Teachers know all about modifying the environment to change behavior. I guess monks do too. There's a large concrete area in front of the school and next to the temple side chapel. For as long as I've been teaching at Wat Klang, seven years until now, it had been the gathering place for the school's opening ceremonies. But, not this year.
The concrete slab is festooned with trees in planters effectively breaking up the open space. The school's opening exercises have been moved unto the grass close to the school. Soccer has moved to the large grassy area across the concrete far from the chapel...and that's the idea. The head monk didn't like the soccer ball hitting the chapel so he modified the environment with the planters and trees. There's no space left for soccer so they are forced unto the grass.
With the class lined up boys on one side of the room and girls on the other we tossed a ball back and forth. "I throw the ball to Saroh." There are three times as many girls as boys. However, they carefully distributed their throws so each girl was included...not all throws were to the most popular. Except, I stopped the game before one girl had been included. Natachea said "Teacher, teach Samee no ball!" I quickly tossed it to Samee and the all was well.
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| Soccer barrier. |
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| Teaching 3rd grade. |
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| With 3rd grade. |
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