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Melissa
Taavola
Kinesiology 699
Teaching
English in a Variety of Situations
As an
English teacher in Thailand, it is important for me to think of myself as an
ambassador of America and the world as a whole. Teaching English does not mean
drilling students with grammar and vocabulary; instead, it means leading
discussions, asking inquisitive questions, and introducing students to life in
America and the world. When I first started teaching, I was frustrated because
the students did not want to pay attention or participate. Basically, I was not
using the correct methods or material to teach effectively. Now, I have learned
from interacting with different types of students and have definitely developed
methods for introducing new ideas and topics. I have taught five distinct
groups of individuals: 13 – 15 year old students at Wat Chaichumpol, 9 – 15 year
old novice monks at Wat Kaopurang, 8 – 12 year old students at an English camp,
12 – 16 year old students at my home during their summer break, and medical
staff members at Pahon Hospital.
Wat
Chaichumpol (Wat Thai) is a government run school and consists of a primary
school and a middle school. P. Att, my host mother, is an English teacher at
Wat Thai. During the month of February and early March, I helped to teach her
English classes. There were five classes at most to teach each day: three
classes of M/3 (grade 8) and two classes of M/2 (grade 7). Each class lasted at
the most one hour; however, sometimes, class only lasted 30 minutes. Some
classes had approximately 30 students, but other classes had only 15 students.
The students were finishing the end of the school year, and the last week of
classes was at the beginning of March. Some students were preparing to apply to
high school or technical/vocational programs. I taught at Wat Thai
approximately seven times, a short time period. Since I was also working at
Pahon Hospital, I only went to Wat Thai on Wednesdays and Fridays. On my first
day of teaching, I did a short introduction of myself and started with basic
concepts of English, such as “How are you?”, days of the week, and numbers. On
the subsequent teaching days, I led conversations about ordering food, exercises
about sentence structure, an activity to interview classmates, a simple dance to
learn for fun, and basic reviews from the first few classes. I consulted P. Att
before the classes in order to plan some activities. She always encouraged me
to do grammar and sentence structure activities so that the students could
practice writing and reading. Teaching at Wat Thai was my first experience
teaching English. I definitely thought in my mind that I should be teaching
grammar and sentence structure. However, numerous times I felt frustrated with
myself because I could not get the students to participate or pay attention.
Rather than focusing on learning about America and the world through fun
activities, I was trying to push them to learn about English grammar. I realize
now that I should have been teaching different material so that the students
could learn about my country and other parts of the world. The basic idea of
just getting the students to use English can be done with activities, such as
interactive games, sports, and activities dealing with group cooperation. I
definitely learned from my experience at Wat Thai; in fact, all of my teaching
experiences after Wat Thai have been very positive and rewarding.
I had the opportunity to teach novice monks at Wat Kaopurang on only one
occasion in February. The class consisted of nine novice monks and lasted for
two hours. The small class size enabled me to enlist full participation and
attention from each student. Also, it was very easy to complete activities in
an efficient manner. The novice monks were very well behaved compared to the
students at Wat Thai. They did not have cell phones to play with and did not
try to have conversations with their friends during class. The English director
at Wat Kaopurang, Dewey, stayed with the class and helped with directions during
it. Activity topics included the following: basic conversation, days of the
week, months, birthdays, directions, drawing, numbers, spelling, adjectives, and
a few more. I really enjoyed teaching the novice monks because of their
excellent behavior, good listening skills, and willingness to participate.
English
camp can be described as a day full of fun and excitement. The camp took place
at a school close to Kanchanaburi on March 9th. A total of four
schools were involved in the camp, and about 85 – 90 students participated in
the event. The students were divided into four color groups and rotated between
the following camps throughout the day: English, mathematics, Thai, and
science. Karen (another volunteer) and I were in charge of the English camp.
During the four one-hour long sessions, we introduced ourselves, learned songs,
played games, practiced names of animals and their sounds, and had tons of fun.
Since the students came from a wide range of age groups and varying English
proficiency levels, it was difficult to focus on strict English activities.
