Thursday, March 28, 2013

Graduation 2013

Ahh - summer break. It's one of those things that makes teaching a wonderful vocation. Let me catch you up a little bit on some of the craziness of the last few weeks, before updating you on the craziness that awaits us, starting in just a few days!

The end of the school year proved to be just as hectic as usual: final exams, grading papers AND exams, doing report cards, all while trying to keep the high school students entertained for the seven days that we had after exams were completed. I really tried to teach them some stuff, but it didn't work. They didn't want to learn it. Funny how that happens.

Anyway, graduation was the highlight at the end of the tunnel for many of us, as students and teachers alike worked their way to the end of the school year. Here are some pictures of the 9th grade graduation, which was Michael's homeroom class:

Gotta get those flowers pinned on correctly!

 9th grade students, paying attention as usual?
 Steve and Michael (both 9th grade homeroom teachers) gave the graduation address, with predictions about where each student will be in the future
 And, of course, jokes were made about Michael's lack of hair!


GES 9th grade class of 2013, along with their teachers and administrators!

The 6th and 9th graders graduated together in the same ceremony, so the church, where the ceremony is held, was packed pretty tightly. The 12th graders had their own graduation ceremony, which was nearly completely empty. High school graduation is not a big deal in Thailand - our school tries to make it a big deal, though! Only eight of the eleven 12th grade students came to graduation, so it was a really small ceremony anyway. Here's some pictures of the 12th grade graduation:

Valedictorian Speaker
 Homeroom teacher address (yay!) - I taught them a new vocabulary word as a final "English teacher" moment in their high school career
 ...and they even responded when I asked questions!
 These guys formed their own music group, which they call "ACT" - they wrote and performed a rap at graduation. It was hilarious and they did a fantastic job!
 Silly class/teacher photo
 And, of course, the throwing of the hats!

So - another year done. It's crazy to think that I've now seen three of my homeroom classes graduate, and I'm not sure how many more we will be here for, but I look forward to it!

Since graduation, we have been keeping busy cleaning and packing up our classrooms as well as finishing all of the end-of-the-year activities that always need to be done. We've also been doing some reflecting on the last year and mentally preparing ourselves for next year, with the hope that we'll make some better choices when it comes to different situations. In addition to all of that, Michael and I have been preparing for a few other important things.

1) Michael's parents and sister are coming to visit us! They arrive on Saturday night and are staying for a little over a week. We're so excited to show them our lives in Thailand and to have them experience some things that we live with every day!

2) I applied and was accepted into a Master's program through Framingham University (in Massachusetts). The program is an international one - they send professors to Bangkok to teach intensive courses, so it's not online (which is great for me), and I will be able to take the courses as they are offered here. I'll be working my way toward a Master's of Education, with a focus in International Teaching, starting in the middle of April! I've had some pre-class work to get done, so I've been working on completing that in recent days as well.

3) Planning and preparation for our visit to the USA at the end of April - we've got the plane tickets, but we're still working on figuring out an itinerary so we can see all of YOU while we are there!

Whew. Since we've accomplished a lot in the last few weeks, and are looking ahead to a few more weeks of a different kind of busyness, I'm quite happy to have two more days to mostly fill with sitting on our couch and relaxing.

Anyway - there's the quick update for you. We hope you all are well and hope to be able to see many of you in a month or so! Blessings to you all!

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely loved the first picture you shared, though I loved them all!

    ReplyDelete