Our Volunteers and their Experiences
Volunteers come to
Thai Mueang for many different reasons; mainly we believe they come
because they want to do some good for other people and to learn
something about the unique Thai culture.
At Thai Mueang Volunteers we emphasize the volunteer’s personal
skills. We want each volunteer to bring themselves into the classroom,
and use their individual abilities to promote the English language and
make a connection with the students. Everyone has something unique to
bring to the classroom which makes learning English more exciting for the students.
Every volunteer experience will be different and each individual
volunteer will take something special home with them, from their time
teaching here; yet there is always something to be learned from other
peoples’ past experiences. We hope that by reading past volunteers
comments and advice you will feel more aware of what volunteer
teaching in Thailand is all about and maybe be inspired to create a
similar experience of your own. |
Volunteer: Laney
Parker
Nationality: British
Volunteered at:
Thai Mueang Vocational College
I am 43 hours away from leaving Thailand and as Anders has
asked me to write about my time here, I felt like writing about
it now.
I arrived on 5th November, 2009 and am leaving on 30th January,
2010 – just within my 90 day volunteer visa allowance.
During this time I have been the only volunteer here and to be
honest if there had been another person, my experiences could
well have been different. Having said that I’m not sure if the
experiences would have been better or worse so we’ll stick to
different, scratch that, we’ll stick to “I was here on my own”!
The first couple of days Anders showed me around so I could get
about easily enough. I hired a motor bike for the simple fact
that I’m too lazy to walk or cycle anywhere and couldn’t bear
the thought of being house bound or beholden to Anders for
transport. Didn’t take me too long to acclimatize myself to the
machine but it took a great deal longer to learn the ways of the
Thai driver! Simply there aren’t any, not any rules that they
all seem to follow in the same way! Makes for interesting
travel! I did learn how to use the horn though! Again, having
said that it didn’t stop me from getting out and about away from
Thai Muang as and when I wanted to. When I wanted to go further
than I was happy to travel on the bike, I took the bus.
Reasonably efficient you just have to be prepared to wait and
wait and wait. Like most things, you don’t see one for a few
hours and then three come at once! Incredibly cheap and fairly
comfortable providing you’re not the last one on, of course!
The food has been an experience. I hadn’t realised that the food
would be so spicy and hot! I was used to the delicate taste of
coconut milk and lemon grass not the lip numbing, tongue on fire
food of the South. Not that it isn’t tasty, it is but it just
took me several weeks before I could appreciate the taste! A
very varied diet if you’re not a fussy eater like me – I don’t
eat fish, I don’t like meat with too much fat and I don’t like
to have to pick out bones from the chicken I’m eating or for
that matter, eat chicken feet! Fruit and vegetables are
available in abundance and plenty of pork dishes with either
rice or noodles. I have to admit that my favourite food became
pork noodle soup and even I was adding chill to it! My downfall
was the ice-cream shop, the cake stall selling home-made banana
cakes, the pancake stall making crispy pancakes loaded down with
cream and sugar, the 7/11 shop selling packets of crisps,
chocolate biscuits and kit-kats! I have gained half a stone but
I also put that down to having not had a cigarette for 69 days!
All in all – not bad but be assured I’ll be working on getting
this weight off pretty sharpish!
The teaching has been an experience that I don’t think I’ll ever
forget. I had never taught before except for the time during my
CELTA course but I had, I think, a reasonably good idea of what
to expect from both myself and the students. Well you can stop
right there with that sort of thinking because I don’t think
there was anything that could have prepared me for teaching
English at the Vocational College to students of the ages
between 15 and 21 years old. They were super students, friendly,
shy, always smiling and 95% of them couldn’t get past the very
basic questions of introduction and that was after 6 year of
learning English. They can write it beautifully, they can repeat
it beautifully and they can read it beautifully but
unfortunately, on the whole, they have absolutely no idea of
what is being written, spoken or read. It is a soul destroying
experience and one that I found incredibly difficult to
over-come as I felt very inadequate and out of my depth.
