Volunteer Zachary from Boston

One afternoon I had just gotten back from Tungpho Wittaya Secondary School when I received a phone call from Zachary App, he called me from his home in Boston. At first I was a bit confused by his phone call, it is not often we receive phone calls from overseas, he had made arrangements with another organization and he had 10 days where he wanted to come to Thai Muang before he went north to join the other organization. Normally we do not take volunteers for such a short period of time, minimum one month, but there was something in our conversation that told me that Zach was a serious volunteer and he wanted to spend his time in Thailand volunteering and not just come as a tourist. I went to see teacher Fon at the vocational college and she wanted Zach as a volunteer even though it was for just one week.
Zach is 20 years old, a student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, here is what he wrote about volunteering with Thai Mueang Volunteers:

Sawatdee khrap. Pom cheu Zach leh pom a yu yisip pee. Pom ma jak brah te America leh pom ben naksiksa University of Massachusetts Amherst.

I arrived in Thai Muang three weeks ago. Initially, my plans were to spend a week here with Thai Mueang Volunteers then head north for Volunteers for Peace. I was placed at Thai Muang Industrial and Community Education College as an English teacher. I think its hard for anyone to forget walking into class on that first day and hearing a class full of students, all in unison, yell “Hello teacher! Good morning! How are you!” I know I won’t. They yelled that phrase each morning, louder than I thought necessary, as I am not a teacher. I am just a volunteer. Either way, they were more welcoming to me than I could ever have hoped for, and I thank them for that. I guess I had a bad view of how foreigners are treated from seeing it back home and I can remember thinking to myself - “I’m glad I’m not that guy.” And although now I am that guy, the token farang, I also learned very quickly that life is much different here and the people are too.

I think it was during one particular game of hangman my first week here that I knew I wasn’t leaving. The class was split into three teams and the word was “fireman.” Getting down to the last letter, it went from being a review game for basic vocabulary to zach tug-of-war with me sandwiched between twenty screaming kids fighting for the opportunity to give the last letter. Sometimes we have too much fun and I have to remind myself why I’m here. Since then every day has been better than the day before and if there is one piece of advice I can give to future volunteers it is to stay as long as you can. During the first week or two the students will be adjusting to you. It took me about a week to get to know the students and how to make good lesson plans.

The food is very spicy and rice is served with just about every meal. The other day was a Buddist holiday so the school went to the temple in Thai Muang. One of the students bought me an ice cream off a vendor before we went in. I guess I should say that I shouldn’t have been surprised to find rice at the bottom, but I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t expecting that.

The majority of classes I teach are the students studying to work in the hotel and tourism industry. They need to hear English spoken from native English speaking people. If they don’t learn English now they may have trouble getting jobs after they are through with school. There are no foreigners at the school or in the town, so they have nobody to practice speaking with. The more they are exposed to it and use it now, the more they will retain it. From primary school on, they are taught English in school by Thai teachers, so volunteers can especially help with their pronunciation. They want to learn. Everyday when we do dialogues they all surround me and put their papers in front of me pointing at a certain word. The students have a very, very basic level of English. Patience is key as it is a very slow process. I have made some good friends here, both students and teachers, that I will leave behind when I go.

Zach

Turner Wright in Thai Muang

A warm welcome to Turner, here is what he wrote after his first two weeks:

Whether you think you are or not, you’re still running the gauntlet. I’m exaggerating of course, but any first-time teacher who says he isn’t terrified that moment when 20 sets of eyes fall on him, and the only way to break the silence is well-planned words emanating from your mouth, is lying. Through their teeth.

Teaching in Thailand is no exception. I arrived on Monday, June 16th, to a three-person welcoming party and dinner on the beach. And despite my confidence at having already lived in a foreign country, I must admit, I had forgotten some of the difficulties: the constant attention involved with being the token farang (foreigner); the language necessary to order food, mail a letter, haggle over a price, travel by bus, or just shoot the breeze. More to the point, I had never been to Thailand, nor studied the culture too extensively.

These reasons, among others, are why it was such a comfort to me that TM Volunteers are slowly adjusted to their new environment with tours of the surrounding beaches, short visits to the school, and time to think and prepare classes.

