IB, an intro.

Concordian is an IB school, and I realized today that I've been saying that but not explaining it.  So, here's my quick intro to the world of IB.

IB, or the International Baccalaureate Program, is a challenging one.  It focuses on inquiry, on the whole child, on morals and academic honesty, and it is above all driven by student motivation.  It is incredibly rigorous, with culminating projects in MYP and DP.

Ah, the acronyms.  Let me break it down a bit.
EYP - Early Years Programme - nursery grades, preschool, kindergarten.
PYP - Primary Years Programme - Grades 1-5
MYP - Middle Years Programme - Grades 6-10
DP - Diploma Programme - Grades 11 and 12.

I'll be working mostly with MYP and DP, focusing on research skills for the age group.  I envision myself helping students with their projects and teaching classes on research skills and academic honesty.  My position is brand new to the school; they've gone before having just one librarian focusing on PYP and the younger years, and I know that my presence is helpful to Erin, the current PYP librarian.

MYP and DP both have very intense projects associated with their level.  MYP has a personal project that involves inquiry, research, community service and presentation.  The year before they work on this project, there is an exhibition, which I imagine as similar to a science fair with other subjects involved.  This personal project, with all its work, really strives to be student centered and directed.  Teachers are not allowed to be too involved, just to give support as necessary.

In fact, in the DP final project, teachers need to calculate the number of hours they work on a project with a student in order to ensure that they are not giving too much support to students or doing their work.  DP's final project is an extended essay.  It is a 4,000 word, very detailed work, answering a very specific question with a body of research.  It is incredibly detailed, and gets sent out to DP examiners across the world to be assessed.

I like IB for the rigor.  I like that it focuses not on standardized knowledge, but making connections between the world.  All of the curriculum is linked, so skills and concepts talked about in science have a place in humanities as well.  That way, a student has a well rounded bit of knowledge and awareness of how everything is connected and their behavior can impact another's.  It is challenging, and pushes kids to be better people.  It also utilizes critical thinking and inquiry, or searching for your own knowledge, to create lifelong learners and stimulate curiosity.  It's a good system, one I think I'd have flourished in if I'd had the opportunity.

My high school was trying a similar thing, though, with Senior Project.  While nowhere as rigorous, it did the same thing.  There was a paper, a project element, community service, and a presentation.  I wonder if that is still being implemented.  It was useful for me, though like I saw at my last school, it can be done quite poorly.  I'm such it frustrates teachers when they see such behavior, as it frustrated me.  Some schools would make a choice to take it away.

I'm eager to see the students and how they react to these sort of challenges.  I suppose I'll find out soon.  The first day of school is Wednesday.

General Update

It has been a week since I've posted.  I do believe that many things have happened, and more things are going to be happening shortly.

On Monday, the 4th, I began orientation with the other new teachers for two days.  I was still living at the hotel/apartment at the time, because my friend had not yet returned from Italy.  We were working on basic introductions to the new curriculum that we are accessing, the culture of the school, general updates about taxes and insurance.

On Wednesday, the 6th, returning teachers began orientation as well.  It was focused more on the school wide plan and goals for the year.  We met in subjects, in grade levels, talking and collaborating with thoughts of the students in mind.  We also had a huge party with champagne and sushi to celebrate the beginning of the year.

Following the party, I was able to move in with Kim, which was very nice.  Rizza is getting along well and I feel so comfortable in the house.  It is gorgeous, full of hardwood and beautifully simple.  The whole house is windows and screens.  I strive to live this simply as well.  There's not even a couch, just some cushions that we can lay on and then put away to look like decoration.  There is art everywhere, pictures, and a small Buddha on a table.  It is a place that I will look at as I decorate my own small home.

Thursday and Friday were more meetings, more food, more happiness.  More learning.  And, of course, in true teacher culture, on Friday afternoon a few of us went out for a glass of wine at a restaurant in Mega Bangna.  It was a delightful time.

This weekend, I'm relaxing, perhaps shopping a bit, and preparing for my big move on Monday.  Well, the leasing agent thinks Tuesday, but I'm really hoping Monday.  I'm very excited to unpack and find my own space.  It will be lovely to find some habits, to settle, to put things on hangers.  I will be able to find some serenity and some calm in my own location and space.  It's been nice to hop around, but I've been travelling and in limbo for so many weeks now that I'm finding it a challenge to buckle down and focus.  I very much want to focus, and I think that having something in my life well settled will be the way.

Onward.

I Know You Are Curious....

.... About the Library.

Side note. I've tried to format this better and it isn't working.  So.

Fish Tank at the entry.

There are actually two libraries.  One is more for the younger kids, and one for the DP programme, grades 11 and 12.

