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.