However, as time went on I realised that the students all had
different views on learning English. Some were there because
they had no other alternative, some were there because their
chosen career may well encompass the English language, some were
there because they wanted to improve their English and some were
just bone idle. The teachers have a difficult job, they are
given course books to work from but it’s up to them how they
present them to the class. I have seen good and rotten examples
of teaching and so am therefore not so surprised any more as to
why some of these students have absolutely no idea of what I’m
saying, especially if I change the order of questions. That’s
the problem when you learn questions and answers parrot fashion,
when someone else comes along and throws a spoke in the wheel!
What happens? The wheel falls off. Unfortunately it seems
acceptable that if a student has written in his or her exercise
book the lesson of the day, that’s a good day’s work –
irrespective of the fact as to whether or not the student has
understood the lesson. I find it heart rendering, frustrating
and very sad.
Things to do and places to see are numerous and all there for
the taking, so do just that take the time to go see and do. The
beaches are glorious, shops are a shopper’s paradise, the
countryside, a sight to behold. The people are so friendly and
always smiling, admittedly it’s because they don’t understand a
word that’s being said. However, they really are lovely and will
show great kindness.
The past three months has been something completely different to
my normal way of life. I will remember this for many many years
to come. Would I do it again? Yes, I would but I would come with
a companion because it’s company that I have missed the most
whilst I’ve been here.
Anybody out there that may be thinking of coming to TM
Volunteers, please think seriously about it and then e-mail
Anders. It’s an incredible experience and one that I can’t
imagine anyone wouldn’t gain from and the benefits to the Thai
children and students are plenty, the least being that they get
to hear the English language spoken.
Good bye and happy travels. Laney 30.01.10.
**Read Laney's volunteering experience week by week on our blog
here!**
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Laney with student Khwan |
Laney, Net and Anders at George's restaurant |
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My Ride! |
At the dino-park |
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Trip to Isan in Northern Thailand |
Fon, English teacher at the vocational college |
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 Volunteer:
Laura Cutting
Nationality: British
Volunteered at: Thai Mueang Kindergarten & Pre-School +
Ban Kownoi Primary
I have been here for three weeks now and I feel that I have
finally acclimatized. During my time I have been to the
beautiful beach which is deserted everyday, taken a trip to the
turtle sanctuary, ventured to Phuket with Anders and Net where I
ended up playing connect 4 with a lady of the night (I lost and
had to buy her a drink that was 4 times more than the normal
price, it was worth it as I got a great photo), drank my own
body weight in water everyday then sweated it out again 10
seconds later, eaten loads of chili (they have it with
everything), accepted lifts in to town from strangers, eaten
loads of really tasty exotic fruit (teachers keep giving me
carrier bags full of long gon, mangosteen and rambutans),
watched some really good films on Net’s laptop, been to a Dutch
ex-monk’s birthday party and a Thai funeral. Brilliant.
And, the reason I came, the children, who are absolute smashers
and who I believe can benefit greatly from English volunteers. I
have worked at two schools, a primary and a nursery school. The
primary school has only 4 teachers throughout the school and
therefore children are grouped from 9-12 years in one class. I
think this is hard for the younger students who are trying to
keep up with the 12 year olds who have 3 years of extra learning
under their belt. How do you stretch the 12 year olds whilst not
over stretching the 9yr olds? The answer is that it is hard.
However, given the right encouragement and the understanding
that you have to work with and not against the system all of the
children are able to benefit from lessons that contain both fun
and learning. The younger ones are in smaller classes and even
though they do run out of the classroom at the sound of a
passing motorbike they are actually very keen to participate in
lessons. I realized early on that they are pretty artistic and
they have produced some beautiful work.
At the nursery they sleep from 11.30 – 2pm. This takes up a
large part of their day and is very different from my school at
home where some five year olds attend breakfast and after school
club which means they end the day clocking up 10hrs. Which is
better? I am still undecided, maybe we could meet somewhere in
the middle. It is hard to gain the attention of the younger
children (2-5yrs) but as soon as the hokey-cokey comes on they
are all with me. I have played this song everyday for every
class since I started and they absolutely love it. Even the
teachers join in. Most of the classes now know the words off by
heart.
