Confessions of a High School English Teacher in Thailand

 I'm starting my 4th year of teaching High School English, and I'll be the first to admit that I learn something new about teaching pretty much every day. Some days I learn it by trial and error like when I accidentally made a quiz retake way too hard the other day. (Sorry about that students, but I did make it up to you by allowing another retake.)  Other days I read an inspiring blog post by Betsy Potash or some other creative English teacher influencer out there. She has amazing ideas about making English fun. Over the summer, I read several books on teaching Reading and Writing. My favorite was one called Readicide by Kelly Gallagher. It's been around awhile, but it was new to me. Ultimately, it was a wakeup call that English teachers share some responsibility in systematically killing students' love of reading through over-analyzing and over-testing a novel in high school English classrooms. I fear that I've been guilty of this these past two-three years. In my defense, this is how I was taught when I was in High School. This is what a vast majority of the curriculums steer you towards. So how do we fix it? 

Figuring this out is my quest this year. One of the ways I'm tackling it is by encouraging more choice reading. While the number of minutes of instructional time already feels inadequate, I've chosen to give up 20 minutes per week of this precious time to allow students to do "choice reading" time. I wish it could be longer than 20 minutes, but this is all I can spare, and this year it's really an experiment to see if we can still cover everything. During choice reading time, they must read a book of their own choice. It can't be a text that is assigned as part of my or any other class's curriculum. The goal is to remind students that reading can be enjoyable while also building up reading stamina. In a day and age when students increasingly do most of their reading in the form of a text message, it's no wonder that many students struggle to create academic and grammatically correct sentences in formal writing. The vast majority of my students admitted that they did not read a single book over the summer vacation. While some are only 50 pages into their choice books 6 weeks into the semester, others have told me that they have been spurred on to get back into reading, plowing through all three books of the Shadow and Bone trilogy in about a month! 

A key to the success of my choice reading program (is it too soon to call it a success?) has been to spend a big chunk of my own money to buy both high interest teen books as well as some of the classics of American, British, and world literature. I've filled two bookshelves with my personal books that students can check out for an indefinite period of time. I love seeing students walk in the door and immediately start perusing the shelves because they have finished their last book. While we have a school library, it's a known fact that most 11th and 12th grade students don't visit it on their own and are much more likely to choose a book if it's right there in the room they already visit 4 times per week.  Additionally, I've observed how they feel slightly overwhelmed by the number of books to choose from in the library. With my shelf of books, most of which I've read, I can give them personal recommendations based on what I know of their interests and reading level. Here's a look at the two seemingly puny yet surprisingly punch-packing shelves. This was taken just before the first day of school, and I've added a few more books since then. 

Do I expect that some of my books may come back ruined or not at all? Yes, that definitely could happen. Thankfully, this summer several individuals donated books from my Amazon teacher wish list, and I'm hopeful that next summer, others might do the same to help me restock. Being at an international school in Thailand, it can be hard to get access to good books in English for an affordable price. If you'd like to help supply my classroom with more books, I'm always accepting donations of used or new books as well as cash to buy more from BookDepository.com, which has free shipping to Thailand. 

So am I still requiring students to read and analyze whole-class novels like The Scarlet Letter, The Grapes of Wrath, and Jane Eyre? Yes, we will still be doing that. I think that working through some some of these classics together is an important part of the high school experience and allows them to really experience what life was like at those times in history. However, the way I approach teaching the book will be a bit different this year. We start The Scarlet Letter next week in my 11th grade U.S. Literature class, so I'll try to update you on how it goes. 

What's Up With the Inmans

We haven't posted much that's really very informative about what we are up to lately.

If you are wondering, I can assure you, we are busy! Josh is currently juggling work responsibilities for three different very worthwhile organizations in addition to trying to get our long-term visas squared away, and recently resuming his Thai language study. He's traveled a few times since we got back to Chiang Mai but for now is staying put until after this baby comes.

For Josh's work permit he has to submit pictures of the work he is doing. It's sort of funny but actually a nice excuse to get some pictures of Josh with his teammates doing what he does as he usually is pretty bad about taking pictures. I will include some of these photos at the bottom.