Karen and I varied the activities depending on the response and participation of
the groups. Some of the specific activities we led included the following:
“Peel Bananas” (song and dance), “Hocky Pocky” (song and dance), Simon Says,
What time is it Mr. Wolf? (game of tag), I want to be Your Friend (hand clap
game), and Cat and Mouse (game of tag). Our camp was held outside, so Karen and
I definitely had a good exposure to the sun and heat. All of the students were
so energetic and fun, that by the end of the day, Karen and I were very tired
and exhausted. I loved working at the camp because I was able to show students
how people from other countries interact, have fun, and act goofy. The teachers
appreciated our help and sometimes even participated in our activities.
Starting on April1 10th, I began to teach a group of six students
during their summer break. P. Att’s friend has two sons who want to practice
English, so along with their friends, they come to my house and practice nearly
everyday for one and a half to two hours. Our last class will be held on May 10th,
a total of 22 classes in all. The schedule is very flexible; specifically, the
students want to meet on days that I am free and always leave it up to me to
decide when we have class. The group of six is an interesting mix of
personalities, and each class is always filled with laughter and jokes. Since
they all know each other very well, the students feel comfortable speaking and
participating. I focus on activities where the students can share their
opinions, express thoughts through writing and speech, learn about America and
the world, and learn new vocabulary and phrases. I’ve even labeled certain
classes with names, such as Sports Day or Team Challenge Day, so that the
students get more excited as a certain class approaches. I want the students to
be active during class, so I make sure to keep my directions or information time
to a minimum. The students want to practice speaking and not spend a lot of
time listening to me, even though this is a component of learning as well. Each
student possesses different characteristics, so I try to use different
techniques for each student during the class. For example, one student is very
shy at times. I speak slowly with him and try to get him to respond with as
many words as possible. Another student is rather talkative and enjoys
explaining ideas and concepts. I ask him leading questions so that he has a
chance to explain and describe his thoughts in greater detail. On most days, I
usually assign a small homework task, such as looking up some vocabulary,
writing two short paragraphs, correcting the paragraphs, or gathering supplies
for an activity. Even though the students are not graded during our classes,
they come well prepared on almost every occasion. It is great to see that the
students are interested in learning even during their summer break. I really
enjoy working with this group of students because I am able to get to know them
and see how they grow with their English skills. I am glad that I have enough
time to teach them. I always have a positive attitude going into each class
because I know that we will have fun and learn a lot from each other. Even
though I teach them after working at either of the hospitals, I never dread the
class or feel exhausted during it. It is a wonderful opportunity because I can
learn from them too. During classes, it is interesting to compare the American
culture and the Thai culture. We always come up with a number of differences
and a few similarities. Aside from my work in the hospitals, teaching these
students is one of the best things I’ve done in Thailand.
Lastly, I
have been teaching a few English classes at Pahon Hospital. I was unaware
(until April) that my program called for me to teach an official English class
(lasting one hour) as well. I normally just practiced English with staff
members during the day by asking questions and listening to their English. In
April, Dr. Kung asked me to teach a class for her nurses. I prepared basic
information about conversation and some activities involving photos from
America. When the class day came, I also invited the student nurses working at
Pahon Hospital and informed numerous doctors about the class as well. I am
really glad that I invited the student nurses, since they were the only people
that came to the class. Currently, I post a sign for the English class in the
doctor break room in hopes that more people will be able to attend the class. I
have held class for three weeks now. The only person who comes is Dr. Jern, an
anesthesiologist. She is very interested in practicing English and has good
English skills to start with. We usually talk about vocabulary words and
discuss American and Thai cultures. It is really interesting to have
discussions about our cultures because we can learn from each other. Some of
our discussions focused on the following: government, financial issues, family
relationships, and education. Dr. Jern is an easy going person, and I really
enjoy talking with her about medicine and life in general.
In
closing, teaching English in Thailand is definitely a different experience than
I expected. Even though my first teaching experience at Wat Thai did not
proceed as expected, I have learned from it and can apply my knowledge and
skills to new teaching experiences. I look forward to my last month of teaching
the students at my house and practicing English with the medical staff at Pahon
Hospital.
