Learning a “Sawatdee” Greetings during an International Teaching Assistance in Jitjongrak School, Krabi

English Department

Hailatun Nada Salsabila

28th May, 2024

Learning and Students

SDG 17

The “Sawatdee” greetings have been attached to the culture of Thailand. Every school in Thailand does this greeting by putting their hands together while saying “ Sawatdee kha for women and sawatdee khrab for men ”. Jitjongrak school is not an exception in performing the culture. Every morning the teacher in charge will wait for the students at the entrance gate to greet the students. During the International Teaching Assistance (AMI) 2024, 2 students from English Department Universitas Negeri Malang got a chance to directly apply the “Sawatdee ” greetings  at Jitjongrak school, Krabi. 

On May 27th 2024, the first day of teaching, two students from Universitas Negeri Malang learned a new culture in their placement school, Jitjongrak School. Initially, two of the UM’s students did not take part in the “Sawatdee” greetings, but they wanted to learn as many things as they could during the program.  They asked for permission from the director of school and after getting her permission, finally they can experience the “Sawatdee” greetings every day. ‘The experience was nice, students greeted me warmly and bowed as a sign of respect to their teacher, I feel like I was really respected’ said Hailatun Nada, one of the UM’s students after experiencing “Sawatdee” greetings. This showed that a good partnership brought lots of new experience. In this case, we can exchange knowledge about the cultures of Thailand and Indonesia.  

Figure 1. UM student experienced the ‘sawatdee culture’ as a greeting 

The “Sawatdee” greetings have been a requirement in Thailand as it has been a part of their culture. Overall, the “Sawatdee” greetings that are applied in Thai schools play a significant role in shaping social behavior, cultural identity, and language skills among students, contributing to a respectful and cohesive school community.