Despite not knowing most of the children’s names in a short
space of time I have come to understand their individual
characters, who the boss of each class is, who does and doesn’t
like drawing or writing, who needs a bit of extra time with
tasks, who is naturally shy and needs encouragement and who
needs to know when to be quiet! And because of this I have a
real affection for them all, just like I do with the children at
home, being here has shown me that you don’t need to speak the
same language to build relationships with your students.
Something which is such an important part of the job. I will
remember their gorgeous little faces and this experience
forever. |
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 Volunteer:
Gina Fischer
Nationality: American
Volunteered at: Wat Muang Pracharam
Primary School
My favorite memory… Hmm. There are so many. I would have
to say that my favorite memory was when I was leading
head-shoulders-knees-and-toes with the first graders and I
looked up and a little boy wasn’t wearing any pants. He just
kind of ignored it and continued to sing and dance. I tried to
compose myself but I ended up crying because I was laughing so
hard. Another favorite memory was when we were teaching a little
girl to say the letter “L” but every time she tried to say it,
she just ended up saying “eaahrsh”. I was surprised that… even after three weeks the children
continued to scream our names and run to us each time they saw
us. I was also surprised that the students had paragraphs and
paragraphs of English, but no idea what any of it meant. The most difficult experience was… when a teacher asked
us to teach for an extra hour, we were exhausted so we decided
to have the kids compete in a game. It ended with 6 of the 24
kids crying. My best received lesson… was one in which we assigned an
object for each letter of the alphabet and then assigned each
student a letter. The student had to draw the object, and
beneath it write (for example: W is for window). At the end, the
students spelled their names using the objects. Tip for future volunteers… don’t have the children draw,
unless you need to waste time. Don’t be alarmed if the little
kids (and teachers!) like to squeeze your belly. Take Thai
lessons from Andoo, they are so helpful.
Personal paragraph: the beach in Thai Mueang is
incredible. Denali and I made it a point to go swimming at least
once a day. The water is warm and most of the time we were the
only people there. Suggestion: if you go, be sure to go to the
pizza restaurant and hang out with George and Veronica. They are
incredibly generous and sweet. George taught us how to get a
coconut from a palm tree and open it. Definitely one of the most
valuable lessons we learned. |
| Gina!
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Cuteums McGee
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| Head-Shoulders-Knees & Toes
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Heaven.
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| High Five!
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Teachah - Teachah!!
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 Volunteer:
YOSHI Gillaspie
Nationality: American
Volunteered at: Ban
Kownoi Primary School
Chronological order of a story is overrated, so I’ll write in
the order of things that I found the most passionate. The top of
that list is the kids. I taught at Ban Kow Noi, where there are
no more than 15 kids in a class (and sometimes combine grades
for English lessons). Every grade is completely different, and
each student has a very unique personality, so to say that they
all love to learn, they all make tons of trouble or they all
love to dance is not true. One kindergartener loved to shake
hands (actually all kids love to shake hands and bump fists),
and would come up many times a day to say good morning or good
afternoon, sometimes pulling other kids in his class over
unwillingly to shake hands with me. There was one first grader
who loved to draw elephants, and when we learned the vowels and
drew pictures of animals starting with each vowel he went giddy
having a chance to draw more elephants. In the 2nd and 3rd grade
classes, one of the nicest, smartest kids was also one of the
ones who made the most trouble, but it’s hard to get angry when
he finishes the drawings of his family and classroom before
everyone else. He was also a superb dancer, although he usually
looked like a very feminine girl. The fourth grade class was the
beginning class of actually being able to make conversation
beyond “good morning teacher” and “thank you teacher”. I often
taught 4th 5th and 6th all together, which allowed for more
games to be played and bigger speaking groups. I would have to
say my biggest accomplishment was getting “please” and “thank
you” into everyday conversation. There is so much more to write
about each kid, which since my school was small and I had the
same classes every day, I got to know every student by name and
personality. There is also so much to say about Thai Mueang,
such as the beautiful beach where you can go swimming every day,
the night market where you can buy anything from t-shirts to
live catfish, and the many many many nice faces that don’t even
hesitate to give you a ride into town from the house in the
rubber trees. Tour guiding for the National Park for the teenage
ambassadors from Laos, Cambodia and the rest of South East Asia
is something I would never get to experience anywhere else,
going to Phuket with an extremely hospitable teacher is
something I would never get to experience anywhere else, and
going on a camping trip with the 4th 5th and 6th grade students
for 2 nights and 3 days to a huge waterfall is something I would
never get to experience anywhere else.
