Dave at Lampee Primary School

Back in Sydney, Australia, for 2 months now, and I still think of the kids at Lampee Primary School, Anders, Nett, and all the new friends I made in Thai Mueang on an almost daily basis. Though I only spent a week in Thai Mueang with Anders and Nett, I can honestly say that it was the most fulfilling chapter of my life. It felt like I was exactly where I was meant to be – where all my experiences, skills, training, and decisions I’ve made throughout my life brought me to Thai Mueang.

Dave with the sixth graders at Lampee Primary School

In Australia, I am an educator at a university. However, it felt as though I created more value for the kids at Lumpee Primary School in one week than I did in a year of teaching and research at a university. Why? The kids at Lumpee Primary School were disadvantaged, with many having fled Burma to seek refuge in Thailand. These kids were like sponges, attentively listening to every word I uttered, and their enthusiasm was endless. When I speak of creating “value”, I refer to it as meaning, “Is what I am doing easily replaceable and, if I were to leave, would I be missed?” And I must admit, in my everyday job, what I do is indeed quite replaceable and the institution will run as a well-oiled machine – with or without me.

Classroom setting at Lampee Primary School

But compared to the connection I made with the kids at Lumpee Primary School? The connection between myself and the kids is invaluable – to them and to myself. Contrary to teaching at a tertiary level, I’ve come to learn that teaching children involves giving them your full attention, listening to them, and just showing that you care about their welfare. I’ve learnt that this is crucial in developing their sense of self-worth by showing them an adult can take them seriously. More so for the kids at Lumpee Primary School, where most come from a disadvantaged background.

Ice cream on a hot day for the students at Lampee

In terms of logistics, TM Volunteers were great! Anders and Nett were awesome hosts, always ensuring that I was comfortable and happy with my time there in Thai Mueang. The food in Thai Mueang is wonderful, and the people were so warm and friendly. I found the experience to be very nourishing on the soul, giving me a new perspective on my life and the opportunity to re-assess the values many of us take for granted in Australia. I look forward to coming back to Thai Mueang on an annual basis to teach at Lumpee Primary School.

Traditional Burmese song and dance at an ASEAN conference

My favourite memories: Nawin (one of my students in my year 3 class) bawling his eyes out when I was leaving; one of my students giving me a small present (a really pretty key-ring) after class; the kids performing traditional Burmese song and dance at an ASEAN conference.

I first volunteered with TMVolunteers in September for two weeks with two friends, Ami and Hazel. Nett and Anders were then living in Takua Pa, about an hour on the bus from Thai Mueang. In Takua Pa, it honestly seemed like we were the first foreigners the people there had ever seen! People often weren’t sure how to react when they saw us. Cars would beep at us in the street and, as the first volunteers in the school, some of the Kindergarten we were teaching almost passed out when they saw us for the first time. Teaching Kindergarten was brilliant and we tried to make it as fun as possible. We sang songs, played games, got the children to run, jump, hop, touch their toes and much more.

Kindergarteners are very active and made the lessons challenging for us because we were constantly thinking on our feet of new ways to keep them excited about learning English and stop them from losing concentration. It was amazing to see the children actually remembering what we had taught them and using their new words in the next lesson.
The teachers at the school were so nice to us. They came and chatted to us whenever they had a spare moment and they always made sure our lunch needs were catered for. When we were too picky to eat chicken feet (a delicacy here) we would be ordered a takeaway.

We also taught in the Diamond Hotel resort in Khoa Lak because the school holidays started at the end of our first week. It was a more challenging experience engaging adults in activities and we enjoyed getting them into groups and persuading them to ask each other questions. I really enjoyed teaching them how to give directions and to understand useful phrases like “the AC is broken”. I was amazed at how little English the hotel employees could speak, even at this luxury resort in Thailand. Thailand is unique in that it makes so much money from tourism, yet even the English Teachers here can’t speak English! If you would prefer to volunteer teaching adults than children, there is plenty of opportunities to do that here.

