Nong Ya Sai, by Patricia Ferrero

Wangkasae, by Kate Mast

Plapak Wittaya High School, by Stephanie Paguio

Population:  I don’t know.

Number of Teachers Overall: I work at two primary schools. Nong Ya Sai has 4 teachers, and Nong Bua Dan Gao has 5.

Number of English Teachers: 0

Number of Classrooms: Nong Ya Sai: 4; Nong Bua Dan Gao: 5

Amenities: One of my schools opened a computer lab this semester. Previous to that, I had access to two computers in the office area. My other school maintains its two computers at my disposal. Each school has one printer, which is also used as a copy machine (though it is slow and not very effective for this purpose, so I try to use it as little as possible). Each classroom has a whiteboard with markers or a blackboard with chalk, and a ceiling fan. Most rooms have a television set used for distance learning. Sometimes I am told to teach in different places, such as the library or in the yard because it is cooler than the classrooms, in which case I do not have any resources.

Teaching Assignment

Daily Schedule: I teach 4 hours a day, a total of 20 hours a week. I teach 7 different classes, most of which I see twice a week for an hour (these are the younger kids). The upper primary I see 3 times a week, and one of these sections, grade 5-6 at Nong Ya Sai, is in 2 hour blocks.

Semester Schedule: Classes run from mid-May til late September for the first semester, and the second semester lasts from the beginning of November til mid-March. School holidays and class cancellations occur sporadically with nearly no timely warning. I find out about the schedule as the semester goes progresses.

Level of Classes: I teach grades 1 through 6 at two schools. The English level is fairly low. Most of the younger students (grades 1-2) have virtually no English skills, while the older students have limited vocabulary (colors, fruits, shapes, etc.) but not enough to construct many coherent sentences. Most of the students did not know the alphabet, or the sounds each letter makes, in the beginning of the year.

Supervision: Usually I am alone in class. Sometimes the teachers will remain in the room and do work at their desks. It is rare for a teacher to intervene or try to help in my classes.

Living Arrangements

House/Room: I live in a lovely house with a fellow volunteer. We each have our own room and share a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The bedrooms are upstairs and are very spacious. My schools provided me with a bed frame, a styrofoam mattress, a fan, a dresser, and a bookcase. I was given a mosquito net as well. I was offered a desk, which I refused. The bedroom walls inside the house do not connect to the ceiling, so I can hear everything that my roommate does in her room. We often have conversations from across the wall. There are several windows inside my room, one of which does not close. This makes it difficult to turn the lights on at night, as the clarity attracts the insects. Sometimes, if there are strong winds during a rainstorm, water will splash inside, but generally the window does not pose a major problem. Security is not an issue, despite my Thai teachers assuring me that this area is “dangerous”; we have often left things, such as our bikes, outside the house, and they have never gotten stolen, so I am not afraid that my window doesn’t close. Overall, my room is very comfortable, and I have been able to decorate it so it truly feels like home. The downstairs has new pink tile flooring. Our kitchen came equipped with one gas burner, a rice cooker, plates, utensils, cups, and several plastic chairs and wooden tables. My roommate and I bought a refrigerator. A kitchen sink was built ouside for us to wash dishes in, and a bathroom sink was installed outside our bathroom for us. Our neighbors provided us with water for the first month and a half of our living here because we did not have any running water. The living room, which runs into the kitchen but I nevertheless like to identify as a separate room, is big enough to host WT events. This year we had all 10 volunteers and our field director over for Thanksgiving, and most of us were reunited at our home for a birthday party. The bathroom is very small and is located underneath the staircase. It has a squat toilet, a large partitioned area for storing water, a large bucket for storing water, a spigot, and a shower head. The house is in excellent condition, very roomy, and was painted, tiled, and cleaned specifically for us. I have been pleasantly surprised by how nice our accommodations are, and have never felt in need of anything. Our principals, co-workers, and neighbors have done everything to make our stay as comfortable as possible. I feel really lucky and grateful for my site placement.

