Saying goodbye to students is never fun!

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Though I am really excited about traveling for the next two and a half months (first with Stephanie and Kari in Thailand, then on to Laos and Vietnam), it is totally bittersweet to leave the school. It is even sadder in this case because I will probably never see these children again. Even though I may come back to Thailand again in the future, it is unlikely that I would find myself in Chonburi. Highly unlikely at any rate, though I never like to say that anything is impossible.

The end of the term came so quickly for me, although the students actually have finals for the next two weeks and will only be on their summer break then. The Thai school year begins in mid-May and consists of two terms with a break between each. I was teaching the second term of the school year and so was responsible for making up the 'final exams.' Sounds rather ominous for primary school! I'm hoping I didn't make them too difficult since someone else (a Thai teacher, probably) will be administering them to the students. I spent the last day with all of my classes playing review games for the final. Stickers for all!

I started letting the older students know that I would be leaving about 2 weeks before my last day. The students in P.4, one of my favorite classes, kept asking me over and over again if I was going to come back. A lot of foreign teachers use the month-and-a-half break to visit their home countries before returning for the next term, but I had to let them know as delicately as possible that I would not be returning.

One of my one-on-one students is making it even more difficult. I think he is genuinely pretty sad about it, but he’s letting his feelings out in a very over-the-top melodramatic way. I don’t want to invalidate his feelings at all (obviously it is nice that he cares!), but it is a little embarrassing to me the way he has been so effusive the last few day. He is one of the oldest students at the school, so he is not a small child anymore, but he is hanging onto me and rubbing his face against my arms like a cat, among other shows of affection. Poor kid has had four different science teachers in two years due to various circumstances.

I'm going to post some of my favorite pictures from the last days of school. Enjoy!

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Photos

Goofing around in the teacher room
These animal hats were used for a play the students were rehearsing

P.3
My smallest class with only 6 students, but also the most challenging!

P.2 students
Notice the girl in the back right is making her arms into a heart shape. When I would come in to the class, she, along with a few of the other students, would exclaim, "I LOVE science" and make that heart with her hands above her head. Priceless!