Learning Curve

I began my ethnography project as a way to teach university students basic research skills while practicing English. In Thailand, it is common for students to copy material without guilt, and essays are usually cut-and-paste directly off the Internet.  Therefore, I decided to have them research something that they wouldn’t plagiarize – their own family backgrounds and village life. Based on ethnographic principles, I requested that my students interview Thai elders (using my own list of questions) and write reports on the results. I edited this material later to create inexpensive mini-textbooks to use in other English classes.

In this first installment, I had students interview elders about their family origins. Where did they come from? When did they move to the Ayutthaya province? What was life like in their village decades ago? I wrote two ethnography reports of my own for this section, which I used in class to model how the research needed to be done.  

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In my second ethnography project, students were required to interview a Thai elder about education in their village. I wanted my students to learn how Thai schools, teaching methods, and classroom equipment have changed over the decades. I followed up this activity by having students make “then and now” comparisons. This list is comprised of the best 10 reports (as paraphrased and summarized by me).

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 In the third installment of my ethnography project, I had students interview elders in their Thai village about the local environment. How has it changed over the years? What was life like for their grandparents during previous decades? What animals existed then, and how has the city grown? The best 15 reports are included here (as paraphrased and summarized by me).

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