You can always tell when the end of a school year is approaching. The school reeks of the anticipation for the coming vacation, from students and teachers alike. Thailand was no exception. Teachers were scrambling to create and give their exams, just wanting to be done with lesson planning. Every time I walked into one of my classes there would be eager calls from the students saying, “Teacher, teacher, play game?!” I often gave in, wanting to play bananagrams or text twist almost as much as them. 

Although the collective yearning for the school break was the same as my experience in the states, there were some stark differences as the Thai school year ended. A few weeks before the last day of classes there was a graduation ceremony and it was a spectacular celebration. There were some speeches and recognizing of achievements like you would expect, however, there were no parents or family members at the morning assembly dedicated to the graduates. This was all about the students and staff. After the ceremonial part all the teachers lined up and the graduates paraded past us and under an inflatable archway, which was a beautiful symbol of them moving on to the next stage in life. 

I felt a little guilty that I had not gotten presents for my students that were graduating, but I had a hard time coming up with an idea that wouldn’t leave me broke since I had 100 graduating students. To my surprise, the tradition is that the graduates hand gifts to the teachers. The graduates proceed down the line thanking the teachers and handing out candies, flowers, or their pictures. There was one student, who was named Joker, go figure, handing out condoms! (but only to the male teachers, which I thought was rather sexist but I deemed it prudent not bring it up:) The parade of graduates continued all around campus and the younger students showered the graduates with gifts and flowers as well. Needless to say there were no productive classes that day but it was really a fun day and inspiring to see how appreciative the students were. 

The next couple weeks were devoted to exams and then grading. My students grimaced and wailed in pain claiming my exam was ‘so hard’ but most of them did very well. Though, in Thai schools, students don’t fail. They are always given at least 50% even if they don’t show up. I had a little bit of a hard time grading with this philosophy but as half the grades were done before I arrived I went with it. The lack of accountability some students got away with made my blood boil! However, I also had a good number of students that made me want to jump on top of my desk and point out their fabulous work to the whole office. All in all, I guess the grading process had the same woes and proud moments as it would with any group of students. It definitely left me wholeheartedly ready for vacation!