Third time’s a charm.

I almost flew to Mexico. In reaction to consecutive unceremonious conclusions to teaching in Thailand, I had my finger on the “purchase now” button for a one-way ticket to Mexico. It’s close to my home state of California, and I had been reading about lovely tacos and tortas. I reasoned that I deserved a tranquil environment in which to re-set and re-assess my life goals. I doubted if I would ever throw my CV into the TEFL ring again. I re-imagined a future of studying Spanish and learning how to salsa.

Then two things happened: I pressed “purchase now” and my screen froze. I could not complete my purchase. I re-started my phone and tried to “purchase now” again, but my transaction froze. I re-started my phone a 2nd time, and this time received an email notification.

A school to whom I had sent my CV months ago sent me a message. They were interested in speaking to me, and they wanted to know if I was still in Thailand? I noticed their address: Chiang Mai. They were just down the road from me! I ended up interviewing that day, getting the offer that afternoon, and showed up to teach English two days later.

The Universe had intervened on my Mexican fantasy, blocked my ticket purchase, and re-routed me to a high school down the road. Bye bye salsa dancing, hello “Adverbs of frequency.” My third teaching gig, hopefully third time’s a charm.

Black History Month in Chiang Mai

Teacher Dime is ruing the day he told me to present four lessons to the English class. “On anything cultural”, he said. Famous last words. We were wrapping up our online class that we co-taught, where “co” meant Teacher Dime led the class, and used me as a side accessory. However, it was the end of the year and he didn’t want to teach for the remaining two weeks, so he could focus on turning in grades.

“I leave it up to you,” he said, waving his hand theatrically.

Initially, my mind went to generic holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc. The fact that I began yawning was all the confirmation I needed to not trot out that boring, bland lesson. It was the month of February, and in the US, it was Black History Month. I began researching MLK Jr, and then Nelson Mandela. Then, I remembered how much I loved the song “Free Nelson Mandela”, and that is how I finally landed on my cultural offering…

Black History Month: The History of Hip hop and Rap.

When these words rolled off my tongue at the very next class, Teacher Dime’s jaw dropped. I had organized the lessons to build one upon another, with the foundation being basic vocabulary such as “scratching”, “sampling”, and “MC”, all spliced with corresponding video clips. I was delightfully surprised when, after showing the video clip in support of the word “sampling”, a 14 year old boy spoke up to let me know that that was Puff Daddy’s song “Missing You”, in which he sampled Sting’s original song “Every Breath You Take”.

OMG. Mic drop.

I continued establishing the foundation of hip hop and rap, which grew out of poor Black neighborhoods in New York. I showed “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z, and all my students rapped along. It blew my mind that these young teenagers were so well educated on my topic! I was delightfully pleased indeed.

I showed a photo of A$AP Rocky, draped in the US flag, on location in Harlem. I kept emphasizing the fact that you cannot tell the history of the US separate from the history of Black Americans. I wanted to emphasize the point that out of desperation, racism, and poverty, Black Americans created one of the greatest gifts to the world. After all, many of my students adore rappers a la K-pop, J-pop, Thai-pop, but I wanted them to know the roots of rap. I wanted them to know that the OG’s came together organically, and were bound with a common pain, a common injustice. Stark contrast to rappers who had been brought together by big label companies. 

Gangsta

In the 2nd lesson, I moved from building block vocabulary words to the origin of rap, and rap battles. I also discussed the differences between west coast rap, east coast rap, and trap. I also introduced gangsta rap with the classic Dr. Dre and Snoop video, “Still Dre.”

By this time, Teacher Dime had yanked out his earbuds! (we were still online during this time). The man could take no more, and although he was physically present, he ceased to pay attention to my “culture lesson”.

On the other hand, one of my other Thai co-teachers—the head of the Thai teachers—was also the oldest. You might assume she too, would’ve yanked out her earbuds. Instead, being the consummate professional, she supported me all the way. She plunged in with no judgment or reservation. Bless her heart, I heard her translate my lesson thusly: “blah-blah-blah-gangsta, blah-blah-blah NWA.“

My rapping Thai co-teacher

My 3rd Thai co-teacher is actually a rapper. He was hype for my lessons, and rapped the entire time during my lesson! When I showed the photo of A$AP, he blurted, “I love A$AP! I love his fashion!”

I said, “Well, next time we’ll have to drape you in a US flag,” to which he replied, “I have a flag outfit! I can put it on!”

Due to the fact that I was sharing my screen, it meant that I couldn’t see what my Thai co-teacher (whom I shall refer to as Teacher Rap) was or was not wearing. In any case, I continued presenting my lesson. At the end, I closed my share-screen, and only then did I see that Teacher Rap had clothed himself head-to-toe in a US flag track suit, complete with a US flag baseball cap! Not only that, he was holding a microphone! No wonder he kept rapping during my entire lesson!

In the midst of all of this, my school was not able to transfer my work visa from my previous school. This meant that I had to return to the US and re-apply all over again. Since I was contractually obligated to keep teaching, I stayed on Thai-time and worked all through the night, and slept during the day.

I did not pack for the frigid temperatures. I realized that I had no clothes appropriate for March-in-CA-weather. I only had clothes appropriate for year-round tropical weather. My youngest sister generously picked me up from the airport and lent me some warm clothes. Unfortunately, the only shoes I had were the school shoes on my feet. Stepping out to run errands in grey sweats, polka-dot-socks, and black flats, firmly put me in “ah-jumma” mode. 

My ah-jumma fit.

Teacher AK spits bullets

Landing in San Francisco and getting to my hotel was a whirlwind. I truly hit the ground running: landed at 3pm, pulled up to my hotel at 5pm. Jumped in for a quick shower, then hopped online to teach for the rest of the night. I taught Hip hop part II in the History of Hip hop Trilogy (thrillagy?) 

I even rapped some lyrics by Das EFX! Teacher Rap was impressed and said, “Whoa! AK! Can I call you that?” because we were normally very formal and referred to one another as “Teacher” only.

I answered, “Yeah, AK like the machine gun. I spit bullets.” I definitely had lost a filter from traveling for the past 48 hours.

Working at the airport in Bangkok.

Working at the airport in Seoul.

Then I presented the lesson on trap music. Here is a screenshot of my concept-checking question:

“Trap lyrics are about: a) making selling pizza; b) making and selling donuts; c) making and selling drugs.”

In all, I presented four lessons. I am proud that I actually wrote original content for four lessons; it isn’t like I sat back and played rap videos the entire time. I am proud to have presented Black History month at a Christian high school, in a homogenous country, and hopefully let students gain a deeper understanding of the rap music they love.