In the morning there was the opportunity to pay merit to monks. I was not aware that monks are only able to eat what is given to them. There was a line and we went through and gave them all offerings - which was what we would want in our next life. Funny how much candy and junk food these monks will be eating!
The 9 monks were up on stage saying their chants and prayers. They had chairs set up facing the stage for teachers to sit in. While I had no idea what was being said, there is something calming and relaxing with the cadence and repetition of their chanting.
In Thailand the middle school/high school age group is called Mathayom. I teach M1 - M3. Which would be 7th, 8th and 9th graders in the states. The students are broken up into classes within their grade. For M1 there are 14 classes. I teach the M 1/14 students.
The Wai Khru ceremony was held in the hall. The day started with M1 and went thru to M6. I am essentially the class sponsor for M1 (and they hold an extra special place in my heart) so I decided to attend their time slot. In true Thai fashion, it didn't start at 8, but more like 8:30. Another English teacher and I attended together. She is also a first year teacher, so we had no idea what was going on! We joked that we could be following these teachers off a cliff and we'd have no idea!
They told us we would be part of the ceremony and ushered us to the back of the hall. My students were back there and got so excited when they saw I was attending their ceremony! While we were back there waiting for the ceremony to start, I witnessed more selfies being taken than I ever have in my life...by the teachers. I'm sure I have appeared more on Facebook than I will ever know!
Once no more selfies could be taken and the director was ready to start, we walked into the hall. All the students were standing and in a deep wai (a bow - which is a sign of respect) and had formed an aisle for us to walk down. We walked up on the stage and were seated. The director walked over to the Buddha statue and paid respects to the Buddha.
There was a lot of singing and talking in Thai. Then each class had two representatives that walked their phan (or what I could call a topiary) to the stage and presented it to the teachers. They got on their knees and handed over than then bowed and the teachers in the front said something to them (I both couldn't hear and wouldn't have been able to understand).
After the presentation of the phan, the director went down and handed out awards to two students from each class. What I noticed that after the awards were given and the students were back seated, they held their awards on display basically. I am pretty sure in the states, we would have just held on to the award any which way or probably even laid it down on the ground!
The director spoke and gave the awards out for the best phan. That was fun to watch their reactions and their class was announced the winner. After that, a group of students came up and sang a song. Then the ceremony was over. Well, there was more picture taking of the teachers as a group. Then the ceremony was over.
It was special to be a part of, to see the excitement and pride the students took in making their phans, and the respect they showed the teachers. I will say, I feel for the director of our school...sitting through a full day of the same ceremony 6 times would get a little ummmm boring possibly!
The Wai Khru ceremony was held in the hall. The day started with M1 and went thru to M6. I am essentially the class sponsor for M1 (and they hold an extra special place in my heart) so I decided to attend their time slot. In true Thai fashion, it didn't start at 8, but more like 8:30. Another English teacher and I attended together. She is also a first year teacher, so we had no idea what was going on! We joked that we could be following these teachers off a cliff and we'd have no idea!
They told us we would be part of the ceremony and ushered us to the back of the hall. My students were back there and got so excited when they saw I was attending their ceremony! While we were back there waiting for the ceremony to start, I witnessed more selfies being taken than I ever have in my life...by the teachers. I'm sure I have appeared more on Facebook than I will ever know!
Once no more selfies could be taken and the director was ready to start, we walked into the hall. All the students were standing and in a deep wai (a bow - which is a sign of respect) and had formed an aisle for us to walk down. We walked up on the stage and were seated. The director walked over to the Buddha statue and paid respects to the Buddha.
There was a lot of singing and talking in Thai. Then each class had two representatives that walked their phan (or what I could call a topiary) to the stage and presented it to the teachers. They got on their knees and handed over than then bowed and the teachers in the front said something to them (I both couldn't hear and wouldn't have been able to understand).
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| This class did a boy and a girl and hands in the wait position. Creative! |
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| The two representatives from my class |
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| So boy 2nd to the end wasn't in perfect form! |
The director spoke and gave the awards out for the best phan. That was fun to watch their reactions and their class was announced the winner. After that, a group of students came up and sang a song. Then the ceremony was over. Well, there was more picture taking of the teachers as a group. Then the ceremony was over.
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