Scene 1 · Forty Students, One Blackboard

It is 1988. Wit is a young English at a refugee camp in Chonburi. His students come from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, so they speak languages. The classroom is hot, and there are not enough for everyone, so some students sit on the floor.

Every day Wit new words on the blackboard. The students practise saying “Good morning” and “How are you?” again and . When they understand, they and clap their hands.

Scene 2 · Songs Instead of Questions

Many of Wit’s students had their homes during years of war, and some had lost family members. A few were too to talk about the past. Wit decided not to them with questions about their lives. Instead, he used songs and games to help them .

One student, Lan, made progress and soon began helping the others. When Lan’s family finally received to start a new life in Canada, the whole class cried and sang her a goodbye song.

Scene 3 · A Report to the Education Office

Scene 4 · A Conference on Education in Exile

Thirty years later, Wit was invited to speak at an international conference on refugee education.

“Displacement strips people of their homes, their possessions and, too often, their sense of . Language education can either restore that agency or dependence. Too many programmes still treat refugees as recipients of help rather than as active participants in their own futures.

The most effective classrooms I have seen were by mutual respect. Their teachers listened before they taught, and learners’ experience rather than erasing it. Education in exile is not a kindness; it is a right that the international community has promised to uphold.”