Sometimes I get an email from someone who is skeptical about the legitimacy about Thai Mueang Volunteers, nothing wrong with a bit of skepticism, but with the amount of volunteers who have already been here… could we have made it all up!?
Read about our former volunteer experiences here.

Other Volunteer Organizations
I am sure you have had a look at other organizations besides Thai Mueang Volunteers, so let me ask you a question or two…

• How much are they charging compared to TMV?

• Do they help you obtain a non-immigrant ‘O’ visa which is required by law to work as a volunteer in the Kingdom of Thailand?

• Do they show you photos and video of where you are going to live?

• Teaching English – Do you have to prepare lesson plans and work as a volunteer teacher, or do you just have to show up and play a few games and sing a couple of songs?

• How about support with the volunteer work you are going to do, or is it just all up to you?

Many of these big organizations are not even located here in Thailand, they have hired Thai people to pick up the volunteers upon arrival and take them to their placement. They tell people on their websites that they can volunteer in Thailand on a tourist visa, a blatant lie, they ask of you to do a criminal act even before you arrive in Thailand.

Personally I have had volunteers from another organization turning up at my doorstep, crying their eyes out, and they just wanted to leave Thailand and go home. These poor people who came to Thailand believing that they came to do their best helping the children in Thailand improve their English abilities, and then experienced being left alone in a foreign country without any support from the organization they trusted… Of course we tried our best to help these unfortunate volunteers, and I received a death threat from the organization involved, yes, I still have a copy of the email and so does the chief of police in Thai Mueang.

Through a quick search on Google I found this story from an unhappy volunteer, and she is not the only one. Try having a look at what is required to volunteer in Thailand, do a search on Google and find some official government websites that tell you exactly what visa is required. Try ‘volunteer visa for Thailand’.

Thai Mueang Volunteers is here to support the schools in our program with English speaking volunteers from around the world.
We have meetings and dinner with our volunteers every day.
We teach our volunteers to create lesson plans so they are well prepared for teaching.
We support our volunteers in getting a non-immigrant ‘O’ visa before leaving for Thailand.

Are you ready to volunteer as a volunteer English teacher? – For more information about volunteering with Thai Mueang Volunteers go to our contact page and insert your name and email and we will get back to you within seconds.

Have a great day, and spread love and kindness whenever possible.

Anders

Due to the financial situation world wide, and also because of few inquiries for this summer we have decided to take action.
We have decided to reduce the price of the registration fee from 150 to 50 Euro so the total price for volunteering in Thai Mueang for one month is now 450 Euro, less than 600 USD.

We had kept the prices since we started in 2007 as we believe that they are very reasonable, but we’ve had quite a few emails from especially students, who mentioned the price as they need to pay for the flight as well, so here you have it. If you find a cheaper volunteer organization in Thailand than TMV, please let me know and I will setup a link to them, both from here and from our links page.

In 2009/10 We have seen many organizations shooting up on the web, organizing volunteer placements for more than 1000 USD/month, some even more than 2000, and they don’t provide an invitation letter for their volunteers to bring to the Royal Thai consulate/Embassy in their home country so they can obtain the correct visa.

Volunteer Visa
A non-immigrant ‘O’ visa is required to work as a volunteer in the Kingdom of Thailand. I have tried to contact some of these organizations asking them why they tell people that they can come and volunteer on a tourist visa when it is against the law, and I have been ignored completely. I won’t mention any names here but some are quite big organizations.
Just be careful on what they want to make you believe and travel safely.
Have a look at this link “volunteer visa for thailand” and read about what is required.

Contact Thai Mueang Volunteers
If you want to learn more about volunteering in Thailand and about Thai Mueang Volunteers go to our ‘contact us‘ page and insert your name and email in the form and we will get back to you within seconds.

Have a great day and spread love and kindness wherever you are.

Smiles
Anders

Fri 25th Dec
Happy Christmas! Back to school as feeling much better – how else would I want to spend Christmas Day but teaching! Had a lovely lunch, pork noodle soup, my favourite and something that I have every day. I must have been wished a Merry Christmas at least 100 times and the students knew a little bit of Jingle Bells and so we had a sing song.
I went to the beach just so I could say “I went to the beach on Christmas Day”! It was lovely and peaceful with hazy sunshine – but I can’t complain as there is snow in England and Germany. Just Anders and I having dinner as Net was busy at school, quiet meal, then I went home and Net was there with a young German volunteer, Christin from Baluga school. She stayed the night as we are all going to Phuket tomorrow.

