tmvolunteers.org

Sawasdee!
Back again, I’ve been doing some other projects here during the school holidays, mainly to do with the internet, I’ve moved the website to a server in Singapore so some of your emails addressed to Thai Mueang Volunteers might have been undelivered.
If you have sent us an email and you haven’t had any response from it within 24 hours of your sending it, please resend it and we will get back to you as speedy as usual.

It is the beginning of a new school year here in Thailand, and I’m looking forward to start working at Thungpho Wittaya Secondary School again, starting May 12th. It is my third year at Thungpho and it has been great to see the progress of my students, it has also been interesting work to learn about the Thai education system. At the beginning of this term Panida is going to show me how the national grading system works and I will start using it with my students at Thungpho. I will explain more about the grading system when I get it “under my skin”, in a later posting.

We have two volunteers coming in May, Sarah from the UK and a week later Jennifer from the US will arrive. They are going to teach at Ban Kownoi and Wat Patchatikaram Primary Schools. The children are coming back to school after a long holiday so I know they will be eager to learn, and they are probably very energetic as usual.

Last year I came across a new teaching methodology which has been gradually implemented in primary schools all over the rural areas of Thailand. The methodology involves satellite TV. Since 1996 lessons have been broadcasted live from Klaikangwon Palace School in Hua-Hin.
I have been to several village schools in the last year and I have seen classrooms, with about twenty students in them, watching TV. With no teacher present in the classroom it is pretty much up to the children if they are interested in learning any skills at all. There is no teacher present in the classroom!
At the first school I encountered the TV system I thought that it was just that day, some of the teachers are sick or have important things to do besides teaching so they are showing a VCD/DVD to the classes where the teacher is off. I discovered that they were watching TV in all the classrooms so I went around the school, which takes about two minutes, and I found the teachers, some were talking on their mobile phones, others eating and watching TV, all present at school but none were teaching.
As I understand it, the broadcasting was started so the students at rural schools with not enough teachers to teach all subjects, could turn on the TV and the students would have a lesson in one subject and then it should go back to normal, with a teacher teaching the class. Unfortunately, at some schools, the teachers see the broadcasting as an opportunity to do things that have nothing to do with what they are there for…teaching! I have asked some of the teachers what they think of this way of teaching and they pretty much all give the same “shrug on the shoulders” gesture and say that it is what the Thai ministry of education have told them to do.
I’m not going to voice personal opinions nor judge the system, just remember that the Thai education system is very young and there is still a lot of work to do. Our job is to send English speaking volunteers to government schools in our area, and we do our best to send them well prepared volunteers. Lesson planning is essential to create a functional lesson and volunteers here at Thai Mueang Volunteers are all required to create lesson-plans. There are many benefits in using lesson-plans; coming into a classroom with a well prepared plan boosts ones confidence and it becomes easier to teach, aims and goals with the lesson and what parts of the English language will be taught are set before the lesson starts, the exercises and activities have been made and tested by the person who is going to teach the lesson… etc.
I will ask some of our volunteers to write some of their experiences with both creating and using the lesson plans and we will have them posted on our website before the end of this term.

Hasta la Vista
Anders

Web people — Yesterday I had a day where there were no emails from anyone, nothing from everybody in the inbox. Before, we had our website on a server in the UK and we were bombarded with spam emails from “Viagra” and others, have you ever gotten those? Some days when I started the computer in the morning, I would receive more than 90 emails, about 80 of them being spam, and about 1/3 of those being from the company mentioned above. So it does matter on what server you have your website, I found out the hard way, if you are interested in having your website on a first-class server with 99.99% up-time guarantee, let me know and I can set it up for you at a very reasonable rate too.
I also want to update the design of the website but I simply don’t have time for it at the moment so if anyone is interested in volunteering to update the design of our website, just shoot me an email, with examples please. It can be FrontPage, Dreamweaver, in CSS, whichever you prefer.
More than 75% of the volunteers who have been here and seen me working on the computer, have asked if it is possible to make an income online and how to do it, well, here I have the complete answer… Together with my business partner, Mr. Frank Berne, I have created a PDF book about Web 2.0 marketing. It is about creating traffic to your website or blog, after all, traffic to your site is what you need for you to make an income on the internet. This book is for both beginners and experienced marketers and teaches how to generate traffic through Web 2.0. Sign up for the 5 part training series, it’s free: http://www.getthetrafficwithweb20.com/

