Greetings from Bangkok! Thank you for visiting the GW UNESCO Fellows blog and following our journeys.
I am just finishing up my first month here in Bangkok, trying to settle into my new normal and adjust to work at the UNESCO Bangkok office. Bangkok is both a Cluster office, which helps to implement programs in the Mekong countries, and the Regional Bureau for Education, with work extending far outside just Thailand. What all this means for me is that I am learning a lot about how UNESCO works in both Thailand and the entire Asia Pacific region.
I am working within the Inclusive Quality Education (IQE) sector (one of two education sectors within UNESCO Bangkok), and my primary role is to support the multilingual education (MLE) team, which advocates for mother tongue-based multilingual education programs and policies. With large populations migrating, whether it be forced or driven by economic or education factors, promoting linguistic diversity is more critical than ever, especially in a region that represents half of the world’s languages. UNESCO believes the key to unlocking SDG 4 is through mother tongue-based education because quality education is only possible when it reflects the diverse multi-linguistic nature of our world. The Bangkok office has published some really amazing work on the power of mother tongue-based learning that is worth a read! I ran across a number of these publications during my own research on multilingual education back home and it has been fun to get my hands on the physical copies.
As a cheerleader of the IQE team, I not only sing their praises to anyone who will listen but I also am assisting in the organization of both the 6th International Conference on Language and Education and the High-level policy forum on MLE, both happening in September. These events are the reason I am staying a bit longer than some of the other fellows; instead of the traditional three months, I will be in my fellowship for five so that I can attend the conference. What I love most about helping out with this event is getting to know all the partner organizations, such as the British Council, SIL International, UNICEF, and Save the Children. Not only am I learning from and working with the great people at UNESCO but I also get the chance to interact with all these other amazing organizations as we all work towards the achieving the same goal.
One of my more exciting assignments has been helping to develop the abstract for UNESCO’s presentation during the conference. We will be exploring how the different sectors incorporate language into their programs. This means I have had the chance to meet with and talk to other departments about their current projects. While my sector will cover the education aspect, we will also be bringing in Culture, Communication and Information, and Social and Human Sciences to share their input on how language influences their work. It has been really interesting to hear what other departments are working on as it can be a little too easy to get wrapped up in my own work in education and forget just how far UNESCO’s reach extends.
Outside of work, I fill my time by being overwhelmed by this city. There is so much to do and see and EAT. To be honest, I do not have a lot of experience with Thai food and I struggle with anything too spicy, but there are so many types of dishes to try that I feel like I will never run out of new and exciting options. Eating in Thailand feels like a full time job, it requires a lot of my attention.
I have also been trying to see as much of the city and surrounding area as I can, which can be a little difficult thanks to Bangkok’s notoriously horrible traffic. Last weekend, I avoided the roads and hopped on a train to Ayutthaya, one of the ancient capitals of the Kingdom of Siam-it was the perfect day trip!
I also spend a lot of time trying to avoid the humidity and rain, which is no easy feat. My time here perfectly coincides with monsoon season, which means I can expect high humidity and a lot of rain. One good way to escape Bangkok’s tropical weather is to shop. This city forces you to like shopping not only because there are endless high-end shopping malls with some pretty amazing food courts and free air conditioning but also because Bangkok is home to the world’s largest weekend market, Chatuchak. I could go to this market every weekend and still not see everything it has to offer.
I did not realize how eventful my first month in Bangkok was until I sat down to write this post. I can only hope the next four months bring more adventure, learning opportunities, and food. Until next time- Sawadee Ka!
Brynn Acker is a Master’s candidate in International Education with a focus on multilingual education and linguistically marginalized populations.