“How Lovely” 

“What a lovely ceremony!” “This was good!” “We don’t have something like this in our country!” These were some of the comments from a few of the “farang” teachers this morning after the Wai Kru ceremony at American Prep International.

The Ceremony

The ceremony started with all the students seated in front of the stage. Then two speeches in the Thai language which we (‘farangs’) did not understand, but it was obvious that the students were paying rapt attention. After all, it is not often that Thai is used publicly on our campus – which is declared an English speaking zone!

Then the Kinder teachers, the principal and school manager took their seats on stage. The Kinder children were brought on stage by the assistants. Each one had a garland or a beautiful flower arrangement in a golden/silver container. These garlands and flowers were then presented – on bended knees – to the teachers. Each teacher graciously accepted the gift and then blessed the student by touching his/her head. It was especially beautiful to experience receiving  the flowers from these tiny children. After the Kinder, the other grades and their teachers went through the same process. The ceremony ended with a ‘chant’ in Thai by some of the older students.

“Let’s do it again next year”

Over all, we teachers, thought that this traditional Wai Kru celebration was very effective in inculcating a beautiful cultural tradition of showing respect for and bringing honor to teachers and elders. This ceremony definitely merits an honorable position   in  the annual calendar of events at American Prep International!

It is ITBS testing time

Students at American Prep International School write the Iowa Test of Basic Skills two times per year. However, many students and parents don’t really know why they are doing it and what value there is in writing this test. After all, the tests don’t count for the quarter exam at all.

The Importance of the ITBS Test

The Iowa Test of Basic Skills is used to test the knowledge of students in elementary and middle school, up through the eighth grade. The ITBS test was developed by the University of Iowa, who is also still responsible for administering and evaluating the test.

The Iowa Test is unique because it was designed to specifically analyze a student’s current knowledge, as well as evaluate subject matters that should be stressed in a child’s education. This greatly assists teachers, parents, and schools to clearly define areas of learning focus throughout the year. Therefore, the Iowa Tests are generally administered during the school year, depending on the preference of the school, while most other standardized tests are administered at the end of a semester or school year.

At American Prep International we administer the test on site. We have computerised the system and the student is given the questions on his computer and he has to fill in the answers on the computer. As soon as he/she has completed the test he/she can see his results.

Learning from the results

After the tests have been fully completed and the test results have been printed, the teachers analyse the results. First of all we look at the general level of the grades. This indicates to us whether our students are performing above the norm that has been established with thousands of other students accross the world or whether they are performing below the norm. This excercise is very important for us at American Prep. It helps us to know whether our teaching standard is on par.

The second level of analysis at American Prep is to see in which areas of the subject matter our students perform better or worse. If we discover that most of the students have relatively poor marks in a certain area of language or mat, for example, our teachers then adjust their teaching in order to make up or improve the area of weak performance

Challenge

I trust that this blog has helped our parents (and even some teachers) to understand the value of these tests. And I would like to appeal to all concerned to take the tests seriously and to do them with a good and possitive attitude!

American Prep International School will celebrate Wai Kru Day tomorrow. One of my fellow teachers, also a “farang” like me, asked me yesterday: “What is this Wai Kru celebration?” I am no expert on Thai culture, but have on more than one occasion participated in this celebration. Each time I participated my heart was touched.

Wai Kru, essentially is an occasion in which students show their respect and appreciation for their teachers. It is a simple ceremony: each student passes by on his/her knees in front of the seated teacher. The student offers the teacher a small garland of flowers and the teacher responds by putting a few drops of water on the head of the student and then pronounces a blessing on the student, The ceremony is simple, but the meaning is profound! In this day and age when respect for teachers and elders and authority figures have almost disappeared one cannot but appreciate the sentiments behind this celebration!

Students and staff have been talking about sports week a long time. It is now fast approaching. Sports events will take place on
 Monday, Wednesday and Friday next week (12-16 September). On Monday and Wednesday the class periods after lunch are set aside for sports and fun activities.

Friday will be the highlight of the week. Early in the morning the Kinder department will have their events. Parents will run and kick with the little ones.

After 11:00 the bigger children will have their opportunity to show their strength and their skill. Again the parents who are here will have the opportunity to participate. With this in mind, parents are asked to come in sport clothes. Fun activities like tug-of-war and three legged races will be included in the activities menu.

When the fun is all over there will be a lovely lunch and school will close early. This might be the highlight of the week (haha)!

Staff and students enjoy some cake and a few happy moments after school today to celebrate Mr. Champ’s birthday.

Mr. Champ is manager of American Prep International School. He is a well beloved person on our campus. He is young at heart and identifies with the students. He is quite prone to kick ball with them or even to go hunting Pokemon after sunset. But, he is also mature in his understanding of educational and business issues and a constant source of inspiration and wisdom as he guides the school from day to day.

We wish Mr Champ lots of love and success in the coming year and pray that he and his young family will continue in the path of happiness and fulfilment of their personal goals.

We live in serious and dangerous times! Many schools around the world have recently experienced terror attacks, bomb blasts and also natural disastors. Even in the south of Thailand, where we are located, there have recently been bomb and arson attacks. No one can really predict when some kind of disastor may come to a school community. It is therefore prudent and wise to prepare students and staff to react responsibly when some terrible thing may come their way. It is in this spirit that American Prep International, Thailand is serious about training students and staff to be prepared.

Thus the school conducted its first evacuation practice on Friday 2 September. In the 2 weeks leading up to the practice, staff and students were instructed on how to conduct the evacuation. Then suddenly at 9:15 (this morning) the emergency bell went off in one continuous howl! The different homeroom teachers quickly went through the drill procedures and brought their students to the assembly point. Public gates were closed. Classroom doors were shut when the last student left the class. Just three minutes and 38 seconds and all were outside and accounted for. Two students were at first reported missing, but were quickly found hiding in the school bathroom! (This was staged, in order to check procedures!) Congratulations to staff and students. Some lessons were learned and next time round the time should even be much faster!