How close to school/other important town locations? Both of my schools are about a 5-10 minute drive away. I have never gotten to either without a ride from a teacher. I assume they are bike-able, but I have been told never to do this because it is too far. A fresh market, a weekend night market, and 2 small stores are all walking distance away. I have made these treks several times, sometimes alone, sometimes at night, and have never felt scared. The area is very safe, and people have always been very helpful and friendly. The main highway into town is a 1 minute walk from our house, and it is quite easy to catch a ride into Nakhon Phanom or Sakhon Nakhon from there.

Language Issues

Your language level when you arrived: I knew practically no Thai before coming here.

Greatest Challenges

Sometimes I get the sense that the teachers don’t really care about the students. It’s hard to remember that the school staff members were also brought up in this environment and don’t know any better. It’s common for classes to be left unattended for hours, even entire days if the teacher doesn’t show up to work for whatever reason. If students fail to learn something, teachers resort to yelling and light abuse (shoving, hitting over the head, etc.) as a secondary teaching technique, and justify this practice by explaining that students are “naughty”. It’s pretty standard for adults to vocalize detrimental opinions regarding students’ behavior or appearances, perpetuating self-esteem issues they probably had ingrained into themselves by grown-ups as schoolchildren as well. Adults will tell students that they are ugly, fat, or bad. Many of my students refuse to believe that they are beautiful, citing their skin color or their small noses as unattractive, ideas they picked up from their educators. This is very hard for me, because I truly believe they are beautiful and don’t think it’s fair for any child to grow up thinking otherwise, even if they are not. Furthermore, students are often given inappropriate jobs, such as being called on during their play time solely to clear the table where adults were eating lunch, or even made to move heavy objects such as speakers up and down stairs, while the adults sit and watch. Children will also be summoned to groom or massage teachers during class time. My students have tried to massage me, as they consider this normal and a way to win adults over, but I always tell them that this is not necessary. I try not to get involved in this type of relationship with the kids, and carefully discourage this from my co-workers, but it still happens and it’s important to try to understand that the adults don’t mean harm by it, even if it’s not correct behavior.

Greatest Rewards

The kids. I’m not a big hugger, but when my students hug me and tell me that they love me, I want to put them inside my suitcase and take them with me forever. I now have 11 6-year-old hairdressers that make me look like a rock star with 7 uneven braids. They like teaching me new games and showing me silly magic tricks. When I walk around school they call out “teacher!” and become embarrassed when I look and smile at them. During sports time, they always invite me to participate in tug-a-war and sack races. I taught them how to make friendship bracelets, and one of my kids made one for me, and I almost started crying when he put it on my wrist. Even though they don’t have much, they always insist that I eat some of their candy, and they cover me in stickers. Simply put, my students are the coolest kids in the whole world, and I love hanging out with them.

WorldTeach History at the Site 

I am the first volunteer here!

Community

Population: The village I live in is very small, maybe just a few hundred or less live there, I am unsure of the actual number. I live on campus in a tight knit community made up of fellow teachers and other faculty of the school.

Whats in the Town: There is little in the actual “town” I live in. There is a village market on Saturday s and Mondays. There is a primary school and a nursery school located in the village and also a local Wat (temple), though it is very small. There is also a small restaurant and a gas station and sometimes people sell snacks or drinks out of their front yards. I am unsure of what else is located in the village because my school does not allow me to go into town alone so I have not been able to explore fully.

Typical Occupation of Locals: Most support themselves by farming and raising cows and water buffalo.

Number of Teachers Overall: Right now there are seventeen teachers.

Number of English Teachers: There are three English teachers, four if you count me!

Number of Classrooms: I believe that there are about 20 classrooms. One was just recently turned into a computer lab and others seem to also be used for storage. We also just had a new building built for music and dance classes.

Amenities: There is a brand new computer lab for the students plus computers in each of the offices for teacher use. Wireless internet is available at school though it is very slow and sometimes does not work! I have access to a copy machine, printers and scanner. There is even a big flat screen TV they can bring into my classroom and attach to my computer for powerpoint presentations, movies, or pictures. There is an overhead projector as well but it can only be used in the staff meeting room.

Teaching Assignment

Semester Schedule: The first semester starts in May and ends in October and the second semester starts in November and ends in late March. One thing to prepare for is for the schedule to change dramatically from one day to another. Sometimes I get to school only to find out that there are no classes for “Buddha Testing” or “Scout Camp”, sometimes on Friday I find out that school will be closed on Monday for a national holiday. The dates of school breaks are often decided a week before hand and can change as well, so be ready to be flexible!

