Lesson One - Thai Culture
Thai Culture
Lesson Focus:
This lesson will emphasize the physical and cultural geography of modern Thailand.
Lesson Objectives:
1. The children will locate Thailand on a map or a globe.
2. The children will gain knowledge about life in Thailand.
3. The children will help create a bulletin board depicting Thailand’s presence in the world. (option #1)
4. The children will create a Thai puppet. (option #2)
Materials Needed:
1. Blackline Master #1—Thailand map
2. Blackline Master #2—Thai girl and Thai boy
3. crayons
4. scissors
5. popsicle sticks
6. glue
7. one of the starred resource books in the bibliography
Background for the teacher:
Thailand is a 700 year old kingdom dating back to its establishment as an independent kingdom in 1238. Its first king was Sri Indradit, and the city Sukhothai, meaning “Door to Happiness,” became its capital. This is the same country known as Siam for many years and renamed Thailand in 1939. In Thai language it is known as Muang Thai – Thai meaning “free.” Hence, Thailand literally means “Land of the Free.”
Thailand is a monarchy in Southeast Asia. It is slightly larger than Spain, slightly smaller than the state of Texas. Its neighbors include Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. About 60 million people live here.
Northern Thailand is a mountainous area, being located in the southern foothills of the great Himalayan Range. Approximately 100 semi-nomadic tribes inhabit it. Much effort is being given to educate the tribes on crop rotation and crop substitution. It is a cool, timber-rich area in which elephants are used to drag lumber to rivers in order to float the timber to the mills. Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, is located here, as well as hundreds of beautiful temples.
Northeast Thailand is known as the Khorat Plateau, a region of gently rolling low hills and shallow lakes that drain into the Mekong River bordering Laos. Combinations of poor soil and too little rain or floods cause this area to be the poorest part of Thailand.
Southern Thailand is a peninsular area with an isthmus being shared with Burma in the northern section. It boasts of wild jungles, rocky mountains, powdery white sand, and clear salt water. Two rainy seasons create conditions conducive for rubber, coconuts, and tropical fruits. Malaysia is the neighbor to the south.
The heartland of Thailand is found in its central plains where Bangkok, the capital, with its eight million people is located. Here lies the fertile Chao Phraya basin and its endless sea of rice fields. In many of the villages people live in traditional wooden Thai style houses built on stilts to protect from flooding waters while providing living quarters for farm animals such as pigs, chickens, and water buffalo below.
Thailand maintains a hot, humid climate as it is located just five degrees from the equator. Temperatures from April to October range between 78 degrees F and 98 degrees F. Between November and March temperatures drop to a range of 56 degrees F and 92 degrees F.
Bangkok is a huge, crowded, noisy, modernized city where its residents live in a world of international corporations, high-rise air-conditioned hotels, theaters, museums, nightclubs, designer shops, pizza parlors, and hamburger places. A modernized road/rail system exists here as well as many modern conveniences. However, within this modern city near the canals can also be found Thai houses on stilts.
Thai people are solidly rooted in a strong sense of family. In the villages a family consists of not only parents and children but also grandparents and often other relatives living together in a single dwelling or within a cluster of homes. Children are taught at an early age to respect their elders. Taking care to provide for one’s family is a priority.
Buddhism is also an important influence in Thailand as nearly 95 percent of Thai citizens are Buddhist. This religion teaches tolerance, generosity, and serenity.
In the villages the woman of the house may get up shortly before sunrise to prepare breakfast for the family and extra provisions for the monks. Most members of the family sleep on floormats. The older children and the father do morning chores. Bathing is done in the stream, canal, or lake at least twice each day. When chores are finished, the family sits down on the floor to eat together. Afterward, the children go to school, the men go to work, and the women travel to the market. Home again by five, they gather for an evening meal and conversation. Typical Thai meals include rice at every meal. Also, meat, fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, especially bananas, papayas, and coconuts are served. Hot peppers, coriander, and garlic are popular Thai seasonings as well as the use of ginger, onions, and curries. Thai people often eat with forks and spoons, not chopsticks, as their foods are either too soupy or soft. After supper, children may gather in the village to hear a local storyteller — and then it’s time for bed. Teenagers enjoy swimming in the rivers, going to a beach, watching movies, participating in village fairs, plus watching cockfights and boxing matches.
Thailand’s education system is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 14. Students are required to complete Prathom 6 (sixth grade). A nine-year compulsory act is currently being drafted and plans exist to extend compulsory education to reach 12 years as soon as possible. Beginning in 1997 all children who have completed Prathom 6 are able for the first time to continue through lower secondary level Matayom 1-3 (grades 7-9) without paying tuition fees. Students may also pursue an upper secondary level (grades 10-12) and a tertiary level (college) of education on their own. The literacy rate of the population is nearly 90 percent. The school year usually consists of two semesters. First semester runs from early May to mid-October. Following a three-week break, second semester runs from early November to mid- March. Summer break
follows for two months, mid-March through mid- May.
