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My name is Denali, although while I’m in Thailand, I am going by “Dee” since it is a much easier name to remember.  “Dee” means “good” in Thai, so it’s a decent nickname.

I’m traveling with my older brother, Yoshi, and my good friend, Gina, and we’ve been in Thai Muang for a little over a week. We arrived at 6:30 in the morning on an overnight bus, and Anders and his friend, Tia, were kind enough to pick us up and drive us to the volunteer house about 1km from the main road.  It’s more enjoyable to walk at night time, after the sun has gone down.  People passing by have offered to give us rides to our destinations on numerous occasions.  We jump in the back of pick-up trucks, ride in the side carts of motorbikes, or sit on the back of motorbikes (this option, I’m not so fond of, since I crashed twice on a motorbike in Southern Thailand in December).

There is one bicycle shared between four volunteers at the moment, but since Yoshi rides the bike to his school a few kilometers away, he has priority on weekdays.  Gina and I don’t mind very much, because our school, Wat Muang Pracharam Primary School, is only a 25 minute walk from the volunteer house, and the beach is only a 20 minute walk from the school. (Yes, Gina and I are slow-paced walkers.)  The two of us have managed to be at the beach a minimum of once every day since we’ve arrived.  On our way to the beach, people on the streets shout out “Hello! Where you go?” to which, we reply “bai ta lay”.  This is one of the few Thai phrases I’ve mastered, and it means “Go to the sea.”  However, as wonderful as the beach has been, we have had the time of our lives teaching grades 1st through 6th.  We have each class once a week, and we have no classes on Thursday.  Gina and I have never taught before, and when we tell people that we are both 18 years old, they are always very surprised. The teachers thought we were 25.  On our first day, we arrived at 8am and watched their morning assembly- the band played music, each class stood in line for morning exercises and stretching, the flags were raised, and we made a brief speech to the school on a microphone to introduce ourselves.  Since then, we’ve said “hello” and “how are you?” a few hundred times, given loads of high-fives and handshakes (a.k.a. “shake hands”), and gotten more hugs than imaginable.  The kids have been wonderful.

I’ll write more later.

At the moment we are having a busy time here at Thai Mueang Volunteers. Eileen who has been here since November is still at Ban Huaisai Primary School where she will be until January 23. Eileen is an archeologist, in her fifties, born in Singapore, American father, English mother, traveled the world, and has been married to Klaus, who is German, for 25 years. Whew, what can I say, she is Ms International around here. It is great having her here, since she has been here for over two months and she knows her way around, she has made my job a little easier. Eileen gladly shares her knowledge with the new volunteers, both about the area and her teaching experience at a Thai primary school. Maude, a British engineering student studying at a university in Singapore is here too, she is assisting Eileen at Ban Huaisai for a couple of weeks.

Yoshi, Gina and Denali arrived yesterday and they have been introduced to the teachers and the students at the schools where they will be teaching, they will start their volunteering period tomorrow. Yoshi is going to Ban Kownoi Primary School, and Gina and Denali will be teaching together at Wat Muang Pracharam. All three of them will be volunteering for three weeks.

Volunteer Teaching with Thai Mueang Volunteers

People who think that volunteer teaching with Thai Mueang Volunteers is going to be a holiday where you go and teach English every now and then… sorry, it is the other way around…
We are NOT a “voluntourism” organization, we do not see you as a tourist but as a volunteer English teacher who is here to teach proper classes, proper lessons, so…
Our volunteers are required to create meaningful lesson plans and to be prepared for the lessons they will be teaching. Our aims and goals are for the students to expand their knowledge of the English language, foreign countries and cultures, and we want to see them improve their language skills.
When volunteers arrive they go through a day of introduction about Thai culture, teaching at a Thai school, do’s and dont’s , how to create a useful lesson plan etc. We will never send a volunteer to a school unless we have made sure that they fully understand what is expected of them and they are fully prepared for their lessons.
Volunteers also receive Thai lessons, taught by Andoo, so they can get around in their spare time, ask for directions, haggle over prices, order at a restaurant etc. There will be plenty of time to enjoy the beach and other parts of this amazing country, in your spare time after school and in the weekends.
Future volunteers should know before they make the decision to volunteer and teach English with Thai Mueang Volunteers that we expect them to bring themselves into the classroom, we want them to use their skills and talents as tools to teach the English language, creating their own lessons from scratch and not just bring in photo copies from an English book. Remember, there is always people here to assist you in planning your lessons.

A former volunteer, Turner Wright, has written an article about volunteering with Thai Mueang Volunteers at the Matador Travel website, you can read it by clicking HERE, khrup koon maa khrap Turner.

I’ve had this Calvin & Hobbes strip in my drawer for years now, and today I’ve “sticky-tacked” it on my wall, it makes me think of something my dad said about 100 years ago – “there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers”
Happy New Year
Anders

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…