Royal Thai Embassy’s second online class with the Embassy Adoption Program’s school.

On 13 May 2021, the Royal Thai Embassy, Washington D.C., met students of Ms. Tiffany Rose’s fifth-grade class from Patterson Elementary School under the Embassy Adoption Program (EAP), the partnership program between DC Public Schools and Washington Performing Arts (WPA), for the third time in a 40-minute-long online classroom.

 

During the class, besides 10 students and Ms. Rose, the class’ teacher, Ms. Jennifer Lee, fifth-grade inclusion teacher, and Mr. Joseph Campbell, In-school suspension coordinator were also among the participants of this online class. Everyone learned about Thai arts, cultures, and traditions, especially Thai traditional dances, Thai music, and various Thai musical instruments. The class was enthusiastic and engaged with all the conversations, especially during Q&A sessions after each story. The students also had an opportunity to compare Thai traditions with American practices they each experienced with their families, including western dances, music they listened before, and musical instruments they played or heard others played.

 

In addition, each teacher and student had an opportunity to share their memories about Thailand from what they have learned throughout this academic semester from the Embassy. Most remember Thailand as a tropical country, hot weather, has rice as stable food, colorful tropical fruits, and were impressed by Thai words the Embassy taught to repeat, especially “Sawasdee” (greeting) and “kobkhun” (thank you) “krub/kha” (ending sound for male and female). Ms. Rose also asked to set the date for the last online class meeting for this academic semester within the next 3 weeks for the students to wrap up what they have learned about Thailand for the Embassy.

The meeting was the third of the total of four meetings the Embassy scheduled with this class under the EAP throughout the 2020-2021 academic year. The EAP seeks to expose DC Public School students to global awareness through direct interactions with foreign embassies in Washington, D.C.