This is a trilingual area, so every section of the library has three colors.  White for English, Yellow for Chinese, and Green for Thai.  There are picture books in these three language, easy readers, regular fiction, and just a large selection of works to choose from.

From the entry way.

It's a pretty large library space, about 14,000 volumes, which is pretty normal for its size and the size of the student population.  It's unfortunate that there isn't really a space for the MYP / middle school kids.  This is a very primary centered library.

There is a ton of support, though, which is great.

There are two full time librarians, myself and Erin.  She's getting her degree in Library Science at the moment and is very in tune with the needs of the school.  She's a huge resource for all the teachers and I hope to follow her example for the other teachers as well.

The little person area, full of picture books.

There is a cataloger, a wonderful Thai woman, and she sits and processes new books all day long.  I'm glad that she likes that, because cataloging isn't really my favorite activity.

Her new husband, who sits right next to her, does a lot of the physical processing of the books, and also helps out with the circulation and reshelving.

Ms. Neng, who is the first person I met, is a Thai Chinese superstar.  She does a lot of translation in Chinese for the books, helping put traditional Chinese into simplified Chinese for the picture books.

Looking towards the older students area.  The upper lever
is all theirs.

There are people in all the time, in fact, helping wrap the books in plastic and just working as they can.

I'm greatly impressed with all this support.  There are some libraries in the states that have just one person, the librarian, trying to get all of these things and all of the work accomplished single-handedly.  Even more, there are librarians who are working on their own in several schools, sometimes a different one each day.  That is absolutely insane, and does nothing to help the children.

View from the back. 

In this school, Erin and I have the freedom to teach classes and work with teachers without having to worry about  whether or not a book is catalogued properly.  Especially in a multi-lingual library like ours, we need competent people to process the books.

Neither Erin nor I speak or write Chinese or Thai, so in this we are not the experts.  The library assistants are able to process the books and give us a few words on Destiny (the library system) to help us understand and search the catalog for more information.  Unfortunately, Destiny does not allow searching in other languages as we may hope.  So, our people are extremely valuable.

Plus side.  There is hot water for tea and coffee at all times.

The DP library for grades 11-12.

The DP library is in a whole different building, just for the older kids.  There are very few things in there too, just some magazines, college searching materials, and a few reference type books for students to browse.  A very nice Filipina woman runs this library and helps out the students.

Our main goal this year in school is to make ourselves a resource for the students, someone to ask for research and reference help at any given moment.  It will be a challenge, but it will be great.

A School Recess

The entryway, first thing you see as you walk
in the school.  There is currently a picture of
HM the queen in celebration of her birthday
this upcoming Tuesday.

Let's take a brief moment to talk about this school for which I work.

This school is positively amazing.

I've gone through the orientation and training here and feel like I grasp the beginnings of the school culture and the main focus of the school.  It was enlightening to listen to Khun Varnnee talk on Monday morning; she is the founder and director of the school, the main person in charge.  She's such an incredible human, and my first impression of her was how put together she was in every way.

She started the school a few years ago, in 2001, because she wanted to create in the next generation a group of students who were intelligent, global, compassionate, and courageous.  She talked about her history.  She was an investment banker, someone who worked with large sums of money on a daily basis.  She was working in this field about the time that bankers made some decisions for themselves and not their customers.  I watched a documentary about this recently, about the housing market and the collapse of everything.  It wasn't a collapse created with just a single decision; it was compounded with a multitude of selfish decisions and bankers thinking about their bottom line before they thought of the customers.  Khun Varnnee worked in this and saw the things taking place, and recognized a need for morality in the schools.  Perhaps if there would have been moral education in the schools of these bankers, after all, this crisis wouldn't have destroyed so much of the economic market.

The gap between one of the old buildings and the newer
wing for the high school students.

And so, Concordian was borne.  It's been quite the journey from what I understand as well, but here are a few fun facts about the school.

It is the only English, Thai, and Chinese IB school in the world, and from what I understand, it is also one of the very few that provides immersion in two languages beyond the native language.

Our school provides more money for professional development than any school in the Asia Pacific region.

We serve about 700 kids with about 150 teachers.

One of the main things we focused on throughout the orientation was the mission statement:

Concordian International School promotes academic excellence while nurturing young people to become moral and intellectual leaders, people of dignity, integrity and compassion, who want to make a difference in the world.

We work with an affluent population, children of men and women in Bangkok that have substantial funds at their disposal.  The moral and intellectual leaders is meant to transform these children into people who won't misuse or abuse power and who will treat others with respect.  There is a huge push in the school to work with service and offer activities that help the students grow as humans.

It's really incredible.

Overlooking the play area and the courtyard between all the
buildings.