References:

Education in Thailand:
http://www.thailandqa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4863
http://www.thaischoollife.com/resources-for-teaching-english.html
http://www.digitallearning.in/april06/coverstory.asp
http://wapedia.mobi/en/Education_in_Thailand

Farang opinions about the Thai education system:
http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Thai-Education-Bad-t258072.html

Ministry of Education Thailand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Thailand
http://www.mfa.go.th/web/17.php

Make a living with Web 2.0:
http://www.getthetrafficwithweb20.com/

Technorati Tags: Thai Mueang Volunteers, volunteer experience, Web 2.0, Farang, Thai ministry of education

These are some of the questions people have asked, through emails, the Q&A have been copied as they were without being edited.

1.    Thanks for your interesting email, this is definitely a possibility I would like to consider however the information I really needed was the kind of dates you send volunteers out? Do we go out in groups at certain dates or would I be able to arrange suitable dates and let you know?
Answer:
We have volunteers arriving in Thai Mueang from the 12th May, when the first term of the school year starts. Volunteers start at different times depending on when they arrive.
They all stay at the volunteer house but teach at different schools.
All the schools are in or around Thai Mueang so it is not like we are sending volunteers far away.
You will be able to arrange your volunteering depending on when you are ready to volunteer.

2. Hi, I am an engineering exchange student studying in Singapore. I have 2 weeks spare this Christmas, from 15-29th December, and would like to volunteer? Is this possible?
Answer:
Normally we are interested in having our volunteers for one month or more, but since it is Christmas and you are close to Thailand, we can make an exception. Have you made any thoughts about what age group you are interested in teaching? Primary school students are from 7-12 years old, and secondary school students are from 13-18 years, this is also the age for vocational students. I have a volunteer arriving on the 14th November, Eileen, she is staying until February, maybe you would be interested in assisting her at Ban Huaisai Primary School? This way you would not have to go through the “getting to know you” process which is normal for the students to go through before they start to feel comfortable around you. Please let me know what you think.
That sounds fantastic. A primary school would be great, I have au-paired twice before, with children from 5-13, s I’d be fine with that age too.
I’ve looked at the web-page and seen the fee. How much would I be expected to pay? I understand that I would obviously need to pay for accommodation and food etc, but I do have a budget because im a student, and also need to save some for travelling. So if you could let me know how much it would cost me then I can decide if I can afford it.
Answer:
I have talked to Net, the managing director of Thai Mueang Volunteers and we have come to an agreement that you will not have to pay the registration fee, so a placement fee of 200 Euro would be the price for you to volunteer with us. This will cover airport pick up, accommodation, transport to and from school etc.

3.    Thank you for your email and all the information contained therein.  I am very interested but at the moment I am still at the research stage.  I am looking to take a qualification in Teaching English as a Second Language in the UK and then volunteering for 3 – 4 months abroad.  I am a 49 year old single woman working with the Military in Germany as a Mess Manager.  I was previously a Welfare Officer with the Military working with young single soldiers.  Prior to that basically Business Administration.  I am very people orientated; love meeting new people and learning new things. I am a great believer in making learning an enjoyable experience and would hope to gain invaluable experience from your organisation.
I have read the information on Thai Mueang Volunteers and have a couple of questions.  How many volunteers live in the house at any given time and are the bedrooms on a shared basis?  Is it possible to extend the length of stay?
Thank you again for your contact and I hope to hear from you at your convenience and I also hope to be in contact with you again with definite plans.
Answer:
At the moment there are four volunteers at the house, that is because three of them came together, you coming on your own will have your own bedroom. Normally there are one or two volunteers at the house at any given time.
It is possible to extend your stay; when the first 3-month non-immigrant ‘O’ visa is about to expire you can travel to either Laos or Malaysia and have a new non-‘O’ made. We will write a letter of recommendation for you to use in the visa processing.
When I took my TEFL certificate (on Crete) we taught classes while we were being observed by an instructor, this I found to be very useful as after the lesson we sat one on one with the instructor going through the lesson talking about how it went. Needless to say my first couple of lessons where a bit of disaster but the instructors were excellent at making me see what went well in the lesson and things that were not so good. It also taught me a lot about evaluating my own lessons as the instructors were very good at asking the right questions in order for me to come out with solutions especially for what didn’t go down too well. I can highly recommend courses where there is observed teaching included.