Sat 26th Dec
Net picked us up at 08.00 and off we went to Phuket, her cousin and a friend were with us and once we arrived, we split up as we had different things to do. Christin and I went shopping, eating, booked in to the Crystal hotel. We did more shopping and then met up with Fon – my English teacher from school – with her husband Nae and son, Noney. We went to look at the sunset from a very popular place, Phrom Thep Cape. It was lovely but unfortunately cloudy and so not the greatest sunset but a lovely idea all the same. We all went to dinner and arranged to meet the next day.

Sun 27th Dec
Following an unusual American breakfast – we went to meet Andoo at the market, did some more shopping and waited for Fon. We went to Kata Karon beach and then to Patong beach for lunch. It was wonderful sitting there people watching and what amazing people. All foreigners – the only Thais on the beach were those working. I was fascinated by the ‘Lady-boys’. It’s quite difficult to tell with some of them, some of course are very obvious but others not so. Fantastic legs – no cellulite there! Apparently I have to be in Patong at night-time to really see them at their best, can’t wait. Christin and I caught the bus back to Thai Mueang and met Anders, Net and some of their friends at a restaurant on the beach, we had dinner then back to the house. Christin and I sat and chatted and talked girlie stuff, it was great.

Mon 28th Dec
I took two classes for Fon this morning as she was in a meeting. Went well and I back-tracked a little and was pleasantly surprised when the students remembered a fair amount of the work. We had a good time and I think they enjoyed themselves. Strange to think of students enjoying themselves in class but you have to understand that the Thai way is totally different to ours. Some students turn up 20 – 30 minutes late for class – but that’s okay, they were having breakfast! Some would ask to be excused – to nip to the toilets for a quick ciggie! Right – can you imagine this in the UK!
I went to the beach again but only for a little while and then back home to catch up on my blog. Met Anders and Net for dinner – had pork noodle soup! I’m going to look like a noodle soon! Back home to watch a film then bed. It’s absolutely pouring tonight but I guess I shouldn’t complain as it’s still about 28 degrees and its 20.30!

First Impression
Turning up the first day at Ban Huaisai Primary School to be introduced to teachers, parents, all the students are lined up, standing in the sun. The principal is talking to the students through a microphone, connected to a loudspeaker system; with speakers strategically placed all over the school to make sure that everyone at school and the surrounding neighborhood can hear what the principal has to say to the kids. Parents have arrived to take a look at the “volunteer English teacher” “Nong told me that she is a farang from England…” “dunno where she’s from, I just came to see her complexion…” All 62 students, acting routinely to what the principal is saying, are all staring at you… with a kind smile the principal turns to you… and hands you the microphone, time for you to say something to everyone.

Yes, the first couple of minutes as a volunteer English teacher can to some be an overwhelming new experience, thinking of the thought process here; from the first time you saw our website, to now actually be standing here in a small village in Southeast Asia! Some volunteers: “What am I gonna say!?” and other volunteers, if not all: “Wow, it is hot here!” It’s time to realize that all the “order” and systems that we are used to in the western hemisphere… well, this is the eastern hemisphere, and what might seem logical at home has a totally different meaning here. Thailand and the Thai people are so very inviting for everyone to have a great experience and for that to happen one just need to try to understand just a bit of the unique Thai culture and how things are done in a polite Thai manner. Being kind hearted and open minded are also two qualities a volunteer English teacher should have. Shortly after arrival we have a talk about do’s and don’ts, teaching at a Thai school, Thai manners, lesson planning, and getting on with it.

Ideas
Creative ideas must come from the volunteer, your imagination is your limit, let it be your frontier to explore and come up with ways to convey the English language to the children. Many years of textbook teaching has produced very limited results in the student’s reading and writing skills, and even less in their conversational abilities. Aim for lessons getting the students out of their chairs and using the English language, literally. If the first week goes by with always having a positive attitude where students seemingly hardly make any mistakes and you are not the “correcting” teacher, you can go into the second week of teaching knowing some of the strengths and weaknesses of the classes and some students, prepared with lessons made by you, knowing it’s going to be fun. You will quickly find out who the eager students are and use them to your advantage in your teaching as they are not shy to speak. By advantage I mean that you could ask these students questions and even if they gave you a wrong answer you could feed them the correct and they will show their peers that speaking English is “eeeasy”.

Getting close to the students and try to understand their level of understanding is essential for an English teacher in Thailand. Some students will come to you even before you have taught your first lesson, they might just want to touch your skin and they won’t say a word, others after a couple of days, and few will never be anywhere near you throughout your entire volunteer teaching period. Use your skills and talents, you know which ones you have, and I know that you have various.