As to the school itself?  I had the “misfortune” of starting my work on Teacher’s Day, set aside for students to honor those educators.  Let me paint a picture… in less than an hour, 200 students had kneeled in front me, letting their foreheads touch the pavement to show the most respect.  With little knowledge of Thai or the expected reactions, I pretty much just sat there and smiled, hoping that would suffice for the students.

Aside from that interesting experience, the school, staff, and kids have been fun; the principal makes great efforts to speak English to me when attempting to pass along tidbits about living in Thailand; the teachers are always ready with a smile and a wai in the early morning when I arrive; and the students, although some still see me as some kind of magical creature with brown hair, are receptive to what I’m trying to tell them.

I was very surprised at the style of teaching in this particular school. Maybe my memories of primary school are tainted, but I can’t help but see a very hands-off approach from Thai teachers: giving their students some work, then basically leaving them alone in the classroom to finish the assignment without any assistance. Very little interactive discussions, Q & A, or even lecturing.

As far as Thai Mueang is concerned, it’s a quiet, but very peaceful area. Close to the beach (2 km), with access to most amenities.  It’s been a little bit of a problem getting around during the rainy season (from July), but otherwise, it’s a good place to live and a decent stepping-off point for Phuket or Suratthani.

I haven’t quite achieved the same level of energy or strength that I’ve been used to since getting on a Thai diet.  Not to say that the food isn’t healthy or tasty – quite the contrary; Thai food is usually either very very sweet or very very spicy. But, I haven’t been able to find as many citrus fruits for a quick energy boost or too much variety in the restaurants around Thai Mueang.

All in all, it’s educational. I’m still kind of treating the experience as though I’m still in Japan: my instinct is to speak Japanese when I can’t understand something in a foreign tongue; I find myself comparing Thai students with Japanese, Thai food with Japanese, Thai weather to Japanese… Obviously this is not a good idea, and I need to wipe the slate clean and approach a life in Thailand with little to no influence: don’t let anyone tell you “this is the way it is in Thailand”. Take some time, and judge for yourself. It may be true, but filling your head with others’ attitudes and possible misconceptions does nothing for your experience.

Pros:
- Thai Mueang area – tropical and easy access to the beach
- Thai food, savory and nutritious
- Cost of living, cheap and easy
- Acceptance of foreigners to a point
- The students, relatively receptive and intelligent
- The volunteer house – big, clean, and quiet
- Thai language lessons for volunteers – useful and interesting
- Follow-ups – Anders checks in with you on lessons and life

Cons:
- The rainy season
- Transportation around town, i.e. there isn’t any unless you feel like riding backseat on a motorbike in the rain
- Thai food – way, way, too spicy for comfort
- Exposure to other foreigners, other POV’s, not very likely in Thai Mueang
- The volunteer house – a little bit of a walk in/out of town

Read about Turner’s experiences teaching English in Japan at Keeping Pace in Japan.

June in Thai Mueang

June in Thai Mueang.
David in Scotland was so kind to remind me about our blog not being updated for a while. Thanks for the reminder. Please remember to leave some comments or questions of your own.

It has been quite a hectic start of the new school year, I myself am back at Thungpho Wittaya Secondary in Khok Kloi, about 20 km from here. It felt so good coming back to Thungpho, seeing the students, talking to them, feel the life and the vibes there are at a school is always great. I’ve also been around to the schools in our program to see if there are any changes to be made for the new year, they are all very helpful and they all asked me when they will get the next volunteer.

Our volunteer correspondent Chelsey, has gone back to Canada, she had to go back to finish her law degree. Chelsey and I started the work of getting TMV on the internet, getting the word out and getting us known on the web. It was quite a task considering that neither of us had ever done any work like this before.