This is me, I’m a king, I’m a clown, I’m a G. Hi mom. |
| Children's Day Game
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With Everybody on Children's Day
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| Learning was important too
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Riding back after being a tour
guide at
the National Park
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| This is my fast-bike-riding-face
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With good buddy & sis
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Yoshi blew up all the balloons at
the balloon dance contest.
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This is Denali, Yoshi is scaring
her!
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 Volunteer:
Denali Chiyo Gillaspie
Nationality: USA
Volunteered at: Wat Muang Pracharam
Primary School
My favourite memory: Other than the joy of sitting in a
different seat each night for dinner at Anders’ and swapping
stories about our day, and other than the first time I
successfully shook down a coconut and cut it open on my own, my
favourite memory might be a day when Gina and I had an hour
break between classes, and there were 6th graders who were with
us sitting on benches for an hour, taking pictures with our
cameras and playing English games. It wasn’t in a formal
classroom setting, so we were all relaxed and laughing as much
as we were speaking. Every day is different, and each day, they
learn more and more, so it’s exciting for us to watch their
progress, and exciting for them to grow in their English
speaking abilities. I was surprised that... I was able to teach. I have never
been in charge of a classroom or attempted to teach English.
Finding out that I was capable of teaching English to young Thai
students was a surprised to myself. It was also shocking to find
out that most of the students had paragraphs written in English
in their notebooks, yet could not point out letters in the
alphabet. They were very talented at copying sentences down, but
often times didn’t understand what they were copying. The most difficult thing I experienced was… a class
period when a teacher had asked us to teach for two hours
instead of one, and six students ended up crying because a game
we were playing got too competitive and accidents occurred.
Since Gina nor I speak much Thai, we often weren’t able to
communicate with the crying students. However, at the end of the
day, they all said that they had fun, despite the crying
mishaps. My best received lesson: was a two day lesson. The first
lesson was for each student to receive a letter of the alphabet
and write “A is for apple” or “L is for lemon”, as well as draw
a picture for that sentence. Then they presented it to the class
in order of the alphabet, and as a class we created the
alphabet. (Since the students use up a lot of time to draw
pictures, they want to make it perfect, drawing takes up a fair
amount of the class time.) The second lesson is to tape the
alphabet that they created to the blackboard, and they then
write “My name is… (and then in a vertical line they write) D E
N A L I”. Then for each letter of their name, they write the
sentence from the corresponding letter of the alphabet they
created the last lesson. D is for dress. E is for eye. Etc. Tip for Future Volunteers: Learn to speak a little bit of
Thai as soon as you can so that you can connect with the local
people, as well as understand what the students are saying when
they need help in the classroom. Be sure to go to the beach and
meet George and Veronica, they are wonderful people with
delicious food. If you ever have any questions or just want to
hang out, go to Anders to talk through lesson plans or problems
or anything that you’re unsure about. Watch out for scorpions in
the volunteer house. Never be afraid of a ride that is offered
to you by a stranger, all of my free rides have been enjoyable.
Personal Paragraph: I love the beach, Gina and I went to
the beach every day and swam each day as well. I would
definitely do this again, especially with the relaxing walk back
to the volunteer house at night with the cool breeze and the
bright stars. I’m going to miss this lifestyle, it’s laid back,
everyone I spend time with is friendly, and teaching the kids
has warmed my heart. |
| I love these girls!
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Playing English Games
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| Phratom 6
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Teaching first grade
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| Coconut - arooy maak!
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On the beach, yet again
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Volunteer: Maude Barrow
Nationality: British
Volunteered at: Ban Huaisai Primary School
My favourite memory: There’s tons! One of them would have
to be when the boys shouted ‘eeeeeeeeeeugh’ every time the girls
cuddled me, but then as soon as the girls left the classroom
they quickly asked for hugs too! So cute!
