Christmas in a Thai School & New Year in Thailand
Guest Author: Michael Chen | Math and English Teacher
Christmas and New Year in Lampang, Thailand
Christmas in a Thai School
HO HO HO! Merry Christmas and Happy 2020 from Lampang, Thailand! It's that time of year again when schools in Thailand gather all their students and teachers to participate in Christmas activities hosted by the English Department.
Students typically celebrate Christmas by wearing everything from Santa hats to reindeer antlers and even elf costumes. Though, you think it is strange that a predominantly Buddhist country celebrates a Christian holiday. Let's take a moment to understand how the mixture of two cultures intertwines rather than a mixture of two different religions.
From what I have gathered after living here for a while, the younger generation here in Thailand looks up to western culture regarding style, behavior, and traditions. It's fair to say that Christmas is a time of year in western societies primarily celebrated by the masses.
As November and December roll around, traditions associated with Christmas exist all over social media, within the marketing of products, highlighted in TV programs, and exist all over several different public platforms.
With the digital age so prevalent today, people worldwide have new insights from other parts of the world. As a result, Christmas's visual and cultural aspect has slowly integrated themselves here in Thailand.
On the contrary, what lacks is the understanding of what Christmas is. Schools, banks, government buildings, department stores, and even people's homes all over Thailand will put up Christmas decorations.
However, I will ask one of my students' questions such as: "what is the name of Santa's reindeer with the red nose?" Most people in western societies would quickly answer, "Rudolph!" Though, here in Thailand, I get an uncomfortably blank stare with a long "uhhhhh." The Christmas knowledge we, children originating from western culture, obtained throughout the younger parts of our lives is lacking here.
That is where foreign teachers play an essential role in. Our job isn't just to teach English, boost students' confidence, and play games. One of the most critical roles is the ambassador of our culture.
By being effective ambassadors, we are responsible for holistically sharing our culture with equal representation, though we have the obligatory role of respecting Thai culture in return. If we fail to follow this condition, how can we accept people from different cultures to accept something from another culture if we don't respect their own?
I walk into class every day with a huge responsibility: not only sharing my culture with equal representation but also representing Thai culture as a citizen of Thailand. I am presiding in Thailand to fulfill a role, and that is something that should not be taken lightly.
Christmas Activities
I am lucky to teach at Lampang Kanlayanee School--a distinguished school in the heart of Lampang City. The students that attend my school are hard-working, knowledgeable, and motivated to learn. The students, teachers, and community are great here; I am thrilled to share that I wake up at 6 AM every day excited to go to school.
This Christmas celebration was the biggest celebration on record. In years past, there were few activities. Some teachers dressed up as Santa, threw some candy to students, and some decorations around the school.
This year, it was a whole-day event. It was broken up into two parts:
Activities at the morning assembly
Activities throughout the day.
We did the usual routine of the National Anthem, Buddhist prayers, and Lampang Kalayanee's school song at the morning assembly. Afterwards, it was my time to shine: Santa Clause. My role was to share the story of Christmas and then ask for some trivia to go along with it. I presented a short version of the birth of baby Jesus.
Afterward, the other foreign teachers asked simple trivia questions such as, "who were the first people to meet baby Jesus?" and "What appeared in the sky right after Jesus was born?" The students were so excited to answer the questions; they came running up full of excitement to answer the questions, and, as a result, they got a nice tote bag from the English Department.
For the last question, Teacher Kaleigh threw a curveball of a question and asked the students, "Who was the father of baby Jesus?" A student quickly ran up to the stage full of confidence and shared his answer… "JOSEPH!"
He was so confident that I had to tell him his response was incorrect calmly. Then, I whispered in his ear, "the father of Jesus is God." He was genuinely confused. After a few moments, I convinced him of the answer, and he answered the question correctly. Probably the highlight of the morning!
Next up were student performances. It was adorable!
Next the Teachers’ performed a choreographed dance.
To sum up, the morning assembly and the rest of the English foreign staff ran around the field throwing out candy. They went nuts over it.
After the morning Assembly, we had our main Christmas activity. The activity was divided into three sections:
The Opening Ceremony
Foreign Teachers' activities
Cover Dance Competition.
For the opening ceremony, the Director of Lampang Kanlayanee School, Director Nirundon, made his remarks to the student body. After he was finished, he cut the ribbon to symbolize the start of Christmas at Lampang Kanlayanee School.
