Location: Southern California, USA
Sa wat dee kah friends! I recently volunteered at Prangku Junior High School in Si Saket for 5 weeks. Prangku is a large school with around 2000 students ages 12-18. I taught 3 or 4 different classes every day. This was one of the most challenging and wonderful experiences I've ever had! Being the only Westerner living in this small village, I was truly able to embrace Thai culture. I even picked up a bit of the language rather quickly! I was completely out of my comfort zone and it was strange and wonderful. The food and the people are incredible, and I strongly suggest getting involved with after school programs. I played soccer with the kids after class and hung out with the Ponglang (traditional Northeastern music) band at their practices. I even performed in a local parade (see my pic)! The kids just love having a foreigner around and although they seem shy at first, they will take a liking to you quickly. Thailand is a beautiful and amazing country with so much to learn and explore. I can't wait to go back again one day! Email me with any questions you might have: andreamesposito@gmail.com. Cheers, Andrea :)
Location: Durham, NC, USA
Anders Wallace (feel free to contact me at aew2114@gmail.com)
Fantastic experience, immensely nice people, and teaching is a blast. You should definintely have an 'anything goes' attitude (helps to love Thai food, karaoke, and billiards!) I was teaching in a small school (250 kids) in a rural province. The kids are adorable, though the younger ones have little English and are shy so we came up with games of all stripes to get them involved. On the weekends I visited the local Buddhist temples, met the mayor for drinks, sang karaoke at the police station, and met loads of host family relatives. As a life experience, I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's so much more rewarding to experience the culture as a teacher rather than a tourist! In fact, fascinating. There are challenges; you'll have to wake up at 7 or so, and speaking to most people is tough since there is little English outside of Bangkok. I suggest learning some Thai in advance if you can. Below is a bit from my diary.
12/01/08: In anticipation of the King’s 81st birthday this Friday, we hosted a ceremony at school where the local police station donated a bunch of mango trees for our kids to grow at the school farm (under the watchful eye of Tick, the agriculture teacher). The King has been a tireless advocate for sustainable development in Thailand. Today, the people love him so completely that, to delight him on his birthday, police stations throughout Thailand will bequeath fruit trees to local schools and temples. They are to provide a means of economic development, as well as curbing greenhouse gases and erosion.
Location: Isaan, Thailand
GETTING READY TO VOLUNTEER by Michael
The photos I'm posting today are to help you better understand the homestay experience. Namely, what a school looks like, what a homestay looks like, what a Thai bathroom looks like, and what clothes are appropriate.
Also, here are some websites where you can download teaching games and ideas: www.webeans.net/hutt/ffgames.htm, http://jcschools.net/tutorials/gameboard.htm, and www.abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/games/fo
lder_board_games/.
Location: Prang Ku, Si Sa Ket province, Thailand
One Month in Prang Ku, Si Sa Ket Province.
Paul and Monique, Holland, maffemoon@hotmail.com
Located in the rural Prang Ku district lies the ‘Prangku Junior High School’, a large school with over 2000 students (around the age of 12-18 years). It is this school's policy that volunteers see every student (if possible), thus after four weeks of teaching we have seen almost all classes. From the first day we felt a lot of warmth from our host-moms, who took really good care of us! We lived in our own homestay next to the school so we did not have one host family; instead we had many host moms who all took care of us. The people in Thailand are very nice and friendly, and in Prang Ku this feeling only grows. Whenever there is a problem (whether it has to do with spiders or a hungry volunteer), they are more than willing to help. One of the coolest things was riding the (pink!) motorbike of our first host mom, Pi Nid, through the beautiful rice fields with water buffalos on (and sometimes in) the road.
At the beginning we had to adapt to the cold Thai shower, but the total experience was more than worth the effort. The classes really love 'farang' teaching them some English, and we enjoyed playing games and singing songs with them. If they can understand it, they are far more enthusiastic than any Western student! Every time we walked through the campus the children politely wai-ed (traditional Thai greeting) us, giggled and shouted 'hello teacher'! It is amazing to experience the joy the children have, and it feels good to be a part of the Thai community, even for a month.