In Takua Pa, there were 7 volunteers, me and my friends from home, Sasha, Jodie, Kim and the only boy, Sean – who had come to Thailand to get away from women for a while. We had a brilliant time together and made several weekend trips as a group. One weekend we went to Bang Niang and took surfing lessons! Although Sean had to go home, the rest of us got on so well that we decided to all travel around Thailand together!

I actually enjoyed volunteering for TMVolunteers so much that I decided to come back and do it again. Nett and Anders have now moved back to Thai Mueang, an old ex tin mining town on the coast, just down from Khao Lak. When I arrived here I met the lovely Rose. I took over from her, teaching at the same school and I was able to discuss the material she had already taught the kids with her. She also gave me a great tour of the local area and introduced me to some of the locals, including my friends George and Uncle Tin.

This time I volunteered for a month, because two weeks just wasn’t long enough. I have a million good memories from the past month, so here are just a few. The children at the school are so fun and enthusiastic. I love how they all shout “Hellooooooooo!” when you arrive. I love how in a month you get to know each child individually and can see their personality traits. I really enjoy eating lunch with the head master, Mr. Arrom. He always teaches me Thai and he has been really great about introducing me to the Thai teachers, who are sometimes quite shy around you because of the language barrier. I can now go to any Thai restaurant and order Thai food in Thai, which is all thanks to Nett, who orders our dinner almost everyday, and Mr. Arrom.

In Thai Mueang I’ve been teaching at Wat Patchatikaram primary school. Surprisingly, I’ve actually really enjoyed the lesson planning for school. It’s great to design a lesson and then see how it pans out in class. When you do a lesson plan and your lesson runs really smoothly, its so rewarding. I enjoy finding a range of ways to teach the children. I’ve used flashcards, games, songs, worksheets from the internet, worksheets that I made myself and listening exercises. It’s fantastic to see children learning and smiling at the same time.

Of course, the teaching is only for about 4 hours most days so you get plenty of time to spend exploring Thai Mueang. The food here is amazing, and my favorite thing to do in Thai Mueang is eat. There are lots of restaurants you would never be able to find unless you were told by the people that live here. One of them probably has the best Pad Thai in Thailand and it only costs 40 Baht (about 80p). I also like going to the beautiful white sandy beach here. I go most days, sometimes in the morning before school. The beach is breathtaking and stretches right up the coastline. Nine out of ten times it’s just you and whoever you’re with! But if Thai Mueang is too quiet for you, you are just a bus ride away from plenty other places, which Anders is always more than happy to advise you about.

Staying in the volunteer house is also really fun. I like staying up, listening to music and chatting on the porch at night. At the moment I’m living with a really cool couple from California called Kat and Garrett. We have got on really well and always seem to have a laugh together. We always go for tea with Nett and Anders and we’ve even started going for lunch with them quite often as well! Chris, our friend who teaches at another local primary school usually comes too. So our dinner table is always full of great stories and banter.

Overall, I’ve had an unforgettable time volunteering in Thailand and I will be very sad to leave. I think this experience has definitely taught me to be more independent and given me more confidence in myself to overcome the challenges that life brings. I would like to thank Nett and Anders for having me in Thai Mueang this month. They are really friendly, enthusiastic people who really believe that the volunteers make a big difference in Thailand and they are always there if you do need anything. If you are thinking about travelling to Thailand, in my opinion, volunteering is the best way to get to know Thai culture and you will not regret it.

This is a brief overview of my experiences while volunteering. During my time here I have been lucky enough to form a new friendship group of truly unique and wonderful people, who have challenged, irritated and overwhelmed me.
Over the month of October (school holidays) we taught as a group, in hotels, health centers and even a group of Buddhist monks. Teaching and lesson planning as a group was difficult as I felt overly self-contuse about making small and (looking back on it) irrelevant mistakes. Lesson planning was hard going, but really necessary. However, laughing with a class of monks, who had the energy and humor very similar to that found in any group of boys, hearing the quietest member of staff at a hotel greeting me confidently in English, more than made up for lesson planning blues.