Level of Classes: The level of the classes varies, though none of them are where they should be for supposedly taking English since first grade. Typically each grade is split into different sections, each section being a little different level wise. Even in a particular class there can be a large discrepancy, some are able to start on grammar while others still don’t know all the letters of the alphabet. It’s important to just keep building vocabulary and reinforce the basics. Many of the students have also never really been expected to actually speak English, just to write and read it, so getting them to actually talk can be a challenge but is very important.

Supervision: Though there is supposed to be a Thai teacher in the room with me this hardly ever actually happens. I make up my own curriculum and teach pretty independently, though my talking dictionary is a great assistant teacher! When there is a Thai teacher in the room they help by translating for students when they do not understand what idea, word or concept I am using.

Living Arrangements

House/Room: I live in a small, two-story house on campus with three Thai roommates, one male and two females, all of which are either teachers or employees of the school. Don and Yu are married and share a bed room and Pom and I each have our own rooms. My room is small but cozy and has a wardrobe, desk, bed, fan and small fridge. I was also supplied with sheets, a comforter, curtains and a pillow. Downstairs is the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen has just an electric wok and rice cooker, no stove. The bathroom is a squat toilet and has bucket bath, but no hot water. There is a small washing machine though clothes must be rinsed in a bucket outside and hung to dry. We typically eat our meals at a table outside, unless the sun is shining directly on it, then we eat on a mat under a tree or on the kitchen floor. I know it may sound like a hard way to live but it is rewarding and I would not change my experience for anything! My house is surrounded by three other teacher houses and we are our own village. When the weather is hot we gather together outside in the shade and laugh and talk and play games. We have barbeques over fires and sing karaoke and dance. We are a very tight knit community and it is very comforting.

How close to school/other important town locations: I am very close to school since my house is on campus, it is only about a two minute walk. I am about a 20-30min drive from Nahkon Phanom and there is no public transportation in my village but my teacher friends and roommates are very generous in giving me rides. I am a 10 minute walk from the village but there is not much there, though it has a small night market on Saturdays and Mondays. It is about 7km to the nearest convenience store and 10-12km to the nearest everyday foodmarket.

Language Issues

Your language level when you arrived: I arrived with very limited knowledge! I knew the numbers and some random words thanks to the Rosetta Stone Thai Language CD I received as a birthday present before departure but I really didn’t study it like I should have! After orientation I had a basic vocabulary of colors, hello, thank you, I like, I don’t like, a few kinds of food and some verbs.

Greatest Challenge

Greatest Rewards

This is that hardest question to answer, there are so many rewards! I cannot describe the joy of interacting with these students. They are grateful, happy, respectful and so funny! Once they got used to a farang being at school the stopped being shy and really reached out to me. I have never felt so happy and content in my entire life. The relationship with the students and the look on their smiling faces when we interact or joke around is the best reward I could ask for. 

WorldTeach History at the Site

I am the first volunteer at my school.

Community

My regular school week is divided into two elementary public schools: Thai Samakee and Na Bpong, both of which are in close proximity to each other. I teach first grade through sixth grade, but because of the inconsistent and inadequate system present for learning English, all my students are relatively in the same level of English language skills. Both schools are very small with less than a hundred students total each, and are both supplied with a small staff of teachers, usually around 4-5 teachers per school. There is usually a classroom per grade, although in some cases, certain grades share a classroom. The amenities of both schools are minimum and very basic. Both have kitchens where students prepare food, sitting areas, basic classrooms, fields for outdoor activities, libraries in need of patrons, computer labs, and basic squat toilets. There is internet available, but it can be unreliable and the speed has not proven fast enough to use for lessons and activities. Extra resources for classroom activities are scarce- usually students are armed only with their writing materials.

Teaching Assignment

The first semester starts mid-May and ends in September, and the second semester picks up in November and ends in March. There are various holidays, both government-related and religious, and are observed by free-days off school. The semesters are also peppered with various sports events and inter-school competitions.