Memories of Chels
I use a 3 to 4 finger system when “punching” on the keyboard, I don’t know how many fingers that are involved when Chels is “punching”, but it seems to me that the elegant attack the keyboard is being punished with… is very effective. One becomes attached to the keyboard, it becomes part of you, you have good days with the keyboard, you have bad days. Then you spill water on it! Tchaah, turn it upside down, you have to get up and do something to something that you don’t want to do anything for. Then again when you write an email to someone you love, the keys are stuck with gentle caring strokes, caressed with the fingertips and it sends a message across the globe with a blink of an eye. It is so normal to you, it is still so amazing to me.
08.30. You must have wet your bed. I still picture you standing in the fridge door, grabbing things with your right hand and just collecting with the left, “good morning” the way you walked, the positioning of your hips when standing, not sending much loving or caring towards whatever bacteria-filled breakfast (yoghurt) that was gonna continue to upset your stomach for the time being, made me understand that it would be the best for both of us if I just kept my mouth shut and went to work. Chels and I have worked together for almost a year here at the office; rarely do you meet someone that you live so close with for such a long period of time without there are sparks flying every now and then. In our case it has only happened once, I’ll spare you the details, we have laughed, cried, been mystified together, and most important we have always been there for each other no matter what. Thai Mueang Volunteers would never have been where it is today without you dear Chels, with your views, you hard work and the dedication you have shown us, the local community, and other friends of Thai Mueang Volunteers, you will always be in our hearts and we look forward to seeing you here again some time in the future. Beautiful you are, unique, so young. I have learnt so much from you.

Turner
Our next volunteer will arrive 16th of June, he is going to teach at Wat Patchatikaram Primary School starting the 19th. Turner is, 25, American, and he has been teaching English in Japan for a year, we are very exited and so are the students at the school.

TM Volunteer Farewell - Paul

The final week of Paul’s volunteer placement has arrived, and here are his comments on his time in Thai Mueang:

My favorite memory:  All of my students. Every one of them were good students, had a good attitude trying their best and always willing to learn. This in spite of the fact that I was teaching them during their holidays. Remember how you felt about summer school? I wish all of them a bright future.
I was surprised that…  the level of understanding and speaking English was rather low. The students have a good textbook understanding of English, i.e. they can recognize and read English words. However, they need a lot of help speaking English and pronunciation needs work. That is where the volunteer can help.
My best received lesson: were ones that didn’t come out of a text book. I would have the students create something – like a map of town, or the layout of a hotel resort (for the hospitality and tourism students) – and then they would practice giving directions. It was more relevant to them if they were working with something that they created.
Tip for Future Volunteers: My tip is to expect that the students will have a low level of understanding and seek out material that teaches English in a simple way but with lots of pictures. The book I ended up using most was “Side by Side”, by Melinsky and Bliss, purchased at a Border’s book store in the U.S.
Practical tip: Take it easy when you first arrive, and do not take any trips on a motorbike on the highway until you have several days (or more) of practice. A minor fall could lead to a scrape that would only take a few days to heal at home, but could take weeks to heal here. (You can find the same advice over and over in Lonely Planet – take it). As you might guess, I learned the hard way.
Personal Paragraph: Overall the experience was very good. Thai Muang is a wonderful town located on a beautiful never ending beach that you will have to yourself. It is also close to many popular tourist locations which you can reach on the weekends. The students need to learn English if they want to get a job in the tourism sector that surrounds the area and tourism is obviously a major part of the Thai economy. These students greatly benefit from any help they receive in improving their English.

Volunteer for Summer School in Thai Mueang

Paul’s thoughts on his first week volunteer teaching at the Thai Mueang Vocational College:

I have just finished my first week teaching at the vocational school. My students were 16 teenagers who are studying to work in the tourism/hospitality field. Although the school is officially on vacation at this time, these student were so eager to learn English that they took time off from their school holidays to spend their mornings back at school – with me!

Although I can calmly write about my first week looking back on it now, it was an intimidating experience for me at first due to my lack of teaching experience. By way of background I am a middle aged professional man who has taken time off from work to volunteer in Thailand. I had never taught in a classroom setting before. TM Volunteers is not the place to go if you are only looking for a holiday. They give you a great deal of responsibility. I was given suggestions and resources to assist in preparing my lessons and given all the support that I have requested. However, the lesson planning was up to me, and I was in charge of the class.

The students here know their English words, and are good at spelling – a good textbook understanding of the language. But they are very weak in conversational English. That is where the volunteer teacher can help. I kept my lessons relevant by dealing with themes related to the hotel and restaurant industry. The students reacted in a positive way. Even though this was only a one week assignment, I am confident that the students understand English better, and more importantly, understand the importance of continuing to study English if they want to work in the hospitality industry.