Location: Michigan, USA
Wow, what an amazing trip. My wife and I were in Thailand from mid-July to mid-August and had an absolutely wonderful time! Before we left for the trip I kept wondering what the hard parts would be and if a month would seem like a long time to be in a completely different culture. What a different attitude I have about it now! A month was not nearly long enough and I wish I could have stayed in Thailand much longer. After a month it seemed that we were just forming strong bonds with our students and fellow teachers. We were just getting to know all of our friends in Thailand and having a great time meeting every different class of students, each as eager to learn and have fun playing games as the last. We became experts at the "Banana Dance" just like many other volunteers before us ;o) and we just learned how to order all of the food that we loved so much. No, a month was not nearly long enough and I am already envisioning our next trip to Thailand, which will hopefully be soon.
Our trip was something that we will never forget and something that I wish I had done much sooner. Ae's family took excellent care of us during our time there and just seeing their picture brings back memories for me of how they took us into their home and treated us like dear friends. Our host teacher at Phakdee, Ao, was the same way too. She was always there for us and always made sure that we were comfortable and well fed! And it wasn't only her that took care of us, if we had questions or needed help we felt like everyone was there to help us. We would ask questions of all of the teachers and students too! We weren't strangers visiting their school, we were part of their family. They showed us a side of Thailand that we would otherwise never have known, a side of Thailand that we came to love. To this day I miss the students' smiling faces every morning, miss the questions/games/karaoke between classes, miss playing basketball and ping-pong with them every evening, miss eating and joking with our friends. I miss Thailand. I hope that everyone that we encountered knows what an impact that they have had on us (Korp kun krap!) and I hope that everone who goes to Thailand gets as much out of the experience as we did. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask me at any time. I did keep a journal of all of my experiences and hope to have that posted online sometime soon. Michael and Ae, thank you for all that you do to make trips like ours possible.
Chris Borda
chrisborda@gmail.com
Location: Thailand
IS THAILAND SAFE???
There has been news lately about political unrest in Thailand. We at Volunthai do not think this is dangerous for foreigners in the country. The street demonstrations are all in specific parts of Bangkok and are easily avoided. Where we work, in the Northeast, there is no trouble whatsoever. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns! -Michael
Location: Khowang, Yasothon, Thailand
This makes two volunteer posts in a row from Khowang, but I wanted to second everything Morgan said (below) and add some favorite experiences of my own.
I've been at Khowang's 900-student upper school for four weeks, and today is my last day of teaching. My time with these 7th-12th graders has flown by, even on days when I taught five classes, tutored a couple of students for their upcoming speech competition in between, and held English Club for an hour or so after school. (In fact, those were probably the days that went by the fastest!)
At my homestay there are trees bearing bananas, papaya, starfruit, dragonfruit, pomegranates, custard apples, mangoes and pomelo in my yard. I am welcomed home each day by the keening of the family dog, Frook; I go to sleep to the hiccuping noise of geckos and wake up to the crowing of my archnemesis, the rooster; my reading is occasionally interrupted by an enormous belching moo from the sweet-faced family cow, which sounds about the way you'd expect a burp to sound when it's coming from four stomachs.
I have learned that in Thailand, there is no man-in-the-moon, but there is a rabbit-in-the-moon. I have adopted one student's creative description of fried eggs as "egg-stars." I've tasted chewy candies with prune-like properties that make you "poof," according to one of the English teachers here. I've pronounced the words "embroidered design triangle cushions and fragrant Hom Mali rice" twenty or thirty times for a student of mine who will be reading them in the speech competition later this week. I have grown to love my pink mosquito net and to expect tremendous lightning storms two or three times a week. I’ve learned and performed the ‘Banana Dance’ in front of 130 students. I have played Hangman with a class who had the letters D-E-M-O-C-R-A-C-_ and guessed "democrash!" In short, I will never be the same again. And I am glad.