As aforementioned, because of the inadequate tools and support provided for learning English, the abilities of students in various dimensions of speaking, reading, and writing English are very inconsistent and below where they ought to be. I find that I teach the same material, but I do adapt the lessons to a particular skill set of an age group. The older students certainly grasp the material a lot faster, and can engage in more complex lessons and activities.

As far as supervision goes, the students are very used to minimal and inconsistent adult supervision and often perform chores for the school. In the classroom, students, I believe, are used to negative reinforcement and at times disintegrate into anarchy and chaos whenever a teacher leaves the room. These issues were a bit challenging to manage at first, especially with a language barrier, but creating and enforcing a particular learning environment with rules in my classes help manage regular behavioral problems. At times, anarchy rules anyway, and those are the days when you just have to see the bigger picture. As long as the students are challenged and are learning, then the most important part of my job is accomplished, paper planes and scribbled notes aside.

Living arrangements

I live in a teacher housing with another WorldTeach volunteer. Aside from our persistent battles with ever-enclosing invertebrates, giant geckos, a month and a half of no running water, a troublesome toilet, our house is somewhat palatial! We each have our own room on the second floor, there is a balcony, and a great living area/ kitchen/ dining room on the first floor. My roommate is vegetarian, so we prepare vegetarian meals together as well as split food and housing costs. My room is furnished with a bed, a mosquito net, a wardrobe, a fan, and a bookshelf I had to procure for myself. I have such a large room, and therefore, a large wall canvas to fill with pictures and art prints from home. My roommate and I did have to purchase a fridge, and cajole my principal into installing a shower and a sink for us. Our house has been large enough to accommodate frequent reunions with other volunteers, which has been tremendously helpful in terms of deriving support from each other and having a great time.

Language Issues

I had very minimal Thai language skills upon arriving. Very, very minimal. I could barely hold a “hello.” Needless to say, the lessons during Orientation helped, and honestly, teaching English to Thai students (necessitating Thai translations), interacting with the locals and my teachers have been tremendous instruments to my learning. Right now, I’m comfortable speaking Thai and I am still constantly learning every day. My only other obstacle, besides vocabulary, is the inability to read the characters.

Greatest Challenges

My greatest challenges so far have been entirely involved in the education sphere. There are institutionalized practices that I do not agree with, such as the presence of alcohol in school grounds. At times I believe that the students do not get enough support from their teachers, which can be very disheartening. School and classes can be abruptly dismissed or cancelled on a whim and without prior notice. The students do not receive educational tools and resources—sometimes they have to fight over pens and crayons. I understand that the schools have tight financial budgets, but with proper and responsible allocation, I know the schools can provide for their students.

I realize that aesthetic fixations are not endemic to Thai culture, but never before have I been bombarded with such importance on remaining fair skinned, which is so impractical given the country’s climate, and also to me, philosophically offensive. I’ve had to tell students that they are beautiful the way they naturally are, but at times I feel like I’m waging a helpless war on an entire cultural norm, only challenged every now and then by thoughtful interactions.

Greatest Rewards

My students have definitely been the greatest rewards of my experience! They are so grateful that I have been here, and have showered me with letters, drawings, paper maches, origami hearts, plastic flowers, candy, and even beloved stuffed animals! The privilege I have to reach out to this under-resourced community, to learn about their ways of living, their simple sources of happiness and to witness their generous acts of kindness have floored me every time. I feel that I am learning, growing, and hopefully becoming a worldly citizen each day, embraced by a community that may have limited resources, but have limitless amounts of generosity.

WorldTeach History at the Site

I am the first WorldTeach volunteer to teach in both of my schools, and the first foreign teacher for both.

Community

I live in a house on campus with another volunteer.  It is a one story house that is divided into two separate rooms. They aren’t connected, so we each have our own front door and our own (western) bathroom.  Our kitchen is outside, with a sink, refrigerator, and a propane tank to serve as our stove. We don’t have hot water, but it’s really not needed as most of the time the weather here is hot and humid. We do have a western toilet that flushes though, which is a luxury here.  Our rooms came furnished with a bed, two desks, and a closable dresser. We are located on the outside edge of campus, but right next to one of the EP buildings and the girl’s bathrooms. It’s just a minute walk to get to our office and to the academic buildings on campus. We also have several water filter systems on campus, which we use to fill up our water supply.  School is considered to be in town and is just a kilometer outside of the main cluster of stores and restaurants. It’s also about a kilometer to get to the hospital/doctor, in the other direction. 

