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.

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

The second years are adorable. Don’t have enough English to fully grasp what is being asked of them (drawing simple shapes), but they have enough experience to understand how to behave in class. They are fascinated by my sunburnt pink skin, and the fact that I don’t speak Thai just cracks them up. When they were gathered around and I was showing them the photos I had brought with me, the little girls fixated on one that was taken of Steve and Drea and me at Gabe’s wedding a few years ago. Some sort of disagreement broke out, with lots of excited pointing from the photo to me. One child tugged at my shirt.
“Teacher?” she asked, pointing to the picture.
“Yes, me,” I replied.
She looked at me wonderingly and pointed to my hair in the photo. I smiled, and made cutting motions with my fingers. She made a mournful face, and patted my hand, then gently touched the face in the photo.
“Soo-ay,” she said, sadly. [beautiful]

The third years were more challenging. In my first class of the day, with the first group of third-year students, the newness of the ‘farang’ [foreign] teacher wore off as soon as I put my photos away and began utilizing the blackboard. I had brought pencils with me as rewards, but was mobbed after handing out the first one. Had children hanging from my wrists, elbows, even the hem of my skirt, which I was sure was going to come sliding down around my ankles at any moment. Kids can sense inexperience like piranhas sense blood in the water, and can be just as ruthless in their attacks.

Several little boys were clamoring for the pencils I had naively taken from my bag. I motioned for them to go back to their seats, and asked them to sit down. One dove into my bag and came up with a pencil. I held my hand out to him and he gave it back reluctantly. I told him, “not yet…” which triggered a collective gasp and surprised looks. “Not yet, teacher?” he asked, and burst into giggles. Soon he and the group gathered around their desks were nudging each other and taunting back and forth, “not yet, not yet…” while the little girls just looked disgusted and went back to whatever they had been working on before I so rudely interrupted them. On their way out I got lots of giggles and hi-fives, but nothing much accomplished overall.

Later in the afternoon, with the second third-years, I figured I had said something iffy with the first group so I went a different route with this one. I didn’t even show the pencils this time, but wrote the letters A-H on one side of the blackboard, and some simple pictures to go along with them [ant, bird, etc] on the other. The idea was for them to write the letter, then draw the animal whose name corresponded to it. Some of them got the idea and did very well, but as I went around the room looking at their papers, I discovered that my artistic skills are seriously lacking.
For the letter “B” I had drawn a bird, complete with wings, beak, and tail. Every kid drew a bird …. Crapping. They were very creative in their interpretations, too: some were shooting out explosively, some were done in large piles with steam rising, others were dropping bombs on the unsuspecting dog or cat drawn below.

Meeting up with Anders later that afternoon, I was telling him about my day and the odd reaction the kids had to the word, “yet.”  Well, no wonder — it means ‘f***.’ Between that and the birds with the continence issues, there must have been some interesting dinner conversations going on that night:

“Pong, how was school today?”

“It was great, we had a new farang teacher who kept saying f*** in class, and made us draw pooping birds. And, she had the weirdest pink skin!”

One of Jennifer's 4th grade classes at Wat Muang Pracharam Primary School in Thai Mueang

Technorati Tags: volunteer teaching at a Thai primary school, volunteer, My first day

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…