4.    Thanks Anders, I have read the blogs and your website and am interested in your project. I would be looking at coming over to Thailand mid June and staying for 4 to 6 weeks, towards the end of July my wife and children may be joining me. I have some questions which are firstly do you have space for me and what will the cost be for a 6 week stay, is it worked out on a pro-rata arrangement, also what is the situation with visas can I come on a month tourist visa and then renew at the border?
Answer:
A 6 weeks stay costs 150 Euro for the registration fee, and 600 Euro for the placement fee.
As of today I have a volunteer placement open for you in June/July.
It is against the law to do any work, even volunteer work, on a tourist visa, in Thailand.
Once you have decided if you want to volunteer we will send you a letter of recommendation for you to use in the visa processing. You must apply for a non-immigrant ‘O’ visa at a Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate in your country.

5.    What is the visa/volunteer processing procedure?
Answer:
The visa/volunteer processing procedure with Thai Mueang Volunteers:
A.    Once you have decided to volunteer you send me an email mentioning just that.
B.    I send you an invoice through PayPal asking you to pay the registration fee of €150.00 Euro.
C.    When TMV receives the Reg. Fee, a letter of recommendation is sent to you for you to use in the visa processing.
D.    You obtain the non-immigrant ‘O’ visa through The Royal Thai Embassy/Consulate, whichever closest to you.
E.    You’ll receive another invoice asking for the volunteer placement fee.
F.    You fly into Phuket International Airport and I will be there to pick you up.
G.    A couple of days after arrival, you start teaching at one of the schools in our program.

6.    Thanks for the information.  I am really interested in coming this summer. Before I pay money, is there an application or some guarantee for the program. I would like to come for the entire month of July and then the first few weeks in August.  I am creative and know I could come up with lesson plans etc.  But I just could use more information.  What exactly will it cost me etc.
Answer:
We do not have an application form, but in the first email you received look under About Us in the third paragraph, there are some questions I would like you to answer. We want to make sure that the people who come to volunteer are really here to teach English and not just getting a three months visa to come here on a holiday. This way we also get to know you and we can answer questions about volunteering and the teaching, which you might have. You will be required to create your own lesson plans for each day you teach, I will be here to help you get started with it and also there will be an orientation meeting when you arrive. You can prepare some materials before you arrive, bring pictures of your home, friends, family, hobbies and such, think about what topics you want to teach the children and you can prepare some of it before you arrive.
All of our volunteers have paid through PayPal, where we have been verified; if there had been any disputes in the past we would not have been able to have a verified business account with PayPal.
It sounds like you want me to verify that we really exist, well you can go to ‘our volunteers’ page to see what former volunteers have written about their stay here: http://www.tmvolunteers.org/volunteers/our_volunteers.html, if you read through the page and you want to send one of them an email, let me know who and I will contact them and ask if it is ok that you send them an email.
7.    Hope all is well with you. After a lot of thinking and planning, we have decided to take a different volunteering opportunity. I apologies if this has caused you any inconvenience. We would like to thank you so much for all your help and time. If we decide to do any additional volunteering in the future we will be in touch.
Answer:
There has been no inconvenience for me at all. I’m glad that you have found a place to volunteer and I hope that you will have a great experience volunteering in the land of smiles.
If there is anything I can help you with in the future, just shoot me an email.

If you have any questions of your own please send us an email through the contact page here: http://www.tmvolunteers.org/contact_us/index.html

Smiles
Anders

Technorati Tags: volunteer questions, non-immigrant O visa, Thailand