Another Holiday

Yesterday was Coronation Day or something like that and so we had yet another day off work. The Christian Endeavor group had a retreat planned and of course I was invited to attend. I knew it would be a bit awkward because it would be all in Thai, so I brought a book along.

We left in one of Payap's "World War II" buses. I wasn't exactly sure where we were going. According to Jew it was some sort of camp, part of a national park but a business. This didn't make much sense to me but I assumed it would be sort of wilderness-like. Of course it wasn't at all like that. It was more like a resort.

It was much what you'd expect for a faith-based retreat. There were some presentations and scripture readings and worship songs. Most of these involved hand motions. In Thailand, it's okay to do things that might be thought of as silly or childish. The whole point is "sanook" or fun. The basic idea is that if you're going to do something, you may as well have a bit of a lark doing it. I think there's actually a lot to be said for that, but I do feel a bit ridiculous sometimes. I mean, when's the last time you sang a song with hand motions when there wasn't a child around?

While I mostly sat in the corner and read, I was able to talk with a few of the students during breaks and at lunch. They were pretty excited to have me around and quite eager to practice their English. During lunch, one student peppered me with questions which I did my best to answer while eating my food. When she finally slacked off, I focused on eating my lunch. But after a few moments of silence she turned to me and said "you haven't asked me any questions yet." :-D

Thai students (and people in general) are also very affectionate. While boy-girl touching of any kind is pretty taboo in public, girls often hold hands and hug. This means that I am occasionally the recipient of unsolicited hand-holding and the like. I tolerate it, but for some reason it seriously wigs me out. I have a pretty big personal space bubble.

The most notable thing about the day was that after the usual discussion and activities, we were taken on a "tour" of the resort, which was also a sort of garden/zoo thing. Let me explain. The main feature of this place was that most of bushes were sculpted to look like animals. so there were elephant bushes, gorilla bushes, bird bushes, even some dinosaur bushes and a sea monster bush. They were actually pretty impressive. The students got unbelievably excited about it all. I couldn't believe how much they screamed. And that was before we got to the actual live animals. somehow there was a sort of miniature zoo that contained various birds and some camels. I was pretty mystified by the whole thing, but in Thailand it's best to just go with the flow.

I've had a few more students come to my room for help, which has been good and gives me the chance to blog a little bit about cultural differences and education. Namely: plagiarism. You see, the concept of an idea as private property is a bit foreign to some cultures, which means understanding of plagiarism is limited. The students who came to me were prepping for an English presentation. One of the presentations I looked over was mostly copied off of the internet. I didn't quite know how to approach the problem. I mean, you could say that I ought to lecture them about academic honesty and doing their own work, but communicating successfully on the most basic level is often a struggle. And honestly the problem is so widespread that I'm not sure it would do any good, even if I did get the message across. In their defense, the books they have and the assignments they're given are way above their level. They have to turn in something. As a tutor, my policy thus far has been to simply choose my battles and try and capitalize on any learning opportunities. If I can make it so they're actually learning something instead of just regurgitating something they found on the web, then I figure I've done my bit. It would help if I could be confident that the professors were actively enforcing, or even introducing, policies against plagiarism, but I'm doubtful. To be honest, I don't know what to do. This is something that obviously needs to change, but when it's apparent they've been getting away with it for quite some time and when the problems go deeper than laziness or dishonesty it makes me feel as though there's not much I can do, at least for these guys, especially as it's mid-term. But perhaps at the beginning of next semester I'll be able to lecture on it or something.

Another student who came to me hadn't exactly plagiarized, but she had simply written her presentation in Thai and then put it through an online translator. It made zero sense. In this case, as with most of the handful of students I've seen so far, I felt that the student assumed I would be her easy ticket out. I would simply fix all the problems and she wouldn't have to do a thing. But while I may shrink away from confronting a student about taking portions of their work off the web, my conscience stops dead at the thought of virtually authoring these students' assignments. It's agonizing, but I don't allow myself to spoon feed them any vocabulary. I do help with spelling, but mostly it's a long slow process of "explain to me what you want to say." I then have to decide how much to fix their grammar and how much to leave alone. Okay, I do occasionally supply them with a word when I feel they've done their best to explain the meaning they want, if only because it's faster than having them look it up in a dictionary, although I'm considering forcing them to do this to. This would be more possible (and things would all be much easier in general) if I knew more Thai but that can't be helped. Basically, I do the best I can and I'm working through the ethical issues. If anyone has ideas, I'm open to suggestions. And if the Higher Education Police want to take it up with me, well, I'd like to see them in my place.

But despite the challenges, I'm really starting to establish myself here. I've got a feel for how I can fit in, or at least cope, with life in this culture. This isn't to say I'm completely comfortable. I certainly couldn't move here indefinitely. But I think I might be able to handle a few more months.