One-house open sleigh

It's crazy how much Thais respect their teachers.

The other day Thun was singing Jingle Bells:

"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-house open sleigh."
"Wrong!" I corrected him. "One-horse open sleigh."

"No!" he insisted, "one-house!"

"No. one-horse."

"No, my teacher said one-house."

"Your teacher is wrong!" I yelled. "Listen to me, you might learn something. Do you even know what a sleigh is?"

"One-house," he insisted. "My teacher says so."

Which teacher???" Poo and I demanded in unison. Surely not Khru Melinda!

This year Thun's English teacher is a Filipina, Khru Melinda. She doesn't speak Thai, but she is young, pretty and impeccably dressed, and she speaks perfect English. Also, she seems a little lonely in that school full of Thai-speakers, so she is happy to chat with me when I visit. I think she's great but Poo has some concerns.

"How can she teach the students if she doesn't speak Thai?" asks Poo, "how can they ask a question? How can she communicate with them?"

She has a point but we're in Thailand where it's not proper to criticize a teacher, so I defend Khru Melinda: "She's excellent; Thun's English, especially his reading, is improving every week."

Fortunately, it was not Khru Melinda who taught "one-house open sleigh" but his music teacher. Thun would not give in and insisted his teacher was right. In Thun's world, the teacher is always right. It makes life simple, but it doesn't encourage critical thinking.

Finally, I settled the argument, "OK, ask Khru Melinda if it is one-house or one-horse."

That will mess him up.