The students where ever we were teaching were a little shy at first but it was clear that they were eager to learn.
In November we moved back to Net and Anders home town of Thai Mueang, this took a bit of getting used to their were five of us living in one small house and the usual issues with who was going to do the washing up and who purchased toilet roll last, but all in all it was really good fun. Lots of nights in playing cards, star gazing and putting the world to rights. The food also got a lot better and a lot cheaper thanks to Sue-jin at Bam Bam’s restaurant, Georges Pizza at the beach and Towy’s cooking at Lucky restaurant!

With the start of a new term all the volunteers got a school each to go and teach English in grades 1-6. I have been teaching at Wat Patchatikaram School, I don’t think I can accurately describe my school, its pupils, teachers and charmingly eccentric headmaster. You just have to meet them to and you would understand what I mean.

However here are some tips for volunteers!

• Make the most of your free time, you will only teach on average 3/4 hours a day, go cycling exploring the national park etc!
• Plan a few weekend trips away, Anders and Net can always give lots of advice but its best to do a little reading before you leave.
• Bring smart (cotton) clothes and for teaching at a yellow, green, pink, purple and blue polo top or shirt, I wish I’d known this but Thai teachers wear a different colour for each school day, it’s such a small gesture but would be much appreciated.
• There will be children with learning and behavioral difficulties in your classes partially in the younger years, I know it sounds like something that shouldn’t need saying, but don’t just write them off or ignore them. A little love and interaction goes along way for these children in particular.
• At Patchatikaram have lunch with the Headmaster, he doesn’t speak a lot of English but he will give you very entertaining Thai lessons, he will make you laugh a lot! (I avoid the school canteen it made me sick the first day). Then go and get some dancing or tackro lessons of your Grade 5-6 who are keen to practice their English and teach you Thai!
• No lesson plan is full proof! Always have a work search or a crossword to whip out if case of emergency (did I mention the canteen food!).

This sort of volunteering is a big commitment; it has been frustrating and tiring at times. The teaching has been challenging work, but for me the real challenge was to slow down, and coming to terms with how much time you have time to think here. Not working 12 hour days and not really being very useful, or independent as Net and Anders are so good at organising and sorting things, it really unnerved me. This little bit of Thailand will find even your most deeply hidden faults and floors, but love you anyway.

I have just finished my first year at Uni, and I wanted to push my limits and figured volunteering would be a good bet. Thailand is one of the best places to do volunteering. The people, the culture, the atmosphere and so much more make this experience like nothing you will get at home. I remember first arriving here and meeting Anders, Net and the other volunteers. Instant friendship. Without each and everyone of them I am sure Thailand wouldn’t have been the same.

I had no idea how teaching was going to go. I mean it all sounded pretty straight forward, all you need to do is follow procedure. Screw procedure, I thought, I can do things my way, I don’t need to lesson plan. I will improvise. If I was ever wrong, well, that was the moment. Lesson planning is like the Holy Grail of teaching English as a second language. Make sure to go into the lessons over prepared. Better to be safe than sorry. But once you are in the lessons, you just feed off the kids energy, it’s like your adrenaline is pumping 3 hours straight, every day. There would always be laughter, and the concentration some of them had was just remarkable. Also make sure to cover your ears when you say the word ‘Game’. The kids just go nuts. Best way to end a lesson.

As a volunteer I not only taught English at a public school, but I also experienced Thailand from a non-tourist perspective. Which in my books equals towards: Priceless. Net, the other volunteers and I went to Khao Lak (semi-touristy, but not anywhere close to Patong), to a Waterfall, to shopping malls and almost everyday we went to the beach. Bliss. There is a 13km beach here, just for our pleasure. Not another soul is on the beach. Sweet as. The weekends were filled with fun stuff, and meeting just cool people. The friends that I have made here, will go down in history with me.