Language Issues

For the most part, learning Thai has been a lot of fun. Fortunately, there are a fair amount of teachers at my school that speak English well enough, and my English Director speaks great English. When I arrived in Nakhon Phanom, I knew a couple key phrases, but that was it. I was an absolute beginner. Thai is a tonal language so it takes a little while to get the hang of it and you will undoubtedly make a few mistakes.  There have been many times in class when I’ve attempted to say something in Thai and I hear a collective gasp go through the room as all the students go ‘ohhhh, teacher!’ – then I know I’ve said something wrong!  At this point, about halfway through the year, I know enough Thai to get by in daily life. I can talk to the market vendors and have brief conversations with my students and teachers. I know about half of the letters/ the writing system, so I’m working on that more these days. I find that the more I try to speak Thai, the more receptive (Thai) people are of me. Just making that little effort to speak their language goes a long way. 

Greatest Challenges

Greatest Rewards

Another thing that’s been wonderful about living here is realizing that I have my own little family here. Whether it’s the students, the teachers, or other volunteers, I know that I’m taken care of. While it’s not a direct reward of teaching, it’s certainly a reward of putting my time and effort into living here. In just 7 months, I’ve made a life for myself.

WorldTeach History at the Site

This is the first year for the WorldTeach Thailand program

Community

The village where the school is has about 760 villagers. The school pulls students from several villages in the area. Some students come from as far as three or four kilometers away.

My village is about 25 kilometers outside of Nakhon Phanon and almost eight kilometers from the main road. The trip in from the main road goes takes you through several villages on roads varying from potholed concrete to dusty dirt roads. The area as a whole is fairly flat. My village is at the top of a very gradual hill and there are some streams and rivers that form during heavy rains. My window looks out into the jungle. The rest of the village is rice paddies and rubber tree plantations.

The village is very minimalist. They have what they need and little more. There are a couple shops with one or two sets of shelves with packaged noodles, chips, and sweets and a dorm-sized refrigerator with drinks for sale. There is a temple next door to the school and a restaurant up the street. Anything we need beyond that, we have to go to a neighboring village or to the city. The villagers are very good at making or making do with what they have, so trips to the city are not necessarily frequent.

As far as anything nearby, there really is nothing. I rarely leave the school unless it is to go to the city or to the market off the main road. I did a lot of exploring and there is a lot to see, but it depends on what you want to see. The landscape is almost entirely rice paddies with a sole tree every so often. It is very beautiful and very calming.

Pretty much all of the villagers work in agriculture in some capacity. As I have mentioned, there are a lot of rice paddies, rubber tree plantations, banana trees, etc. There are a couple shop owners and other assorted occupations, but mainly, the villagers are rice farmers.

Host School

There are ten teachers, including me. Each grade’s teacher doubled as the English teacher before I arrived. Now, the sixth grade teacher has become the English teacher and goes to almost all of my classes with me.

The school has eight classrooms, one each for grades one through six and two kindergarten.

Amenities are extremely limited. There is a nice computer lab for which the principal held a fundraiser last year. The school has been helped a lot by the Thai-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood. They renovated the cafeteria and the library of the school. For teaching, I really just have a chalkboard and usually chalk.

The semester runs from the beginning of November to the end of March. It picks up again in the beginning to middle of May and ends in September. There are a lot of national holidays (including “Student’s Day” and “Teacher’s Day”) and school is canceled every once in a while for sports and festivals. Breaks between semesters are about a month to a month and a half.

My classes are grades one through six. Their levels of English vary greatly, based on desire to learn mostly. Their English teachers were (are) their Thai teachers. These Thai teachers do not know English, but just read from a book. At almost all grade levels, there is a very large disparity between the most knowledgeable students and the least, to the extent that some do not know the alphabet and others are learning and understanding prepositions and possession.

I have a teacher with me in all of my classes. She is not really a supervisor, but I am sure she reports to the boss about what we do in class.