Another would be when instead of using the phrase ‘very good’
when one kid showed me his work, I said ‘excellent’ and since he
was so used to me saying ‘very good’ he thought excellent must
mean something bad, and looked very upset, so I spent the rest
of the class frantically trying to explain that the word
‘excellent’ also meant good.
Also, once when playing a game one of the boys blabbered away in
Thai to me, and one of the girls turned around and said very
angrily, but in perfect English to the boy ‘speak English to the
teacher’- I was pretty proud, since I said this phrase about 100
times a class.
I was surprised that… People in Thailand are as friendly
and happy as they are. Everybody smiles at you when you walk
down the street, offer you lifts, or ask you to sit and drink
with them, or want to know where your from, then blabber away in
Thai regardless of if you can understand them or not!
It also surprised me that people were as poor as they were. All
the children had massive holes in their socks, and lots had
uniforms that really didn’t fit them. Sometimes there were not
enough chairs in the classroom either, so they had to share,
same with rulers, we had about 3 rulers in total in the
classroom between 25 kids, and since they insisted on only
writing if they could first draw a straight line, it took them
about half an hour to write the date….good times!
The most difficult thing I experienced was: Trying to
distribute your attention evenly between all of the children.
They were all so eager to learn, and so sweet and fun to teach.
I just wished I could have spent more time with them in smaller
groups. I felt they learnt a lot more when you spoke to them
one-on-one, and they love the attention, they loved learning.
Sometimes they would start fighting about who could show me
their work first, or practise their new English phrase with me.
Also, I was once offered to buy a mans daughter, that was a bit
weird, besides from the fact that I’m way too young be a mum ( I
was tempted though- she was adorable), I felt really sorry for
the little girl.
My best received lesson: That the kids picked up a lot
more English when playing games, games that involve repeating
the same phrase etc. and, my most important lesson: sometimes
they pretend they can’t understand you- when they definitely
can, that became clearer to me towards the end!
Tip for future volunteers: Have fun with the kids, play
lots of games, spend time talking to them about nothing in
particular! Don’t expect them to learn stuff right away,
otherwise you get frustrated, if you end a class and the kids
are laughing and having fun then it was a success! Oh, and
before you arrive, ask EVERYBODY you know at home to give you at
least 1 idea of a game that they played when they were young- I
wish I did this.
Also, watch what you say in front of the children (even if you
sigh it under your breath) they have amazing ears and will
repeat everything you say!
Personal paragraph: This was my first time in Thailand,
and I loved it! I loved going into town, to the beach, to school
and away at the weekends, and the people were all amazingly
friendly which was really the most important part. It was really
easy to settle in and chill out thanks to Anders, Net, Andoo and
Toin. The experience of teaching children who I considered
pretty poor was a bit weird for the first couple of days, but I
got over it, and it opened my eyes a bit. Most importantly it
was just really fun, and funny too, every day the kids made me
laugh with something they would say or do, which meant I loved
going to school! – Never though I’d say that! |
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 Volunteer:
Dave McFall
Nationality: South African / British
Volunteered at: Wat Muang Pracharam Primary School
My favorite memory: There are so many to choose from, but as
I have to choose one. I would have to say the students at Wat Mueang
Pracharam. Every student at the school is so eager to learn. They
greet you with open arms and the biggest smiles you have ever seen.
Just walking through the corridors between classes took me about 5
min as they kept coming over wanting to speak what little English
they know. High 5’s, shaking hands, making fun faces to each other
and comparing tans got me through many hot and tiring days. I was surprised that... My teaching was easier and a lot
harder than I anticipated. With no teaching history I was worried at
first that I could even teach at all. But without the support and
guidance of ‘’El Jefe’’ Anders, I don’t think I would have survived
2 minutes in front of the 40 or so glaring eyes. When you learn from
the best it makes your teaching experience worthwhile. The most difficult thing I experienced was… I didn’t really
have any major difficulties when it came to the teaching. Probably
when I came back from school one day. I wanted to get a little sleep
before we went out for supper. So I went to my room and I had a
little visitor above my bed. It was a Black snake with red and
yellow spots over it. Approximately a meter and a half long. I
thought I would try my Steve Irwin impression. I tried to get the
little critter onto a stick for about 10 min but it curled up and
looked as if it wanted to bite me. I thought sack that. The best
thing was to call Anders because he will know what to do. He came up
and said let’s just get the ranger out from the National Park rather
than taking any chances. A good idea in the end. My best received lesson: Was when I got the students out the
class and got them hold hands and make circles, squares, triangles
etc. Very basic but the children loved it. They end up rolling about
the floor having a great time. Tip for Future Volunteers: Keep it basic. Don’t try to make
to difficult because the students won’t learn anything. Whatever you
think will be easy for them, go two or three steps back. Get the
students out the class to play a game or an activity. For every
class I played a game or an activity.