Lesson Content:
Thailand is located in Southeast Asia. It is slightly smaller than Texas. Nearly 60 million people live there. Neighbors include Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
Thailand is divided into four areas. In the North there are mountains. In the Northeast is the Khorat Plateau – an area of rolling hills and shallow lakes. The South is a peninsula with jungles, mountains, white sand, and salt water. Central Thailand is an area of plains filled with endless rice fields, known as the Chao Phraya basin. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is located here. Bangkok is a crowded, modernized city with everything from high-rise air-conditioned hotels to pizza parlors. However, along the canals can be found traditional Thai houses on stilts.
In the villages throughout Thailand, Thai families live in houses on stilts to protect themselves from floodwaters. Beneath these structures are found the family farm animals such as pigs, chickens, and water buffalo.
Thai village homes are quite simple, often consisting of only three or four rooms, which might include bedrooms, a kitchen, and a sitting room. Cooking is often done on a woodstove. Two main cooking pots are used – one for boiling water for rice and soup and the other for frying meat and vegetables. Water is carried in from a well. Thai families usually sit on the floor for eating meals and put mats down for sleeping. Televisions may be found in some homes. A rice barn is also placed on stilts to store the family rice. Rice is eaten at every meal.
Strong ties to family often find parents, children, and a grandparent or other relative living in the same home. People in the villages are often related and caring for one’s extended family is a priority.
Children wear uniforms to the village school. Upon arrival the students assemble outside while the school band plays the national anthem and the flag is raised. Children stand still and straight. Afterward, prayers are said and the children proceed inside. They not only have regular classes such as reading and math, but they also learn to grow vegetables, cook, keep bees and cattle, and care for others. They take turns cooking the lunches. Teachers stop on the way to school to purchase vegetables at the market and the children learn to chop and cook the food. A time for meditation in order to seek truth is also part of the school day.
Lesson Approach:
Option #1
Gather the children by a bulletin board that was previously prepared by the teacher. (Using Blackline Master #1, make an overhead and project it on the bulletin board, tracing with desired markers.) Show the children Thailand and its neighbors–Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Also point out Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
With the children seated, tell them about village life in contrast to city life in Bangkok. If possible, read one of the following books which are in the Bibliography: “A Family in Thailand” or “Take a Trip to Thailand.”
Distribute pictures of the Thai boy and Thai girl (Blackline Master #2) for the children to color. Cut out and use as a border for the bulletin board map or to inhabit Thailand on the map. The blackline may be appropriately shrunk or enlarged to accommodate the same.
Option #2
Introduce the children to Thailand through simple dialog. Using a globe, say something like the following: Today we are going to learn about Thailand. Thailand is located right here. Can you say Thailand? Thailand means “home of the free.” God has work for us to do here. Let’s meet Sumaree, a young girl who lives in Thailand. Introduce the Thai girl puppet (made from the blackline master and glued to a popsicle stick in advance). Use a dialog similar to the one below.
Hi, boys and girls. My name is Sumaree. I live in Thailand with my mother, father, grandfather, and two brothers. Our house is on stilts. We climb up a ladder in order to get in our front door. Before going in, we take off our shoes. My dad works in the rice paddies. We sit on the floor to eat our meals. We always have a rice dish at our meals. Often we have coconut, bananas, or pineapple. At night we roll our mats out and sleep on the floor. I walk to our village school. I wear a uniform. That means that all of the girls dress the same, and all of the boys dress the same. There I learn to read, do math, and speak English like you. I also learn to cook. At recess we play touch tag and hopscotch. I have to go now. I have to get some water from the well and take it to my house so that my mother can cook some rice for supper. Before I go, would you like to learn how to say hello and goodbye the Thai way? OK. Please stand up. Clap your hands together and keep them closed with fingers pointing up. Good. Now hold your hands together as high as your chin. Now bow your head down and up. Goodbye.
Give your children copies of the Thai girl to color. Cut the girl out, and glue her to a popsicle stick, making a puppet for each child. Have the children use the puppets to answer the following questions.
Review:
1. Where does Sumaree live? Thailand
2. What does she take off before going into her house? Her shoes
3. What does she eat at every meal? Rice
4. Where does she sleep? On a mat on the floor
Extending the Lesson:
1. Introduce the children to a coconut. Bake, crack with a hammer, and serve.
2. Introduce the children to a pineapple. Peel, slice, and serve.
3. Make fried rice or rice pudding for a snack.
4. Have the children remove their shoes and sit on the floor for their snack time. Put down a plastic table cover.
Lesson Focus:
This lesson will emphasize the physical and cultural geography of modern Thailand.