Living Arrangements

My house is brand new. They built it for me last September. It is very nice by Thai standards. There are two rooms with an outdoor common area at the entrance to the rooms. The most unexpected aspect of my living arrangement is that I have three to four students living in the other room. They are for my protection because if I live alone, the ghosts from the jungle would come and get me. It took some getting used to, but now I like having them there. I have what I imagine is a king size bed, access to a washer (drying is all air drying), wireless internet, a desk, chair, and wardrobe. The shower and bathroom are at the school. It is a little muddy sometimes after the rain, but you can avoid getting dirty with some careful walking. The shower is a short length of hose and a bucket. Hot showers are hard to come by. Fortunately, it is hot almost all the time, so the cool shower feels good. One thing about the toilets is that they are all manual flush in that there is a garbage can filled with water next to them and a bucket.

My house is about 20 feet behind the school, so commuting is very easy and fast. Four teachers (including myself) live on the campus. My village is very small, so I am close to everything in it; however, if I need anything bigger or something that we can’t make/rig up, we have to drive about half an hour.

Language Issues

My language when I arrived was about zero. Now, I am better, albeit not very good. For me, the biggest issue is that everything is done for me, so I am not using the language as much as I should or could be. The English teacher is starting to get tired of translating everything for me and started getting on my case to learn and start speaking more, so I expect that my skills will be getting better in a hurry now. I can understand maybe 30% of what they say. I generally know what they are talking about, but I miss the operative words. 

Communication was an issue from the first day when my Thai “sister” told me that she would iron my clothes and I thought she said she needed to run some errands. Even now, almost halfway through my stay, the communication issues exist. We have found different ways to get our points across, be it computer translation or over-exaggerated pantomime. I was very nervous about my health when I left. Fortunately (knock on wood), I have had little more than a cold and some heat related issues.

Overall, the biggest challenge I have had is with the culture. As a man, there are certain expectations of me. For instance, if I talk to a woman for too long or touch her (even her hand), I am assumed to be in love with her. My Thai sister told me that the father of one of my students did something like this last year and he had to pay a lot of money to the woman. It makes me very wary of what I do, who I talk to, and for how long. Also, I have difficulty figuring out how much time to spend with different people. If I spend too much time with one person, other people get jealous. I am sure there is a lot of politics happening that I am unaware of, but they really affect my actions.

Greatest Rewards 

There are too many to count. The kids are AMAZING. Even after spending all school day with them, I spend another two or three hours after school playing volleyball or soccer or some other game they invented. When I arrived, the students (and most of the villagers) had only seen a handful of white people in their lives. I was very exotic and everyone was so excited that I was here. I am still a celebrity in the town. When I run past the market, I feel like I am finishing a marathon because all the women applaud me (both going and coming). The weekends I spend at school are filled with games with the kids and the villagers.

I feel unilaterally accepted to the point where people get upset if they don’t get to spend time with me. Sometimes this is a little stressful, but most of the time it is fun. There is always something to do if I want. This made the adjustment easier because I wasn’t spending a lot of time alone. The school bends over backwards to make me happy (often when I don’t want them to, but Thai hospitality is as gracious as its stereotype).

The villagers are also great. I spend a lot of afternoons playing soccer with them. Although I have no idea how old they are (somewhere between the ages of 12 and 60), we have a lot of fun. My group of volunteers is almost entirely girls, so it is nice to have some “guy time” with them. The other villagers have their own ways of helping me. I am usually offered and eat at least four meals per day, sometimes one right after another.

I guess the bottom line is: I am well fed, well cared for, well exercised, and have a great group of students. I couldn’t be happier.

WorldTeach History at the Site

I am the first WT volunteer at the site.  

Community

Approx. population: 51,000 in Plapak district

Geography: largely rural, but because it’s a larger village, it has some urban qualities

What’s in the town: supermarkets, food shops, some small shops where you can buy clothing, several schools, baht bus stop (can take you around various places in Nakhon Phanom), small bus station that takes people to Bangkok, a hospital, and a post office.