I will miss my English Club spelling bees and my occasional "english-speaking" lunches with mostly tongue-tied 9th graders. I will miss the lunchtime student concerts and the funeral-march-paced school anthem played by the band every morning before the flag-raising ceremony. I will miss the school’s kind director, who is the most serious man I have met in Thailand when it comes to education, but can still be talked into having a Dairy Queen blizzard during a school field trip. And I will miss the wonderful teachers who looked after me during my time here—among them, Pi Paula, who taught me how to make a proper ‘wai’; Pi Tukta, who laughs at everything, and showed me how to shred bamboo; Pi Noi, who tender-heartedly honks her car horn at frogs in the road; Pi Si, who drove us home in the rain; Pi Kae, who introduced me to countless new dishes and who is capable of explaining just about anything in English; and above all, Pi Tuang, my host-sister. I have four sisters back in the States, but Pi Tuang is the first sister to teach me to drive a motorcycle (helmet-less, of course), to help me do my laundry every week, and to go to the market at 6am to buy 'moo ping' (pork satay) for my breakfast. She has taken care of me every step of the way.
I only hope that Khowangwittayakhom School will keep getting volunteers for many years to come, and that someday I will make it back here to relive a truly transformative experience.
Location: Khowang, Yasothon, Thailand
Great Experience!!
I volunteered in Khowang, Thailand for 6 weeks. The teaching part could be challenging --- only because of the communication barrior. But the students are absolutely wonderful and very respectful. They have a great desire to learn English (especially songs!) and are extremely kind.
As wonderful as the teaching aspect was, the people of Khowang were the most amazing I have ever had an opportunity to be around. My host sister (as I called her) was extremely gracious and always looked out for my needs. I never went hungry! It took me a few weeks to get used to Thai food (as it's not like the restaraunts here in the U.S.) but I quickly found many dishes I crave to this day. And HELLO, how delicious is the fruit of Thailand?
If you are considering volunteering, this program is wonderful and they will take care of you every step of the way. Check out my pics, too!
Morgan Cummard: super_girl_74@yahoo.com [you can email me with questions]
Arizona, USA
Location: Prangku, Si Sa Ket, Thailand
I have been in Prangku School (2000 students) for about 7 weeks now. While I enjoy teaching in the classroom, my favorite part of the day is 8 o'clock PM. After being stuffed with random (delicious) foods, I walk over to the small town's coffeeshop and tutor a student for her speech competition. Her mother gives me free coffee (I tried paying, but after so many times you give up!). She later told my host that she is so proud to have "teacher Daniel" to tutor her daughter, and that no one has ever shown such interest in her children's studies. What a great feeling to know you're really helping and appreciated! Daniel
PS. When in doubt, smile and wai!
Location: Thailand
Ed Muhley and Charlotte Rhodes
Wangpikun Pitta Ya Kom
As the bus left Bangkok both my girlfriend and I were somewhat nervous and full of uncertainties, which only increased on the long bus journey out to our school in Wanpikun. Too much time to think and concoct unlikely situations is never a good thing! However, on spotting our waving Thai hosts with a huge grin on their faces, it quickly became evident it was completely unnecessary! Nothing can quite prepare you for the friendliness and enthusiasm with which you will be greeted at the school. You become the center of attention (nothing quite like standing in front of the whole school on your first day at the flag raising ceremony (microphone, sound system, 600 students), attempting to say your name and where you come from in Thai). Everywhere there are ‘good mornings’, and some ‘good afternoons’, occasionally we are offered ‘sweet dreams’, even though it is only lunchtime. Students pander to your every need, ask you to accompany them to the market, temple, watch them dance, help them cook, play football or badminton with them, and if it is all getting too much, you might just get a Thai massage. Oh, and occasionally you teach some English too. My first lesson was a lesson full of 16 year old boys who also happened to be in bottom set English. I was also going to teach this one (and every one thereafter) solo. Gulp. Again it quickly became evident that I need not have worried. I quickly learned that the best way to cope was to relax and give off an air of confidence. Most importantly though was the realization that a smile and a joke, even if it is at your own expense, goes a long way to gaining their trust and attention. Thai’s are full of fun and have a light hearted sense of mischief, and if your lesson plans revolve around these traits, you will soon win friends. Over-exaggerated pronunciations of English words are also funnier than you could ever imagine - trust me! So if you have any concerns, quickly try to dispel them, however real they feel. Take that sense of adventure that has made you investigate Volunthai this far, mix it with a healthy amount of humor and get involved!
If you want to hear any more or have any questions, then please contact me at edmuhley@hotmail.com.