I am looking forward to my new assignment with a new group of students that starts next week.

Creative Volunteering Experience

In addition to improving the children’s English skills, our other main goal is to bring creativity and imagination to the Thai classroom, enabling the children to think independently and look at things more curiously. We want to branch out from the typical question and answer teaching methodology, where the children simply memorize, and create more interactive learning environments. You can often find that the students are able to correctly pick the definition of a word on a test, but if you put them in a situation where they are asked to use the same word in a sentence, they are not capable. By integrating English with activities such as drawing, songs, and physical activity it makes the students more engaged in the learning process. When learning by creating or through activity it creates a larger need to understand the concepts of the task rather than merely listening to a teacher or reading from a textbook. More fun makes the experience unforgettable and it becomes relevant to their lives. It encourages the children to associate what they are learning with the world around them, so that they can use their knowledge outside of the classroom. The learning process becomes about more than just reciting facts. Active learning requires decision-making skills and those can be used in every aspect of the child’s life, regardless of whether it involves English or not.

We believe that volunteers are the perfect tool in creating new and exciting learning environments. We are not expecting volunteers to come for month placements and create fluent English speaking students. What we do expect is for them to create lesson plans based on their own personal skills, abilities and experience. Volunteers are not limited to strict teaching methodologies and are more adaptable to their current situation. They bring a variety of cultures to the Thai classroom and each person has a unique skill to incorporate into their teachings. Before arrival each volunteer must be able to explain to us what skills they have and how they would like to incorporate them into the classroom. We require each volunteer to create their own lesson plans, to ensure that the children are having a new and unique experience each time. They bring with them; inspiration to do some good, curiosity in that they are as eager to learn about a new culture as the students are to learn about them, and lastly they are a doorway to the outside, the world that would otherwise be closed due to lack of money.

Education is an empowerment tool. By providing under-funded schools with foreign volunteers, the students will not only be learning valuable English skills, they will also come into contact with different ways of life. With no disrespect to the Thai education system, we see a lack of motivation in the students to think independently and creatively. The intelligent children are focused on, and those that are slower to learn are repeatedly left behind. There is little to no reason for the children to believe that they are capable of changing anything in their lives, or to reach for anything more than the minimum expected of them. We want to teach these children that they have abilities they can build upon and prospects in their world that reach further than the next rubber tree farm or local corner restaurant.

Why Volunteer in Thai Mueang?

We created Thai Mueang Volunteers with the motivation of providing equal opportunity for all the children in our community. We are very aware of a large inconsistency between the schools in our area that have excess funding and those with little to none. Most often those schools with adequate resources receive significant amounts of money from outside sources, such as; the parents who have a larger income and can afford high tuition fees and company donations. For the other schools with students from families of a lower income bracket, it is not an option to pay extra tuition fees. This means that hiring a foreign teacher receiving a salary of 20-30,000 Baht a month is out of the question. All of the schools we deal with would otherwise not have the opportunity to obtain a foreign English teacher on their own and are missing out on a great learning opportunity.

The following is a budget for a period of one year, from Ban Thateang Primary School, one of the schools participating with Thai Mueang Volunteers. They receive a mere 1100 Baht per student and with only 52 students that only amounts to 57, 200 Baht a year. They pay approximately 30% of that, or 17 000 Baht to the running costs of the school like water, electricity, repairs and office supplies. That leaves only 40 000 Baht, 1250 American dollars, to pay for the rest of the student related costs like classroom supplies, books, computers and sports equipment, for a YEAR. That 40, 000 doesn’t cover the students needs and what ends up happening is the teacher’s paying out of their own pocket OR parents need to try and put together enough money to cover the costs. The government also only allows 4500 Baht for uniforms and divided by 52 students that means 86 Baht per child. A school uniform costs more than 400 Baht, and that does not even include the shoes. This is why you will often see children wearing the same torn uniform and shoes to school every day. There just is not enough money to adequately provide for these children’s education, let alone even think of bringing in a foreign teacher.