The memories are also priceless. I mean how many people can say that they have eaten chicken feet and crocodile, been stung by a scorpion, driving a motorbike everyday and been given fresh coconuts almost every day.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end. And my one month (Not nearly enough, next time I am going for 3 months, for sure) volunteering came to a quick end. Saying goodbye to the kids went alright up until the point where the wanted to hug me and kiss me on the cheek. Crying my eyes out is an understatement, I literally balled my eyes out. And what happens when 25 kids see a ‘farang” (foreigner) cry, well, they all cry, which made it even worse. Cheers. Off I go back to the ‘land of the long white cloud’ aka New Zealand. But as Arnold Schwarzenegger says “I’ll be back!”

Thank you Net, Anders, Rose, Lisa, Tom, Chris, Matt, the lovely people at Bam-Bam’s Restaurant (where we had Dinner almost every night) and the crazy cool people in Khao Lak. This ride has been AWESOME! Cant wait to catch you again soon.
Also future volunteers, a tip: You will have an amazing time here in Thai Mueang. No matter where you come from, how old you are or what your profession is you will love it! I promise!

Smile!

Photography Lesson with Michele and the students

Phratom 3 and Michele volunteer English teacherVolunteers in Thailand swimming in the waterfallMichele having fun with RoseAt Tonprai Waterfall in Phang Nga Province

Just before I left the UK I felt so stressed. Scared about my whole trip I set off anyway and spent two anxious days getting to Phuket. When I arrived and saw Nett standing there with a sign in purple bubble writing with my name on, all my fear instantly dissolved and I’ve been relaxed ever since. Nett is absolutely fantastic and can sort anything out for you within minutes. She has taken us to two weddings, a funeral, shopping at Central (where we managed to find tea bags!!), to local festivals and always knows the best places to eat and what to order. If anything I think I may have been too well looked after because now I don’t want to leave!

Basically, I came out here because I am thinking about becoming a teacher in the UK when I head home. I wanted to test myself and see whether this was something I enjoyed and was capable of. Now that I’m leaving I am seriously considering doing a TEFL course instead and coming back to Thailand. I have found so much satisfaction when a lesson goes well. You just pray that the next day some of it will have gone in!

I arrived before the schools were open in October so spent a few weeks teaching adults from Health Centres, Hotels and some Monks at a local Temple. One of my favourite memories is when I learnt that, as a woman, you can’t pass anything to or accept anything from a Monk…unless they are throwing an inflatable world globe beach ball at you! In this scenario it’s best to catch it rather than dive the other way for fear of accidentally offending Big Monk. During this time there were five of us and we were team teaching. I think all of us found this a massive challenge and were all eager for the school holidays to finish so we could have classes of our own.

Anders has given us a lot of advice and been a bloody lifesaver with lesson plans at times but most importantly made me understand the importance of creating your own lessons. Personality is the most important thing to put across. You will have fun, the kids will have fun and if they enjoy it they’re more likely to learn.

I think I have found lesson planning the most difficult thing. It gets easier to think of things to do but I never seem to be able to find a good balance. I either plan way too much and nothing gets done, or to counteract this, plan hardly anything and then get stuck on what to do. There is nothing worse than have 40 pairs of eyes on you waiting for the next task when you’re trying to make it up on the spot!

I have been shocked by things I’ve now seen and heard about the education that Thai children get. Even though Anders had told me already I was still shocked the first time I walked into a classroom to find the class being taught by a television screen. Not even being supervised by a teacher! It’s been lovely as most of the kids are keen to learn and keen to please. Thai people are so friendly, you literally can’t walk down the road without people stopping to offer you a lift.

It has also been a massive challenge learning to share a house with four people and only one bathroom! It has been incredible how quickly you form attachments with people though. Being in this environment has meant I was a lot more open a lot more quickly.

One of my favourite days was our Barbeque down at Georges Pizza place. Weirdly, we had 5 people’s birthdays within 4 days so we had a big party with amazing steaks and copious amounts of vodka. Anders has taken some shockingly bad videos from that day which I’m not too happy about but all in all it was a great day with the group.