Karen McDonald, Buddhist Immersion
Hello!
Well finally
I am writing a few posts about my time in Thailand, and some other of my
travels!
I am
Karen, 19 years old, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I decided to do this
program after I finished my high school education because I had a desire to
travel with some volunteer program. I wanted to see the world very badly, but
not just travel, spend money and do the tourist thing, I really wanted to
experience the place i went to, meet people, and maybe help out someone in a
less fortunate situation than myself. I really did want to help the world, as
cliche as that sounds! But it is a very hard thing to figure out how in the
world to do it! Starting out was the hardest part.
I
started by asking some friends of mine wanting the do the same things as me, but
we were all in the same boat, we knew the amount of opportunities out there but
had no idea how to grab them! So i turned to the internet, and finally came upon
the Thailand Service Corps. The program looked smaller than some, and maybe with
not as many participants, but the Buddhist Immersion course really interested
me. I am not really buddhist, but had a great desire to learn, so I thought this
program might be the one for me. It also allowed me to choose the amount of time
I wanted to be there, and was very easy going and personal! I talked to Bruce
Houser and after that my parents as well as myself were assured of the safety
and quality of this endevour! I was given as much information as I asked for as
well as the Thailand Survival Guide which had many helpful tips for teaching as
well as for conduct! Payment and talking to my family was all easy and
accomplished quickly, as well as fedexing my visa to Texas and recieving it very
quickly. It all fell into place and I was ready to go! I was assured of my
safety and plenty of amusement and distraction in Bangkok from touring to
meeting everyone in the program!
Even so
I felt very unprepared, having never really travelled anywhere outside Canada,
and certainly not to the other side of the world all by myslef! It was a leap,
but one I would gladly do again! I also was concerned with my lack of teaching
qualifications and training, and I did not really prepare myslef or my lesson
plans very well for teaching. I think I just didn't really know what I was in
for! I do wish I would have prepared more, but don't worry! I was given more
than enough help and support to work it out and hopefully teach the kids a
useful thing or two! (or more!)
My welcome
was certainly warm! I felt very welcomed and taken care of, after a dizzying and
jet lagging 23 hour flight, by a cheerful Naree. As dazzled as I was by
Bangkok's city lights, I managed to understand that a fellow volunteer would be
coming and then we would go touring the city! It was all very exciting, I could
not sleep! But managed to sort my sleep cycle out by the next night when I met
Melissa, a medical volunteer from Wisconsin!
Touring was
amazing, overwhelming, and unforgettable being the children we were to this new
culture. And we were even taken for some shopping because I needed a few more
cooler peices of clothing!! I could not imagine in Canada how hot it would
actually be! wow! And we were taken to eat tons of delicious food! Then off to
Kanchanaburi to meet our families!
P'oi, my
mother, Pie and Beam, my sisters and Melissa's host family were waiting for us!
Along with Bruce, Tong and Pumin! I was nervous, but comforted right away by
their wonderfully kind nature and assurances of all my favorite things, good
food, good company, shopping and travelling! What a wonderful family they are! I
was so happy to present them with a gift of books on my country and show
pictures of friends and family.
A few days
later I started teaching! I seriously felt like a movie star, or like an
endangoured animal, the kids watched me so much! But how adorable they were! And
once one wroked up the courage to say hello, or shake your hand, then they all
could do it! Although I scared some off by asking "how are you?" and the
teachers encouraging them to answer more than "fine". But overall they are so
wonderful, and once interested, they think english is the most fun thing in the
world! Music, games, songs, rhymes and pictures are BIG aids! Use them
liberally! And remember a little kindess goes a long way, a smile encourages the
kids so much more than any scheme or clever game! Hope this all has been helpful
to any future volunteers, you don't know what an amazing journey awaits you! And
I hope it has proven amusing to fellow volunteers and wonderful coordinators!
Happy trails!
Karen (back to canada!)
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