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!!