I have learnt so much about teaching and a lot more about myself. Before now I had no idea I would be able to cope when faced with 40 1st graders, all desperately trying to make me understand them and some practicing their fighting techniques on each other. I will definitely take a lot away from this entire experience. I would recommend Thai Mueang Volunteers to anyone. It’s a totally worthwhile experience but just make sure you are prepared for some hard work and some fun times!

Cheers now,
Cara xx

I have started working at Takua Pa Senanukul Secondary School, Sena as the locals call it. There are more than 2000 students and 80 teachers, the biggest school in the province of Phang Nga. I am teaching 19 hours per week, Mathayom 1 – 5, so my students are from 12 to 17 years old. I have seven different classes so there are quite some names to learn and remember, 205 to be exact, with 20 students in the smallest class and 38 in the biggest.

All in all it has been a hectic week but Nett and I have managed to move everything  from Thai Mueang to Takua Pa in a short time. We found a house to live in and we also managed to find a new volunteer house. This coming week Nett has arranged meetings with schools here in Takua Pa about having volunteers teaching at their schools. They have already expressed a high interest over the phone and Nett just needs to go and have meetings with them to finalize the requirements for both us as an organization and the schools for them to be able to receive volunteers.

We will post the information on the new schools on our ‘schools’ page as soon as it is ready, and the new volunteer house of course.

Francesca from California, our first volunteer in Takua Pa, will arrive in Thailand at the end of this month, and possibly James from the UK will be coming in June.

I will also try to persuade Nett to start writing on this blog as I now have 14 websites to take care of besides my teaching job at Sena.

Have a great day wherever in the world you are.

Smiles.

Anders

I had my first lesson with my Mathayom 3/1, Tuesday, at Thungpho Wittaya Secondary School, we know each other from last term and they are a good class with 37 students. They are still beginners meaning that they can answer very basic questions such as; “why are you late?”, “where is Somchai?”, “who is your best friend?”…

I always get a name list for each class I teach and it is always written in Thai, so the first activity with every class on the first day is to have the students write their nickname, first name, and surname in English as I need to keep track of them for a monthly test and their final grades.

After the name writing we did some revision on the blackboard from last term starting with subject pronouns, going through verb to be, basic adjectives, and tied it all up with Q&A in 1st, 2nd, 3rd person singular – present simple tense. After most students had searched through their notebooks from last term they got the Q&A activity going, boy ask girl and girl ask the next boy etc… a good lesson with many good questions and answers between the students and everyone had a good time.

Mathayom 3 is the last compulsory school year for Thai students and there are about as many boys as girls in the classes. When the class reaches Mathayom 6 which is the last year at secondary school, the amount of boys is reduced to less than 20% in the class.

Are you an English teacher in Thailand or anywhere else for that matter you are welcome to tell us about your experiences as an English teacher, please leave a comment.

Have a great day.
Anders from the office.

The following video is from my Mathayom 3 class last year.

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

These are my last few days in Thai Muang. I have no teaching as I wanted a week off to sit back, chill and relax before heading back to freezing UK! There were a few things that I wanted to do. I went to the Thai Muang Turtle Sanctuary and they had turtles of all different sizes, amazing coral and giant sea clams, wonderful stuff. I went to Phuket to say goodbye to Andoo and buy a few last minute presents. I asked Tin is he could arrange some snorkelling for me and yes it’s all set for Friday morning.

Thursday night went out with Anders and Net to George and Veronicas as a going away supper. Very enjoyable and they bought me a lovely present, thank you both xx

Tin and I went snorkelling with Mud, the fisherman, although not terribly successful as apparently the water was too high but we did sail around the coastline and swim. It is the most beautiful unspoilt beach that I’ve ever seen and I would hate to see it turned in to another Patong beach. Where all you’ll see is sunbed after sunbed after sunbed!

I am just getting ready to go out for the last night. I’m off to school tomorrow morning to say goodbye to everyone and then Tin has kindly offered to take me to the airport.
I am not looking forward to getting back to the very cold weather in the UK but I’m sure I’ll get acclimatised quickly!
This is Laney signing off – good luck and enjoy those who come to help out in Thai Muang. You wont regret it! 30.01.10