learn the unique stories of these individuals.
