Thailand Culture in a Classroom

Thailand culture in a classroom is very different from western culture in a classroom. First of all, there are far more students in a Thai classroom than there are in a western classroom, American classroom, British classroom or European classroom.

How many students are there in an average classroom in Thailand?

Depending on where the school is, there are approximately 50 students in each classroom in Thailand. Some classrooms have 40 students (but usually never less than 40) and some can have as many as 60+ students. With the large number of students in a classroom, each student is not given individual attention by the teacher. Of course, in small towns, the sizes of classrooms are smaller in accordance with the number of population and available students.

In large schools, there are probably 5 different classrooms of 50 or so students each. This makes knowing everyone in your class difficult since there are so many students.

Every student has a number

Since there are so many students in a classroom, it is hard for a teacher to remember everyone by name. So, every student is assigned a student ID. Sometimes, the student ID is printed on the shirt or sometimes it is on a badge that each student must wear. Some teachers will remember students by name whereas others will call them by their ID without knowing who the ID belongs to. It is common for a teacher to ask the class a question and then call student number 35 to answer it.

Don't speak up in the classroom

It is a well known fact that most Thai people will not speak up in class. In fact, it is an Asian trait to wait until the end of the class to ask questions privately rather than hand up in class to ask the question. In the West, whenever a student has a question, he or she would put his or her hand up and ask it in class and other students can benefit from the answer. In Asia including Thailand, students are so easily embarrassed in class that they prefer to not ask the questions rather than risk making a food out of themselves. Sometimes, they will wait until the end of the class to ask the teacher when they know that no one is listening. Some teachers don't mind this but others do and it creates a big problem in the educational system.

Thailand culture in a classroom is this: teacher comes into class and the students all stand up to salute him or her then  the teacher allow the students to sit down. The teacher proceeds to talk (teach) while all students just listen attentively. If they are not attentive, they will be called to answer the question and if they cannot answer, it is a big embarrassment or they might get punished by standing for the rest of the class. When the class is done, the teacher leaves and the students chat while waiting for the next class.