Personal Paragraph: This being my second time in Thailand I
kind of knew what to expect. Living in Thai Mueang is so different
from living in your tourist resorts such Phuket, Samui and Krabi.
But that is why I came to Thai Mueang. Not your continental
breakfasts or your beer guzzling louts. The people in Thai Mueang
that you meet during your experience will stand you in good stead
for your stay. Andoo, teaches you all Thai phrases that will help
you through your teaching and day to day living. Toin, with his
wealth of knowledge on Buddhist teachings enlightens you every time
you meet. Net, with her bubbly nature always wants your time in Thai
Mueang to be as enjoyable as possible. She is an absolute gem.
Anders is always there to help you with your lesson plans, teaching
ideas and generally talking about anything. Personally, I don’t
think Aston Villa will make the top four. Haha. But you never know.
My time here has been the best experience I have ever had. Thank you
to everyone in Thai Mueang. |
 Volunteer:
Paul Watson
Nationality: Canadian
Volunteered at:
Thai Mueang Vocational College
My favorite memory: All of my students. Every one of them
were good students, had a good attitude trying their best and
always willing to learn. This in spite of the fact that I was
teaching them during their holidays. Remember how you felt about
summer school? I wish all of them a bright future. I was surprised that... the level of understanding and
speaking English was rather low. The students have a good textbook
understanding of English, i.e. they can recognize and read English
words. However, they need a lot of help speaking English and
pronunciation needs work. That is where the volunteer can help. My best received lesson: were ones that didn’t come out of
a text book. I would have the students create something – like a
map of town, or the layout of a hotel resort (for the hospitality
and tourism students) – and then they would practice giving
directions. It was more relevant to them if they were working with
something that they created. Tip for Future Volunteers: My tip is to expect that the
students will have a low level of understanding and seek out
material that teaches English in a simple way but with lots of
pictures. The book I ended up using most was “Side by Side”, by
Melinsky and Bliss, purchased at a Border’s book store in the U.S.
Practical tip: Take it easy when you first arrive, and do
not take any trips on a motorbike on the highway until you have
several days (or more) of practice. A minor fall could lead to a
scrape that would only take a few days to heal at home, but could
take weeks to heal here. (You can find the same advice over and
over in Lonely Planet – take it). As you might guess, I learned
the hard way.
Personal Paragraph: Overall the experience was very good.
Thai Muang is a wonderful town located on a beautiful never ending
beach that you will have to yourself. It is also close to many
popular tourist locations which you can reach on the weekends. The
students need to learn English if they want to get a job in the
tourism sector that surrounds the area and tourism is obviously a
major part of the Thai economy.
These students greatly benefit from any help they receive in
improving their English. |
Paul with some of his business students
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Lesson about creating a restaurant
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A fried rice is 35 Baht
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English course well done
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Paul taking his students to the beach
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Teacher Fon in the middle
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 Volunteer:
Turner Wright
Nationality: American
Volunteered at: Wat Patchatikaram Primary School
My favorite memory: Walking back from the Buddhist temple
with my 5th grade class, casually speaking English and Thai along
the way and developing a rapport I had not yet seen in the
classroom. Who was the teacher, and who the student? It was
impossible to tell, and that alone was comforting. I was surprised that… many teachers do not have hands-on
lesson or too much interaction with their students at all. My
classes were by far the loudest and most energetic (yes, sometimes
due to me losing control of the students), and others involved the
kids just reading, taking notes, or copying what the teacher said
directly. My best received lesson: Outside the classroom, just
playing volleyball with Phratoms 5 and 6, tossing English and Thai
words back and forth for the various objects and actions (“catch”,
“hit”, “I got it!”, “serve”, etc).