Ban Huaisai Primary School
About 250 people live in Ban Huaisai Village and that has been sufficient for the government to open a primary school. The people are mainly rubber-tree and palm-oil farmers, just are most other villages in District of Thai Mueang. With 62 students the school is entitled to 3 teachers and a principal, provided by the Thai Ministry of Education. The Thai teachers must be able to teach at least three subjects and are often teaching grades 1-3 in one classroom and grades 4-6 in another. “Teeacha… Teeacha!” adapt, learn and have a wonderful time.

Smiles
Anders

I pop bubble wrap at 1.61 bubbles per second! I popped 196 bubbles in 2 minutes and 1.8 seconds at www.Virtual-Bubblewrap.com! Can you beat my score?

bubble wrap

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The volunteer house is located exactly 1.2 km, 0.75 miles outside the center of Thai Mueang. From the center of Thai Mueang to the beach is less than 1 km, and the beach itself is 13 km long. There is a bicycle at the house for volunteers to use freely and if there is more than one volunteer here, Net lends out her mountain bike so there are two bikes. From the volunteer house it is a bit downhill towards town, and then of course it is a bit uphill back to the house.

We have been all around Thai Mueang looking at houses for rent, pro’s and con’s will always be there but everything taken into consideration we strongly believe that we made a good choice as only 2 volunteers out of 16 have voiced the location of the house as being troublesome.

Volunteers who have acclimatized quickly at the house, have tried to make it their home, have taken advantage of the benefits of the house, and not been too concerned about what is not there like back home, and have concentrated on their volunteer purpose which is teaching, have had the best stays here.
It is important to sweep the floor every day, you are the cleaner, you have to keep the volunteer house clean, just like you do back home. Mob the bathroom floor after use, try to notice that there are other volunteers staying there too.

You can rent a motorbike in Thai Mueang, the price is 200 Baht per day and you own the motorbike if you crash it, meaning that you will have to pay 30.000 Baht if you total it. Check your travel insurance; does it cover if you damage other people’s vehicles if you are the driver? If you have any intention renting any type of vehicle in Thailand please check if your insurance company covers it.
If you take some time to talk to Khun Tin, he will surely give you a discount on the motorbike rental when he finds out that you are a volunteer.

Volunteer excuses heard:

The saddle hurts my bum…
Answer: Don’t worry; your bum-cheeks will get used to it.

It is raining; I cannot go to the beach…
Answer: Of course you can, put on rain gear.

There is a big spider in the bathroom…
Answer: I know, we’ve met, sometimes he is there and sometimes he’s not, sometimes he’s at my place, and if it’s not him, it’s another one. Please call me if he is bigger than your hand so I can take a photo.

It is too hot to walk…
Answer: I know.

The other volunteer is messy or takes up too much space…
Answer: In a kind manner, talk to the people involved and make it work.

It is too hot to bicycle…
Answer: I know.

The mosquitoes are biting me…
Answer: Light up a mosquito coil, open the back door and let the smoke through the house, and/or put some mosquito spray on yourself.

It is too hot to shower I’m sweating again when done …
Answer: Shower anyway, shower 3 to 5 times a day, everybody else does.

I’m tired of eating rice…
Answer: I get tired of eating rice too, just eat noodles for a while and try to go back on the rice in a couple of days.

It is too hot to __________ (Fill in the blank yourself)
Answer: I know.

Is it really that different from your expectations that some things become agonizing? Are we really not trying our best to explain the way of living and how things are around here through our website and this blog so that there can be no major surprises when volunteers arrive? I believe we do try our best to explain, and every volunteer is asked to contribute to our site and blog, some do and some don’t, positive or negative nothing is altered. We do not change anything of what volunteers write because we know that it is not for everyone to become a volunteer here in Thai Mueang, people are different, and if you sincerely consider volunteering, be sure to read everything on our website and on this blog, also read about Thailand and its culture before committing as a volunteer. Remember! This is Thailand and everything is different here than in the rest of the world.

Thai Mueang is located about 13 degrees north of equator, that is 1400 km or 870 miles, we are on the same latitude as countries like; Ethiopia or Nigeria on the African continent, Honduras or Belize in middle America, it is hot here! Please do some searches on the search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) for information on how to act like in hot countries and in the heat.

For questions about volunteering with Thai Mueang Volunteers, please go to the ‘Contact us‘ page and send us an email.

Open your mind and heart and spread love and kindness wherever possible.

Have a great day!
Anders

volunteer in Thailand, volunteer excuses, Thailand, too hot

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Technorati Tags: volunteer house, Thai Mueang

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

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…