Next, it was my turn to take the stage. Differently from the morning assembly, I talked about the traditions of Christmas that we do in my family and traditions that are popular amongst many families from western culture. I shared popular traditions such as making hot chocolate, ice skating, walking down a street with houses lit up, cutting down your Christmas tree, baking delicious cookies, and volunteering to help the community.
Then, it was the foreign teachers' time to shine with each activity.
Teacher Adam's-Reindeer Games
In these games, Teacher Adams had two games. One game was to pin the nose on the reindeer, and the other was to throw a ring on the reindeer antlers. The game consisted of pure joy and enthusiasm from the students. It was fun, and the students enjoyed it thoroughly.
Teacher Samuel-Santa Says
A Christmas knock-off of "Simon Says" but with a Christmas theme. In this game, Teacher Samuel dressed up as Santa and instructed the students with specific movements with the phrase, "Santa says ..." The students seem to enjoy this activity.
Teacher Kaleigh-Christmas Arts and Crafts
Teacher Kaleigh instructed students to make a small beanie out of yarn in this activity. This was an excellent activity for students to practice their listening skills. This activity was quite adorable to watch the students put effort into something and see their hard work turn into a beautiful creation they can either keep or give as a present. This was a simple enough activity that someone who does not consider themselves "artsy" could accomplish with great success.
Teacher Adam Santiago-Letters to Santa
Teacher Adam helped guide students with basic letter writing. He taught them the western tradition of writing letters to Santa. Great practice for students to improve their writing skills.
Teacher Michael-Blindfold Mania
I did a fun activity inspired by Ellen DeGeneres. This game starts with five students. Each student is blindfolded and enters a square. When I start the music, the students must dance. When the music stops, they have to find the chair while blindfolded.
Once the students find a chair, they must answer a fundamental Christmas question. They could move on to the next round if they get the answer correct. If they responded to the question incorrectly, they would have to leave the game.
The last person standing wins the game. This was a fun game to celebrate the fun part of Christmas while also teaching them knowledge about Christmas they may or may not know.
After some time, we concluded our games and transformed into the cover dance competition. It was fun to watch these students show off their talents.
However, this is where Christmas takes a hard left turn away from a traditional western Christmas. It is their chance to integrate something meaningful into their culture: cover dance.
In summary, Christmas was fun and craziness, but the boy was exhausted as a teacher. It required a lot of energy, though it is evident that the students enjoyed the activities.
I hope this Christmas celebration demonstrated something new to students they didn't know beforehand. Ultimately, it was a successful event because the students, teachers, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
New Year Activities
For my five-day vacation, I participated in a charity run in the northern district of Mueang Pan, which is still in Lampang. Many students attending Lampang Kanlayanee School live in rural areas like Mueang Pan; supporting a place where many of my students reside was fun.
My original plan was to travel up Saturday, December 28th, run on the morning of December 29th, and then head back home. That is not what happened. Instead, I was invited to Muang Pan Wittiya's (host of the charity run) after-party on Sunday night.
So, I decided to stay another night. This allowed me some time to check out the adorable town of Mae Chaem (แม่แจ๋ม). They are known for their coffee, purple sweet potatoes, macadamia nuts, tea, and strawberries.
It was a beautiful ride up through the mountains. I was venturing around all alone when suddenly, I ran into one of my students. I was invited to join them for the day. We rented bicycles and biked around the small town.
Then, on Monday, December 30th, a few students, Namwan, and Fai, texted me and asked if I wanted to check out their village. We went to her local temple, Wat Phra That Chom Koi (วัดพระธาตุจอมก้อย), to see a Buddha entirely made out of bamboo, had delicious Khao Soi (Curry noodle soup northern style), and checked out a secret hidden waterfall (Mae Khong Pin). Had such a blast this break. Such good vibes entering 2020.
Relevant
Go to kidsenglishthailand.org/teacher-training-program-thailand to read about Meaningful Work and Travel Teaching Positions starting in May 2023 with teacher training in April 2023.
Go to kidsenglishthailand.org/blog/the-thai-school-calendar to read about the school year in Thailand and how it is different from most other countries.
Go to https://kidsenglishthailand.org/blog/the-complete-guide-to-the-thai-alphabet to read a detailed guide to the Thai language, the Thai alphabet, and some useful Thai words and numbers.
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