What I've gathered as I've worked with the teachers this first week is that the school is incredibly supportive of everything that they do.  The admin mentioned more than a few times how they want to take care of things that are within their control: schedules and the like, so that it doesn't stress out the teachers.  They want teachers to feel confident in their subject area and take every measure to make that happen.  They ensure that teachers are supported in as many ways as possible.  It's been somewhat shocking to feel this much support.  I've felt supported in some schools, sure, but this takes it to a whole new level.  Especially compared to my last school, this is night and day, and it really shows in the faculty.

They work very hard because they feel so valued.

We had a really wonderful welcome party on Wednesday evening, the first night for the returning teachers.  It was a blast, and included many a bottle of Prosecco, wine, sushi, hor d'oeuvres, and a great little slideshow.  I met a ton of cool people.

The guy teaching drama is hilarious, and I think we will get on quite well.  There's a 76-year-old teacher from Spain who has stories from every minute of her life.  I'm eager to know her more.  My fellow librarian is very nice, and I sense that we will work together with maximum efficiency.

All in all, I'm very excited.  This is going to be an excellent place to work.

A Market Kind of Day

This little guy should always be treated with respect.  

After I signed my lease with Khun Gai, he was kind enough to drop me off at the Weekend Market, which was touted to be quite the happening spot for the local villages.  I wanted to get an idea of what local produce and items would be available right down the street instead of trying to rely on the big grocery stores and shopping malls that have become so ubiquitous in BKK.  I'd enjoy browsing through the local market on the weekend and planning my meals based on what I've found.  It has the farmer's market sort of feel to it, which is something I've always admired.  I want to cook, and be able to be creative in the kitchen with more than just flour.

So, to the market I went.  Much of it was clothing, some odd housewares, several prepared food stalls, the usual fare for a small local market.  It was chaotic, and people were moving in every which way.  It immediately reminded me of the markets in Cambodia.  Either way, I was browsing slowly, looking at different stalls, finding my bearings.  I noticed a small shop that seemed to have an odd mash of used dishware.  I saw a Starbucks cup shop.  But what caught my eye was a small shop of Buddhist imagery and icons.

I'm not sure why I felt so compelled to stop; Buddhism was not a huge part of my journey through Cambodia.  I participated in the holidays but felt most in tune with the solitude of the temple as opposed to the statues within in it.  However, I stopped and looked at the fares this man had and was incredibly glad I paused to say hello.

I said the traditional greeting, "Sawadee Ka," with the broad smile I imagine it needs said with.  I was also surprised with the response; the seller spoke quite wonderful English.  I didn't expect that in a small stall that would likely be patronized by Thai people.  I told him I was looking for a token for my friend, which was exactly what had popped into my mind when I saw the stall.

My friend, Lee, is a good friend from Pittsburgh and actually lives with Aaron.  Lee is, in fact, the person I thank when I think about meeting Aaron.  He introduced us and suffered through a few months of both of us asking (him) for dating advice.  I adore Lee; he is a great human.  He also has some of the worst luck I have ever seen in another person.  I attribute some small percentage of this luck to male decision making, but it is also this luck thing.  So, I told him before I left that I would try to find him a charm that could bring some sort of fortune to his life and his car.

So, I acquired for him a small statue of a monk that went on a journey and had some bad luck that he turned around.  The seller was able to give me a brief background, write for me a prayer, and say it a few times so I could write the English phonetics that accompanied it.  And all of that was for such a low priced statue.  I ended up buying a second icon for my own home after he gave me a few suggestions about where to keep the stone and how to treat it.  He was patient with me, answering questions and teaching me about his culture and these things that were important to him.

It will be Halloween every day.

I believe I made the right choice by deciding to live in this village.

Another thing I found as I walked near the market was a pet store that sold cheap pet clothing.  Which Rizza will absolutely hate very, very quickly.  I'll be sure to update you on this.

I went into the main town center after I left Sammakorn, the name of this village.  I walked around some of the main city centers and found myself even more happy that I chose to live where I did.  The hussle was a hassle and I'm glad I'm far away from it... near a calm lake and a quiet street and a pleasant market.

Kop. Yes, Kop.

I officially have an address.

Granted, I have an address before I have a house, but at least progress is being made.

I signed the lease with the man who showed me the house; his name is Gai and he is a phenomenally nice human.  He's an older gentleman who works with the man who owns and rents many of the houses in the village in which I will live.  For signing, I turned up at a small grocery store and we had some coffee while we discussed the details of the paper that he set in front of me.  I scribbled my name on a few papers and watched him fill out the details, and then we went off towards a copy place.  We also stopped briefly at the owner's home and I was struck at his sincerity and genuine kindness.

