Life in a Thai School "I have been teaching in Thailand for 15 years. These articles and photo albums are some of my experiences from teaching at Sriwittayapaknam School in Samut Prakan." - Richard Barrow |
| Assembly in Thailand |
| Written by Richard Barrow |
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Assemblies in Thailand are much the same at every school. It always starts at 8 a.m.with the national anthem and the raising of the Thai flag. All of the students stand to attention in straight lines facing the flag pole and Buddha shrine. Normally, each class will have two lines. One for the boys and one for the girls. Chanting - 95% of Thai people are Buddhists and so after the anthem, the students will have chanting for about five minutes. They alternate between saying this in Pali, the ancient language of the scriptures and then a translation in Thai. They repeat this line by line after the Head Student. It is easy to tell the different between Pali and Thai as the former lines are "sung".
Student Vows - Next comes the student vows which are in Thai. However, we have done a translation for you here: We are all Thai now, because we have a nation, religion and King. We understand that our ancestors exchanged their blood, flesh and life in order to achieve this. We must die for our country. We must maintain our religion. We must safeguard our king. We must be well behaved, obey school rules and be honest to ourselves and to others. We must not get others or ourselves into trouble. พวกเราเป็นไทยอยู่ได้ทุกวันนี้ ก็เพราะเรามีชาติ ศาสนา พระมหากษัตริย์ ซึ่งบรรพบุรุษของเรา เอาเลือด เอาเนื้อ เอาชีวิต และความลำบากยากเข็ญเข้าแลกไว้ เราต้องสละชีพเพื่อชาติ เราต้องบำรุงศาสนา เราต้องรักษาพระมหากษัตริย์ School Creed -Next is the school creed which won't be the same as other schools. Our academic record is strong, we uphold good moral value, and we lead the way in seeking academic excellence. คือ วิชาการมั่นคง ดำรงจรรยา ก้าวหน้ากิจกรรม A trained person is an excellent person. The assembly finishes with a speech from one of the duty teachers. |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 26 February 2009 10:30 |