Dancing Machine

A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in the back of one of the Prathom 5 classrooms while a Thai teacher was teaching class.  About halfway through the class, a student got up, walked deliberately to the front of the room, and started dancing.  I'm not sure what to call the type of dancing, there were definitely some Michael Jackson moves thrown in(all the kids here moonwalk).  

The teacher decided to ignore the dancing, which spurred the boy on.  He danced more wildly by the second, arms waving and feet shuffling.  The rest of the class(and I must admit myself) were thoroughly amused.  The teacher didn't seem to want to back down, so this continued, and I am NOT exaggerating, for about twenty five more minutes, until the end of class.

Just another day as a teacher in Thailand.

Now I call the student Michael Jackson, which always elicits big smiles.