Medical Stuff
What else is going on? It seems like we are spending all our time at doctor's offices and hospitals. Of course I am in that stage of frequent prenatal visits. Five days from now I'll be having a cesarean section at a hospital here. We thought we had settled on which hospital it would be but are re-thinking that decision as we found out they no longer allow the father to be present in the operating room. We are writing a letter requesting an exception to this rule, but it's unlikely to be granted as I don't think they want to set a precedent. While other hospitals don't allow it either, some are nicer overall. 

Also Josh has been in the E.R. twice since we got back to Chiang Mai. First because he gave himself a stiff electrical shock and needed to be checked out, he's fine by the way. And next because he, being a very tall person in a small person's world, sliced his head open on a sharp corrugated metal overhang at a gas station. Actually I suppose he and Bella have this injury in common. Josh had a lot of gushing blood, but just a few stitches fixed him up. Bella, our dog needed more than 50 stitches and 3 surgeries to put herself back together after her run-in with corrugated metal during our furlough.....I think Thailand might be a dangerous place to be!

We have also been catching the kids up on their immunizations before Little Baby Boy arrives. (At this rate Little Baby Boy is what his birth certificate is going to say as we are 5 days from delivery and still undecided) There are several things we have to vaccinate against here that are not standard in the U.S. like Japanese Encephalitis and Tuberculosis. Three out of four of the last days we have been at doctors offices and hospitals getting this taken care of. If I'm being honest, nothing makes me think about packing it up and moving back to the U.S. more than children's medical stuff in Thailand. Holding my kids down and watching them get painful shots (that will literally scar them for life) that they wouldn't need in the U.S. really is hard. Plus the medical system here is highly unorganized and I'm constantly questioning the level of care my kids are getting.

Around the Homestead
As for me, I am trying somewhat unsuccessfully to NOT be busy. I know that life is going to get a lot harder next week when Baby #3 arrives so I am laying off of Thai language study and other major responsibilities. I also have a history of swelling and blood pressure spikes towards the end of pregnancy. It makes my doctors and husband get all worried so I am trying to spend a decent amount of time with my feet up sipping lemon-water. :-) Of course this is only during those brief time periods where my kids do not need me for something.

Project Restore
So one of Josh's newest responsibilities involves partnering with another organization/team here called Project Restore. So far he is learning about some of their sustainable agricultural projects in the hopes that Global Hope Network can come alongside them and do some work together in impoverished villages in northern Thailand. That's the short version of what he's been doing. Hopefully soon he will write up a better explanation. Here are some pictures from his trips and work.

 This is Bala, the village where Project Restore has helped Witoon in starting some sustainable agricultural projects. When Josh visited he slept in the house on the right front. Definitely rustic and 8 months pregnant me was glad to not be sleeping there! He wants to take Colby back next time. 

Cutting some hands of bananas with Witoon. One of the perks of getting involved with sustainable agricultural work- free bananas! :-) 

Witoon showing Josh his plantation.

Meeting with Jonathan, one of his new friends and co-workers. Changing the world over a cup of coffee. 

Josh and Witoon at the banana market after unloading bananas. 

And that's a lot of bananas. 

Working with Tim on a new video project. 

Cows that regularly commute through our neighborhood unattended to get to their pasture. 

And just for good measure here is some cuteness to round out this blog post. 

On an Easter egg hunt

Back in Chiang Mai

So an update is definitely overdue. We made it back to Chiang Mai two weeks ago. It was honestly one of the smoothest international journeys with kids we have made. We had great seats, well-behaved kids who slept a lot and didn't fuss, and no delays. Plus all of our bags made it! And we had a lot of bags.....

Leaving was hard. Our kids had gotten very attached to their grandparents on this trip. We know that it is a great sacrifice for them and for our parents to be separated. Thankfully, Josh's parents will be here in Thailand in less than 3 months! Our baby is scheduled to be born May 9th and they are hoping to be here for the birth and a few weeks afterwards to help us adjust.

I'm sure my parents will come not long after that. Nothing gets our parents on a plane like the birth of a new grandbaby! Knowing they would be coming so soon makes the goodbye a little easier.

