Thai Traditional Costumes

Last month, We held a program restricted to Thai students in Grade 5. Before the day when they all wore them, I was unaware that they would be donning their traditional garb. I enjoyed seeing them and how ecstatic they were to wear their national attire. Their pride in being Thai was evident from the expressions on their faces.

Thailand always promotes and dresses in traditional garb to the best of their ability, and this is something I admire about them. Every day, they dressed professionally in places like schools, offices, government institutions, and other areas aside from hospitals.

I wish the Philippines had to go through with it as well. When visiting almost all Southeast Asia nations, including Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Cambodia, people always dress according to their cultural traditions, which defines who they are and allows you to identify them as being from that nation. Western culture has already influenced the Philippines, and we constantly look to it as the ideal to imitate rather than sticking to our own. The Philippines has allegedly already lost its true Filipino identity.

And as a teacher working abroad, this made me depressed. I left Thailand in November 2009 to work in Europe and Cambodia for almost four years in an effort to find a better opportunity before deciding to return to Thailand.

Anyway, these are the photographs that I took during the program with my Grade 5 students.

I Miss My Former Students - Part 2

Seven years have passed since I severed ties with the last international school where I served as a teacher. Even though life can seem monotonous at times, I still vividly remember my former students. Looking at the school's website, I couldn't help but wonder how my former Grade 5 students had changed from what they were into teenagers.

I still communicate with some of their parents, but I secretly hope that one day I will be able to meet them face to face. Their development into the kind of bright, capable students they are today made me even more proud of them.

Though leaving the school wasn't exactly a peaceful goodbye, I had already moved on and forgave those who had wronged me in an unbalanced, unchristian manner.

There were numerous times when former colleagues and coworkers asked me to visit them, but I declined because I felt uneasy seeing them and even the others there, as well as because the Lord Himself did not command me to. It would be my preference if the good Lord opened the way to the school according to His will instead of mine.

I Miss My Former Students!

Every day of the year is a hectic time for teachers as they complete lesson plans, grade papers, attend meetings, and more. There is a part of us that will miss our pupils for both small and large reasons, even though we are "teacher fatigued" after all of these demanding school duties. My former students from the previous international school I worked with made me miss them because of this. Due to my attachment to them and my awareness of how quickly they were growing up and becoming young adults, I was overcome with emotion as I looked at the images. One of my favorite aspects of teaching is hearing the hilarious things students say and do every day—the kinds of stuff you just can't make up. I hope to see them one day and hear from them again.

I'll miss watching them develop. There is nothing better than watching our kids truly "understand" something after a full academic year with them, whether it is long division, identifying the subject, or paragraph writing. Knowing that I contributed to their development gives me a great deal of satisfaction.

I will miss their enthusiasm. It makes me pleased when my students genuinely enjoy learning and are engaged in every activity we undertake. As a teacher, it is my mission to always find ways to make learning enjoyable.

The bonds I formed with each pupil will be missed. By the time the school year is over, I will genuinely miss my students since I have grown quite close to them. Every year (most years, at least), I get the impression that I'll never get to know and love a new class as I did the previous one. Nevertheless, the reality is that when a new year begins, new connections are forged, and the magic happens once more.

The final thing is that I'll miss watching them develop. Similar to planting seeds, teaching entails observing young plant growth but hardly ever mature plants. I'm always interested in the progress and outcomes of "my pupils." One of the most rewarding experiences for a teacher is to hear from a former pupil who left the classroom years ago how much they enjoyed it, how much it meant to them, and how much they remembered about what you did in class. Although the end of the year is always chaotic, I know that on the last day of school, when the walls are empty and the desks are empty, and I'm saying my goodbyes, I'll miss my children for all of these reasons and many more.

Virtual High School Mini Reunion

One of the events that many alumni look forward to the most is the class reunion. The opportunity to finally catch up with old friends after so many years will be present during the most treasured occasions of their formative years.

Although the pandemic is still present, my high school classmates decided to get together for a small gathering, especially since one of my classmates had recently returned from Japan to celebrate her birthday while also inviting the rest of our section.

Since some of us are based presently abroad, the decision to have a virtual meeting while the rest are personally convening in the Philippines. With the aid of this technology, we were able to observe the celebration while also mingling.

The joy we felt that day was gigantic as we were in high school days. We're looking forward to having another gathering with the hope the whole part of our section would be able to come and indeed those overseas like me could go home and be at the get-together one day.