A newspaper article I recently read in the Bangkok Post backed up all the views that I have just expressed. It described a need for an extra 30 billion baht per year into the Thai school system to create a truly free education system, improve teaching standards and remove the financial liabilities on the schools and parents. Somkiat Chobphol, the commission deputy secretary-general, states, “The 12-year basic education program, which is supposed to be free, does not live up to its name. At present, parents have to pay money for all kinds of extras, such as school equipment charges. Government subsidies do not stretch for enough.”

(The full article “B30bn needed to improve education standards” written by Sirikul Bunnag, can be found in the Bangkok Post Archives – General News Section from February 1, 2008.)

TM Volunteer Farewell

TM Volunteers had to say good bye to our volunteer Karen this past Friday. Here are her final comments and tips after her four week stay in Thai Mueang:

I’m not going to lie- when my last day of teaching arrived, I was somewhat relieved. Teaching and lesson planning were a huge challenge for me, as I knew it would be coming in. When I was saying bye to the kids I was silently willing myself not to cry…but I did. What happens when a grown-up starts to cry in front of 8-11 year olds? They cry too- though I wonder if a few of them really understood what was going on! I will look back on Thai Mueang and surrounding area with fondness; I made some great friends here in the community and they will stay with me in my heart!

My favorite memory: Trying to spread myself out and give the desired attention to all twenty students who were constantly waving their paper at me and shouting ‘My teacher’ or ‘Miss Karen’, wanting me to give them a smiley face or my signature on their paper as my seal of approval.
I was surprised that… No matter how much I feigned anger or raised my already hoarse voice (out of real frustration) or slapped the bamboo stick on the desk (which I just did because the students loved it) they were still just as excited to see me arrive at the beginning of each school day as they had been on day one, and just as sad to leave at the end of every day.
The most difficult thing I experienced was… Trying to explain games / activities at the very beginning when I hardly knew a word of Thai and the students hardly knew a word of English. I also wasn’t a very experienced teacher, so this didn’t help!
My best received lesson: Anything involving charades, Pictionary, or a game that involved someone getting ‘out’ like Magical chairs or hot potato.
Tip for Future Volunteers: Don’t kid yourself- this is really hard work! Arrive a couple of days early and take time throughout to lesson plan!!

TM Volunteers - Karen’s Week

Karen, our volunteer at Ban Thataeng School, writes about her past week in Thai Mueang:

Every night when my head hits the pillow I am grateful for another successful day. After six hours at school, an hour Thai lesson, a bit of lesson planning and socializing, I am kaput. Everyday is exhausting, but the kids are learning and they still seem to adore me, so hopefully I am doing something right. The kids are quite resourceful and find it highly entertaining to shout out random English words and phrases that they have learned outside of class. During class they act shy and cute, but during my break I can’t seem to get them to be quiet. At least they are practicing their English!

I can even say a sentence or two in Thai, so between their gibberish and mine, we communicate quite well. Except today; I tried to tell another teacher that I was happy and enjoying teaching the kids, when a few minutes later a random plate of food appeared in front of me. I realized too late that I had confused ‘happy’, with ‘hungry’. I ended up having to force down an unusual assortment of food.

The kids seem to really enjoy learning English, so I hope that there will be another volunteer to replace me in the coming months. Already I know it will be very hard to say goodbye to my students in one and a half weeks.

Great start to the New Year for TM Volunteers

The New Year has started off very busy here at Thai Mueang Volunteers. Our first volunteer of 2008 started her placement with us at Ban Thateang Primary School on January 12. Karen from Canada writes about her first weeks with Thai Mueang Volunteers:

So far, so good here with Thai Mueang Volunteers. It definitely helps having a nice quiet house to go back to after a rowdy day at school! The house is 1.5 km’s out of town, surrounded by rubber tree farms and is very picturesque.

Teaching has so far been very challenging, but also very fun. I may be learning just as much as the kids! I think that over the next two weeks I can refine my teaching skills and help the kids to improve greatly; the older kids are especially keen and quick learners. The highlights of the day are definitely the enthusiastic responses of the kids when they see me, and the daily visit from the ice cream man at lunch. Ice cream was a major part of my diet here for the first week, as the restaurant menus (written in Thai only) are a lot more daunting. Good thing for my Thai lessons three times a week!

I am greatly enjoying the simplicity of my life in Thai Mueang; teaching and eating are the only requirements of any given day and I look forward to the coming weeks.