Lesson Objectives:
1. The children will locate Thailand on a map or a globe.
2. The children will gain knowledge about life in Thailand.
3. The children will help create a bulletin board depicting Thailand’s presence in the world. (option #1)
4. The children will create a Thai puppet. (option #2)
Materials Needed:
1. Blackline Master #1—Thailand map
2. Blackline Master #2—Thai girl and Thai boy
3. crayons
4. scissors
5. popsicle sticks
6. glue
7. one of the starred resource books in the bibliography
Background for the teacher:
Thailand is a 700 year old kingdom dating back to its establishment as an independent kingdom in 1238. Its first king was Sri Indradit, and the city Sukhothai, meaning “Door to Happiness,” became its capital. This is the same country known as Siam for many years and renamed Thailand in 1939. In Thai language it is known as Muang Thai – Thai meaning “free.” Hence, Thailand literally means “Land of the Free.”
Thailand is a monarchy in Southeast Asia. It is slightly larger than Spain, slightly smaller than the state of Texas. Its neighbors include Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. About 60 million people live here.
Northern Thailand is a mountainous area, being located in the southern foothills of the great Himalayan Range. Approximately 100 semi-nomadic tribes inhabit it. Much effort is being given to educate the tribes on crop rotation and crop substitution. It is a cool, timber-rich area in which elephants are used to drag lumber to rivers in order to float the timber to the mills. Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, is located here, as well as hundreds of beautiful temples.
Northeast Thailand is known as the Khorat Plateau, a region of gently rolling low hills and shallow lakes that drain into the Mekong River bordering Laos. Combinations of poor soil and too little rain or floods cause this area to be the poorest part of Thailand.
Southern Thailand is a peninsular area with an isthmus being shared with Burma in the northern section. It boasts of wild jungles, rocky mountains, powdery white sand, and clear salt water. Two rainy seasons create conditions conducive for rubber, coconuts, and tropical fruits. Malaysia is the neighbor to the south.
The heartland of Thailand is found in its central plains where Bangkok, the capital, with its eight million people is located. Here lies the fertile Chao Phraya basin and its endless sea of rice fields. In many of the villages people live in traditional wooden Thai style houses built on stilts to protect from flooding waters while providing living quarters for farm animals such as pigs, chickens, and water buffalo below.
Thailand maintains a hot, humid climate as it is located just five degrees from the equator. Temperatures from April to October range between 78 degrees F and 98 degrees F. Between November and March temperatures drop to a range of 56 degrees F and 92 degrees F.
Bangkok is a huge, crowded, noisy, modernized city where its residents live in a world of international corporations, high-rise air-conditioned hotels, theaters, museums, nightclubs, designer shops, pizza parlors, and hamburger places. A modernized road/rail system exists here as well as many modern conveniences. However, within this modern city near the canals can also be found Thai houses on stilts.
Thai people are solidly rooted in a strong sense of family. In the villages a family consists of not only parents and children but also grandparents and often other relatives living together in a single dwelling or within a cluster of homes. Children are taught at an early age to respect their elders. Taking care to provide for one’s family is a priority.
Buddhism is also an important influence in Thailand as nearly 95 percent of Thai citizens are Buddhist. This religion teaches tolerance, generosity, and serenity.
In the villages the woman of the house may get up shortly before sunrise to prepare breakfast for the family and extra provisions for the monks. Most members of the family sleep on floormats. The older children and the father do morning chores. Bathing is done in the stream, canal, or lake at least twice each day. When chores are finished, the family sits down on the floor to eat together. Afterward, the children go to school, the men go to work, and the women travel to the market. Home again by five, they gather for an evening meal and conversation. Typical Thai meals include rice at every meal. Also, meat, fish, fresh vegetables and fruits, especially bananas, papayas, and coconuts are served. Hot peppers, coriander, and garlic are popular Thai seasonings as well as the use of ginger, onions, and curries. Thai people often eat with forks and spoons, not chopsticks, as their foods are either too soupy or soft. After supper, children may gather in the village to hear a local storyteller — and then it’s time for bed. Teenagers enjoy swimming in the rivers, going to a beach, watching movies, participating in village fairs, plus watching cockfights and boxing matches.
Thailand’s education system is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 14. Students are required to complete Prathom 6 (sixth grade). A nine-year compulsory act is currently being drafted and plans exist to extend compulsory education to reach 12 years as soon as possible. Beginning in 1997 all children who have completed Prathom 6 are able for the first time to continue through lower secondary level Matayom 1-3 (grades 7-9) without paying tuition fees. Students may also pursue an upper secondary level (grades 10-12) and a tertiary level (college) of education on their own. The literacy rate of the population is nearly 90 percent. The school year usually consists of two semesters. First semester runs from early May to mid-October. Following a three-week break, second semester runs from early November to mid- March. Summer break
follows for two months, mid-March through mid- May.