This leads me to the main observation I had of Mr. Gai.  In fact, I'll call him Khun Gai, since that is a typical title of respect for both genders.  He called me this whenever he wanted to talk to me, and called any other person this when speaking of them as well.

Mr. Gai is one of the most polite people I've ever had the fortune to meet.  It is in every fiber of his demeanor and his speech, and something that I respect more than many other character traits.  It shows in his use of the word "kop," which is the male version of yes and something that can easily end every sentence more effectively than punctuation.  I suppose it is also something of a space filler in speech as well, but it is such a polite and respectful part of speech.  For women, it is "ka."  For example, when I say thank you, I say 'ka pun ka.'  Good morning is 'sawadee ka.'

For Gai, the kop infiltrates every other word of his sentences, and I find it extremely charming.  He says to me, "Yes, kop, this is the right way, kop."  "Well, kop, I think that you, kop, can do that of course, kop."  These are example sentences, but hopefully I am conveying the kop consistency in Khun Gai's speech.  I think there is a difference in his generation and the younger one, though I will need to observe many more things before I see this with clarity.  My small sample size only includes Khun Gai and another man called Somchai that showed me through a few other houses in the city.  The younger counterpart didn't use the kop with consistency, though he was very sweet and quite nice and knowledgeable about the areas.

It is one of those language quirks that I will continue to watch and learn from.  For now, though, I'll end by saying how pleasant it was to interact with Khun Gai and watch the time fall away as we dealt with the business of becoming a renter in Bangkok.

It's still hard for me to believe that I live in Bangkok, but that's more for another post.

Oh My God, Shoes.

Something magical happened today.

The school offered a trip to the Ikea and Mega-Bangna complex for the new teachers, as a way for them to get the things that they need as they begin to set up their house.  I decided to go along, mostly out of curiosity and a desire to survey the things available at Ikea.  I'd only ever been to the Ikea in Pittsburgh, which I'm certain is a fraction of the size of this one.  It could be one of the biggest malls I've ever been in... second to the mall complexes at Siam Center in the middle of town.

The store I didn't expect to see.

So, I took the taxi to the school, got the bus, and found my way into the mall with a few of the other teachers.  We stopped for a bit of chow in the international food house.  I had some Chicken Korma, from a nice little stall with some very nice Indian men.  And then, I went off in search of the wonders of the mall.  I walked around, briefly glancing at the store names and just looking around.  I got distracted by lego sets for a moment, glanced at the price of a Jansport backpack, browsed through the pharmacy for a certain hair product, and then.... there it was...

A Payless Shoe Source.

Boat Sized Shoes Sold Here.

You may need some background to fully understand the weight of this blog.  I lived in Cambodia for four solid years, and the only shoes I bought were flimsy flip flop pieces of plastic that cost mere pennies.  It was useful, considering I lived in flip flops almost, no all the time.  And the flats that I acquired, or other fancier sandals, were all from home, usually from this store.  I have what my mother calls "canoe feet."  They are size 11. Massive.  Which, actually, is why I couldn't ever find shoes in Cambodia.

Petite Asian women don't typically have feet the size of watercraft.  

This, it turns out, is going to be an advantage for me here though.  I was looking about in this store, trying on some shoes, for the better part of twenty minutes.  The mall was packed, the store had plenty of traffic.  But this aisle?  This aisle.... was empty.  Well, there was one other girl there, but given her outfit and the things she was doing, I'm guessing she worked there.  She shot me a sideways glance when I first walked over to the far side of the store looking for that magical 11 and exclaimed in joy when I found it.

I tried on some pairs but didn't end up buying anything.  I don't need any shoes and none were too good to pass up.  I was drifting through the stores feeling much too overwhelmed at the size of the complex that I was in.  I'm also constantly reminding myself of the goals that I have in place; saving money and not accumulating unnecessary things are both key factors for my life here.

It was an interesting experience, though, to go through the Ikea and look at the various goods and how they were being perceived by the Thai folk.  I personally considered everything there to be a bit pricey, but that's coming from a few years of thrift and Craigslist shopping.

But, still, there I was... walking through the Ikea maze finding awesome house thing after awesome house thing, the solutions for problems I didn't know I had (and no solution for the one problem I'm still considering).  I acquired a few things that I enjoyed immensely back home.  A cool dish rack.  An Ikea box, bright blue.  Two magazine files, hot pink.  Two pencil cups, also hot pink.  Tupperware set.  Lint roller.  All pretty reasonable purchases, in my opinion.  Plus I found some lady products and a Thai phrase book in others stores.

I'm exhausted, though.  Shopping really does take it out of you.  It's such an overstimulating environment.

On the plus side, I Skyped with Aaron mostly successfully this morning and just finished getting a massage since my neck has been all achy.