Right before we said goodbye at the O'hare Airport. 

Watching airplanes out the window. That's our plane in the background. We love Korean Air.

Look at all that legroom. Thank you Korean Air for letting families with small children sit in the bulkhead! 

We didn't buy a seat for Hailey but there were extra seats in our row so she didn't have to sit on our lap at all. 

My feet could barely touch the wall. 

It's definitely good to be home. Our house was clean and ready for us thanks to our wonderful house helper. We had subletters while we were gone and we were relieved to see they didn't totally destroy any of our stuff- although the oven door is broken and our toaster and a few other small things are missing. Annoying but not a big deal....we got our new (used) car the day after arriving. One of our friends runs a business helping expats to buy and sell vehicles and he had sold our truck while we were on furlough. It wasn't going to have space for a third kid in a car seat so we have upgraded to a 7-seater MPV.

Here's a picture of the car parked in our carport. It's no minivan (what I would really love to have) but it is the most practical and affordable 7-seater available in Thailand so a lot of familes have them. Minivan equivalents can cost around $30,000 used so we will settle for an MPV. 

What the seat configuration looks like. Not a lot of cargo space and it's going to be tricky to get into the back row with 3 car seats installed, but we'll make it work. 

I love getting pictures of the kids napping while jet-lagged. :-) 

Our first weekend in Chiang Mai was Valentine's Day. Our kids were in no shape to handle having a babysitter so we went out for a family breakfast to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Less than a week after getting back, Colby started preschool at an English-speaking international school in Chiang Mai. He's only going part-time for now. 

Here is a picture of a common sight in our neighborhood. Our neighbor is giving food (alms) to a local monk in exchange for a sort of blessing. Local monks walk the street receiving alms from people every morning. Alms giving is one of the most common practices in Thai Buddhism for making merit. 

The monk smiling at Josh and the kids on their bikes. 

Just a little girl and her daddy.

Colby on his new strider bike that he got for Christmas. We put it in our checked luggage to bring to Thailand. 

Hailey on the local playground. 

Josh has been busy at the office with Media stuff and getting oriented to another new role he will be taking on for visa purposes. Honestly his new role with GHNI hasn't really gotten rolling yet, but next month he will be traveling to Indonesia for meetings about both media stuff and GHNI. A lot of people asked how much Josh would be traveling with his new role. Well it's going to look different every month, but for the month of March he will be gone 10 out of 31 days. And then in April and May he might not travel at all....partially because we are having our baby on May 9th and have requested to not travel close to the birth on either end.

Josh is working on a newsletter which will have a lot more details about the work he has been doing. Hopefully we will get that out soon.

GHNI TCD Water Project, Indonesia

As we've been meeting with people we've often shared a story about a village in Indonesia that lacked enough clean water through the dry season. Josh visited the village last year and we recently found this video about the water project in that village. It shows some of the locals and how they worked together to build a cistern at each house in the village so now they all have clean water year round. GHNI continues to work on other projects in the village. Additionally, some of the villagers are now teaching people in the neighboring village how to build the same cisterns at their homes. Enjoy!







We now have 93% of our monthly support pledged and 99% of our one time support. We are so excited to get back to southeast Asia to be a part of more projects like this one.

A Glimpse into our Role with GHNI

As of late, we have not talked much on the blog about our new role with Global Hope Network International. There are a few reasons for this, but to put it most simply I feel confused about what I can say about our work with this organization.

I wrote a couple blog posts, to which Josh promptly said "you can't say that" or "you need to say that differently." I deleted them roughly 5 minutes after posting them. I felt so flustered and confused about what I was allowed to say that I decided to say pretty much nothing at all and keep the blog mostly personal. I know that this blog is the only way some people hear from us though so I feel bad about that. 

That being said, I still haven't exactly figured out what is appropriate to share on this oh-so-public blog. So if you read this, and are thinking, "wow it's weird that they don't talk much about their work with GHNI, I wonder what they are actually doing." then please e-mail me. Our private newsletters contain much more of the exciting information. And if you really want to know the gritty details we could also meet up, which is what we have been doing with a lot of people. 

A few things I can share here: we will be living in Chiang Mai, Thailand and working full-time for Global Hope Network International. You can read all about certain aspects of the work on their website (link on the right side of the page).

We are really excited about this work. Over the past eight years we have traveled to more than 35 countries (I have lost count) and been to many remote locations working with people in need. We are so thankful that we had the opportunity to do that work but were sad to leave villages behind in dire conditions. In some cases, the chief of the village would actually give us a tour and tell us what some of their physical needs were- usually along the lines of "we need a doctor, or a medical facility", or "we don't have enough clean water." Children wore tattered clothes or no clothes at all and were visibly malnourished or sick in many cases. Even though we know we brought one good thing to their village (purposefully vague here), it was hard, especially after I became a mother, to leave a village behind knowing that their children were still dying of preventable diseases. 

We have just been visitors in their villages, but we got a little taste of what life is like for them. We have mastered the art of the "bucket bath". We've made the choice in some cases between whether flushing the toilet or taking a bath was more critical that day. We've eaten via candlelight under a mosquito net....not by choice, more than once.  We've had rats bigger than Josh's tennis shoe in our hotel room. We've eaten monkeys, snakes, camels, rats, pigeons, horse intestines, and some food that we may never know what it was. We are familiar with all the major anti-malarial medications because we had to be. We've had dengue fever, intestinal parasites, and severe food poisoning. We've received threats and been told we have to stop the work we are doing, and continued anyways. We've been robbed, cheated, and begged upon. And I am not complaining. It has been a privilege to serve in this way (though I don't always have that attitude in the moment). But I'm thankful that most of these are not everyday realities for us. We have lived comfortable lives- both in Illinois, Florida, and Thailand. 

The people we visit on the other hand....they have no other choice in many cases. They live in remote areas, and are uncared for by the governments and majority groups in their own countries. These are the people we want to help. These are the people Global Hope Network International is helping. Their slogan is "bringing help and HOPE to the hidden and hurting." And they mean it. We're so excited to work alongside the amazing people we have met so far. Transformational Community Development is all about empowering the people in impoverished remote villages, to lift themselves out of poverty through sustainable means.  Yes it is possible and not as hard as you might think...or maybe much harder than you might think! But it is happening, lives and communities are changing! 

And we're so thankful for the people partnering with us and investing in this work. We have 69% of our monthly support pledged at this point (keep checking back as I've been keeping the sidebar updated). We're still hopeful that we might return to Chiang Mai January 15, but it's looking less likely. When we think about it realistically, February 15 is looking to be more feasible from a human perspective. Still we know anything is possible. 

So far our experience with Global Hope Network is limited to a couple of trips but here is a picture of some of the amazing people we get to work alongside of. 

Below is what public transport looks like in a village Josh went to last year for a GHNI training. 

And here are some of the community members who went through GHNI's training program in that village with their trainers. 

Life as a Bystander in a Country in Turmoil

We are on the eve of a controversial election here in Thailand.  If you have been following the political scene in this country for the last decade (or perhaps century) you know that this is nothing new.  Nineteen coups since becoming a constitutional monarchy.  For most Americans, the idea of a coup is quite foreign.  A U.S. President has never been forcefully removed from office (assassination aside...) and replaced by another, un-elected official.  Here, it happens once or twice every ten years.  The last iteration was in 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra was removed from office by the military, and charged with corruption.  He is still living in exile, but his sister is now the current Prime Minister.

The current crisis still revolves around the class feud that led to the 2006 coup.  Thaksin built his political machine around policies that beneftted rural areas, gaining him large amounts of support among the poorer regions of the country.  The middle class and urban elite in Bangkok resented his policies, as they bore the brunt of the financial burden.   He also represented a threatening shift in the traditional power base.  I'm not going to go into more detail regarding the past seven years.  There is plenty of information out there about the aftermath of the coup, and the events that have brought us to the current standoff.  The recent protests were sparked by an attempted amnesty bill, which would have forgiven criminal charges against every politician in the last eight years, Thaksin included.  It was a seemingly blatant attempt to allow Thaksin's return, and his political opponents were infuriated, sparking months of protests in the streets.  The opposition party resigned, crippling the government and effectively forcing the current Prime Minister to resign or call new elections.

So here we are...the election is tomorrow and the two sides are growing increasingly violent.  The anti-government protesters are blockading polling sites in an attempt to sabotage the election.  If they can prevent enough people from voting, there may not be the quorum of elected officials needed to form a new government.  The pro-government forces wish to exercise their right to vote, and keep the current government in power.  Gun skirmishes and bombings are being reported in Bangkok regularly.

As foreigners, we obviously have no vote.  We are also legally barred from participating in any political activity.  I can sympathize with both sides to a limited extent.  The protesters feel that the current government is ruining their country by spending billions of borrowed baht on policies they feel exist only to cement their grasp on power.  They also feel powerless to stop the political machine that has seemingly "purchased" millions of votes with government funds.  On the other side, if we were in the United States I could not imagine supporting a group that was trying to sabotage a democratic election.  Mostly though, it seems that this is a power struggle at the highest levels and in the end, none of the players really care about the people that are affected.

Today we celebrated Hailey's 1st birthday with many of our close friends here.  It was a lot of fun, even if baby birthday parties are short lived.  One by one, we watched as parents made their exodus with wailing children as the sugar overload and skipped naps took their toll.  Later, after our children graciously napped, we went to mall where we found a huge Hot Wheels track, live ponies walking around in an indoor pen, and an empty stage with blaring music for Colby to dance on.  It was a really fun day.  Near the end of our time at the mall, I wondered what tomorrow would bring.  I never had thoughts like that before we moved here.  Most of the time, back home, it is easy to take normalcy for granted.  Things certainly do change, but it tends to happen at a slower pace.  We really don't know if this current crisis will be resolved peacefully.  We have heard talk of moving the government to Chiang Mai, splitting the country in two.  Some journalists have hinted at the prospect of civil war, but I think it is mostly fear-mongering.  It seems that a vast majority of the population wants nothing to do with the violence.  At the same time, reconciliation seems a long ways off.

There are many more things I want to say here, but I feel they are best left unsaid.  What it all boils down to, for me, is the human condition.  The Bible says that we are all fallen, and without the redeeming work of Christ in our hearts, we will remain this way.  Our fallen nature manifests itself in various ways, and to me, that is the center of the current struggle here.  Greed, corruption, pride, and fear...driving a country to the brink for what reason?  No good ones come to mind.

All that to say, please join us in lifting up Thailand.

Snapshots of the last Week

1. Remembered dehydration is bad at 2 a.m. one night when I had painful Braxton hicks contractions every 3 minutes for several hours. Packed my hospital bag the next day just to be safe.

2. Took Colby to Myanmar to renew our visas, and took a boat to Laos just for fun. Colby learned to say "boat" and has been obsessed with boats ever since.

3. Dr. Weissbluth (author of Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child) saved us again with his advice for Colby's sleep issues: "When returning a child to his crib, be silent and unemotional. Don't talk to or look at the child's face. Appear mechanical and uninterested". Sometimes I don't realize that any attention is viewed as a reward/positive reinforcement in Colby's eyes. This worked on the first try! Update....it worked yesterday but not today....still trying to get to the bottom of this.

4. Visited the Hall of Opium (or should I say "chased Colby through the Hall of Opium?")

5. Made a LOT of cookies- 90 peanut butter blossoms, 60 sugar cookies, and dipped over 100 pretzels in chocolate.

6. Discovered a great kid's toy website and ordered Colby a sandbox with Christmas money from his grandparents. It arrived today- only two days after ordering it and on a Sunday!

7. Skipped a staff Christmas party as one of the host's kids had whooping cough- which is pretty deadly for newborns. We decided it was not worth the risk.

8. Attended my first cookie exchange and even won Best Tasting Cookie (who doesn't love peanut butter blossoms?)

9. Attended another fun Christmas party. In the gift exchange I took home a small Christmas tree and Josh got stuck with SPAM. Awesome.

10. Slept HORRIBLY for 4 out of 7 nights.....from a combination of restless legs, braxton hicks, colby screaming, and possibly a christmas cookie sugar buzz