The most difficult thing I experienced was… the language
barrier with other Thai teachers. For the students, it was really
no problem, as the class should be English immersion, but I wanted
to discuss my feelings about the students and my life in Thailand
with the teaching staff; this proved to be impossible. Tip for Future Volunteers: Even if you’re not an
experienced teacher, don’t stress over lesson plans or preparing
for classes; it’s far better to come in with the idea of what
simple vocabulary or phrase you want the students to learn, and
let the class develop as you figure out if they understand what
you’re saying, or are just repeating everything and not
comprehending. In addition, you should be enjoying your time in
Thai Mueang, not spending hours on end inside doing paperwork. Practical tip: Be careful of any small cuts and scrapes you
may get just walking around; they take a lot longer to heal over
here (some dry powder helps with keeping the wound clean). Use
talcum powder on your face if you find you’re sweating all the
time. Learn to accept the fact that it’s raining, and walk with
dignity.
Personal Paragraph: Stay out of Phuket. I really like
coming to smaller towns in foreign countries like Thai Mueang
because you have the chance to see this “undiluted” culture, for
lack of better words; there is no tourist industry here, just
normal people living their lives and genuinely interested in where
you come from and what you’re doing, how you think, how you live.
Whereas if you stick to the road more often traveled, people only
see your wallet and just how much they can potentially get from
you. Thai Mueang has a beautiful beach, friendly people (oh,
they’ll know who you are and where you live soon enough after
arriving), delicious food, and some great country to explore. |
 Volunteer:
Zachary App
Nationality: American
Volunteered at:
Thai Muang Vocational College
My favorite memory: There are several, it's hard to say,
but I think some of my favorite memories were the ones outside the
classroom - having lunch at Ms Sunisa's house eating home cooked Thai
food, hanging out in Khao Lak with some of my students at the weekend,
taking part in a Chinese/Thai ceremony one night with my students, going
out to lunch on the beach with Ms Sunisa and the accounting class, and
planting trees in Khok Kloi with Ms Fon and all the students in the
pouring rain. Whether I was shopping at the Tuesday market or riding on
my motorbike into a random village in the area I would somehow always
run into some of my students and stop to talk to them. I'm going to miss
that especially.
I was surprised that… some of the students didn't know how
to say "my name is..." or "I'm 17 years old." There were several
occasions I had to help them spell Thailand. I was also taken back by
the level of respect people have for each other, both at the school and
in the town itself. Sadly to say; this is something I don't see back
home.
My best received lesson: We had a lot of fun at our cooking
lesson in Ms June's class when I taught them how to make an omelet and
French toast with step by step instructions in English. I cooked first
and explained what I was doing; "break the egg"-"pour the milk"-"pour
the mix into the pan"-"ready to serve." The class was split into four
groups and each group explained as they cooked. Ms June and I were the
"testers." The most difficult thing I experienced was…Trying to learn
and remember their names. The first couple of weeks I had a really hard
time. It was also difficult at times helping them with their
pronunciation, example: the word "sport" they would pronounce "saport".
They are taught English by Thai teachers, so native speaking volunteers
can really help them with pronunciation. Tip for Future Volunteers: Bring stuff from home to make
lesson plans. I brought with me menus from restaurants and some
brochures from hotels which I used for some of my lessons. Also bring
photos from home of your friends and family, your house, town etc. The
students like to play games like hangman. Flash cards are also great to
use.
Personal Paragraph: This was my first time outside the
United States. The managers of this program helped me with lesson
planning the first week, offered new ideas when I needed them, and
treated me like family. The locals here are very laid back and some of
the nicest people. When you have free time pick a random back road and
purposely get lost. I ended up meeting some local kids and they took me
through the villages, down narrow dirt roads, into the jungle and to a
beautiful waterfall where the local kids swim, somewhere you won't find
in any tourist book or map. |
Ms Sunisa's House - Having Dessert
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Planting Tress in Khok Kloi
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Cooking an Omelet - Arooy!
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What's your name?
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The Tuesday Market in Thai Muang
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Visiting a Rural Village
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Volunteer:
