You singah?
It’s Sunday morning, two days before the school year is to begin. I find myself in a mandatory teacher’s meeting. All of the speeches are in Thai, so I have no idea what they are talking about. No one seems to be paying attention to the speakers anyway. I notice that most are on their laptops or phones, maybe working on schedules or lesson plans, but I have the feeling that the majority are simply scrolling social media like me.
There are over 100 teachers, assistant teachers, and other staff present. I’m sitting at a table with Mat, the head of foreign teachers. We are joined by Heinz, Han, and Matthew, who are from Germany, Holland, and South Africa, respectively. Four white guys amongst a sea of Asian faces. At the next table are our Filipino coworkers, June, Alex, and Jerry. Together we make up the non-Thai contingent of teachers in attendance. Hans and I are the only two who are not assigned a fixed classroom. We will be “floating” teachers, assigned to go to different classrooms to give instruction in English. The others are permanent teachers in air-conditioned classrooms, one for each grade, 1-6. Their students are the ones whose parents can afford to pay extra for the nicer classrooms with a dedicated foreign teacher to teach English and some other subjects.
I will be working with Prathom (grade) 1 and 2 students. Nine different classrooms twice a week. I will not be assigned an assistant to help me. Sometimes the form teacher (the teacher responsible for the class) will stay to help, sometimes not. I will later decide that I usually prefer that the form teacher not be present.
But for now, I am trying to fit in the best I can with the group. During the breaks, some of the Thai teachers who can speak a bit of English approach me, the conversations going something like this:
“Sawaddee ka! (standard Thai greeting) You new teachah?”
“Sawaddee krahp (women say ‘ka’ at the end of a sentence, men use ‘krahp). My name is Bob.”
“Ah! Bob-bah! Where you from?”
“I’m from the USA. Chicago.”
“Oh! Chi-ca-GOH! How long you in Thai-LAND?”
“I’ve been here since January.”
“How old are you?” – This is a bit disconcerting to me at first, until I realize that it’s customary in many Asian countries to ask someone’s age so as to address them properly.
“I am 48 years old.”
“Okay! You singah?” – The first time I’m a bit confused as to why this question.
“No, I cannot sing well.” – Confusion on their part.
“You married.” – Ah, now my confusion disappears.
“Oh, no. I’m single.”
At which point the conversation is suspended while the excited colleague yells out and motions to her other teacher friends. “He singah!”
“Oh! I have daughter who singah! She very pretty!”
I just smile and keep quiet. I’m probably twice her pretty, single daughter’s age. It’s going to be an interesting year.