Lesson Content:
Thailand is located in Southeast Asia. It is slightly smaller than Texas. Nearly 60 million people live there. Neighbors include Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
Thailand is divided into four areas. In the North there are mountains. In the Northeast is the Khorat Plateau – an area of rolling hills and shallow lakes. The South is a peninsula with jungles, mountains, white sand, and salt water. Central Thailand is an area of plains filled with endless rice fields, known as the Chao Phraya basin. Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is located here. Bangkok is a crowded, modernized city with everything from high-rise air-conditioned hotels to pizza parlors. However, along the canals can be found traditional Thai houses on stilts.
In the villages throughout Thailand, Thai families live in houses on stilts to protect themselves from floodwaters. Beneath these structures are found the family farm animals such as pigs, chickens, and water buffalo.
Thai village homes are quite simple, often consisting of only three or four rooms, which might include bedrooms, a kitchen, and a sitting room. Cooking is often done on a woodstove. Two main cooking pots are used – one for boiling water for rice and soup and the other for frying meat and vegetables. Water is carried in from a well. Thai families usually sit on the floor for eating meals and put mats down for sleeping. Televisions may be found in some homes. A rice barn is also placed on stilts to store the family rice. Rice is eaten at every meal.
Strong ties to family often find parents, children, and a grandparent or other relative living in the same home. People in the villages are often related and caring for one’s extended family is a priority.
Children wear uniforms to the village school. Upon arrival the students assemble outside while the school band plays the national anthem and the flag is raised. Children stand still and straight. Afterward, prayers are said and the children proceed inside. They not only have regular classes such as reading and math, but they also learn to grow vegetables, cook, keep bees and cattle, and care for others. They take turns cooking the lunches. Teachers stop on the way to school to purchase vegetables at the market and the children learn to chop and cook the food. A time for meditation in order to seek truth is also part of the school day.
Lesson Approach:
Option #1
Gather the children by a bulletin board that was previously prepared by the teacher. (Using Blackline Master #1, make an overhead and project it on the bulletin board, tracing with desired markers.) Show the children Thailand and its neighbors–Burma, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Also point out Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
With the children seated, tell them about village life in contrast to city life in Bangkok. If possible, read one of the following books which are in the Bibliography: “A Family in Thailand” or “Take a Trip to Thailand.”
Distribute pictures of the Thai boy and Thai girl (Blackline Master #2) for the children to color. Cut out and use as a border for the bulletin board map or to inhabit Thailand on the map. The blackline may be appropriately shrunk or enlarged to accommodate the same.
Option #2
Introduce the children to Thailand through simple dialog. Using a globe, say something like the following: Today we are going to learn about Thailand. Thailand is located right here. Can you say Thailand? Thailand means “home of the free.” God has work for us to do here. Let’s meet Sumaree, a young girl who lives in Thailand. Introduce the Thai girl puppet (made from the blackline master and glued to a popsicle stick in advance). Use a dialog similar to the one below.
Hi, boys and girls. My name is Sumaree. I live in Thailand with my mother, father, grandfather, and two brothers. Our house is on stilts. We climb up a ladder in order to get in our front door. Before going in, we take off our shoes. My dad works in the rice paddies. We sit on the floor to eat our meals. We always have a rice dish at our meals. Often we have coconut, bananas, or pineapple. At night we roll our mats out and sleep on the floor. I walk to our village school. I wear a uniform. That means that all of the girls dress the same, and all of the boys dress the same. There I learn to read, do math, and speak English like you. I also learn to cook. At recess we play touch tag and hopscotch. I have to go now. I have to get some water from the well and take it to my house so that my mother can cook some rice for supper. Before I go, would you like to learn how to say hello and goodbye the Thai way? OK. Please stand up. Clap your hands together and keep them closed with fingers pointing up. Good. Now hold your hands together as high as your chin. Now bow your head down and up. Goodbye.
Give your children copies of the Thai girl to color. Cut the girl out, and glue her to a popsicle stick, making a puppet for each child. Have the children use the puppets to answer the following questions.
Review:
1. Where does Sumaree live? Thailand
2. What does she take off before going into her house? Her shoes
3. What does she eat at every meal? Rice
4. Where does she sleep? On a mat on the floor
Extending the Lesson:
1. Introduce the children to a coconut. Bake, crack with a hammer, and serve.
2. Introduce the children to a pineapple. Peel, slice, and serve.
3. Make fried rice or rice pudding for a snack.
4. Have the children remove their shoes and sit on the floor for their snack time. Put down a plastic table cover.