What’s nearby: 45-60 minute baht bus ride to the city, Nakhon Phanom (NKP); 45 minute car ride to That Phanom Temple, the most important Temple in Nakhon Phanom Province

Occupations that people hold: farmers, teachers, shop owners, cooks, local government officials, police officers

Number of English Teachers: 5

Number of Classrooms: about 25

Amenities: I have access to two classrooms that are next to each other. Classroom 1- computer with small speakers, internet access, blackboard, chalk, electrical outlets, ceiling fans. Classroom 2- computer with huge speakers, a microphone in case you’d like to teach with it, internet has not been working in this classroom for about two months now, whiteboard, white board markers (dries up quite fast), an overhead screen, and an overhead projector.

Teaching Assignment

Daily Schedule: I teach 18 classes a week, between 2-4 classes a day, Monday through Friday. Altogether, I teach 7 classes (three classes are Mattayom 5 and four classes are Mattayom 6). I teach 6 out of my 7 classes twice a week. My seventh class I get to teach everyday. School runs from 8am- 4pm. Each class is 50 minutes long. Though I live in teacher housing that is on campus, I usually stay at the school for the whole day. From what I see, it is not common/accepted for teachers to go home during class periods when they don’t teach.

Semester Schedule: First semester begins early May and runs through early October. Second semester begins in late October and ends mid-March. Teachers are required to stay at school for the whole month of March. Summer vacation is from April to early May.

Level of Classes: There are 6 levels in the high school. I teach the two highest levels, Mattayom 5 and Mattayom 6.

Supervision: My experience with supervision has been on and off. For my first 3 months, it seemed that my co-teachers were never inside the classroom with me. But now, I am assisted with classes at least 3 times a week. This supervision is usually in the form of helping translate words and ideas to the students if they totally do not understand what I’m saying. My principal though regularly checks in with me to see how I am doing.

Living Arrangement

House/room: I live on campus in teacher housing. It is a two story, 3 bedroom small house. I share the house with another volunteer, Caitlyn, and another Thai woman teacher from my school. Caitlyn and I live upstairs while our Thai housemate lives downstairs. It is simple but really has all that one can need. It has a kitchen, dining area, and one bathroom. We also have a front yard, outdoor garage area, and a small back yard. The bathroom has a squatting toilet and a shower head. No hot water anywhere from the house unless you boil water from the stove. The house is furnished. It came with a refrigerator, ceiling fan, microwave, water heater, toaster oven (though it’s broken right now), stove, washing machine, and a speed dryer. As for my bedroom, I was truly surprised by its spaciousness. My room included a bed (along with a pillow, comforter, and a bed sheet), closet, vanity table, desk, computer, printer, scanner, bookshelf, a fan, clothes rack, broom, dust pan, and a mop. Also, Caitlyn and I were each given a bike which has been our main means of getting around town.

How close are you to the school and other important locations: My school is about a 3 minute bike ride. To get into the main part of the village where all the food shops and markets are is about a 5 minute bike ride. As mentioned earlier, it is about a 45-60 minute baht bus ride to Nakhon Phanom. Hospital and post office is a 5 minute bike ride.

Language Issues

Level of the language when you arrived: I barely knew anything, to tell you the truth. I probably only knew how to say “Hello,” “Thank you,” and “How are you?” and “I love you.”

How are you doing partway through your stay: I know that my vocabulary has greatly increased but it still is hard to hold long conversations with people. Because Thai is a tonal language, it makes everything that much more difficult, because though I may learn how to pronounce a word, remembering the tone is the challenge. But I am definitely more comfortable trying to use the Thai words and phrases that I know. Also, people usually speak Isaan, the local dialect here, and it often times gets confusing trying to discern between what is Thai and what is Isaan. Overall, I believe my listening and speaking skills are getting better, as well as my confidence in trying to just communicate to Thai people in general. My best teachers in the language have been the teachers at my school as well as students.

Greatest Challenges

I had a hard time with being constantly mistaken as a Thai person. When I would state that I was American, they usually looked at me in confusion and disbelief, almost questioning if I was speaking the truth or not. It was hard for me to understand and accept Thai people’s one-dimensional perception of America as a homogenous fair-skinned country. Another challenge was realizing that Thai culture, at least the people in my school community, were more materialistic and beauty-obsessed than I would have ever expected. Open remarks to one another about one’s skin color, one’s weight, one’s clothes bothered me greatly. If they think someone looks fat, Thai people have no problem telling that person. This scenario could very well even be a Thai teacher speaking to a student. This made me worry a lot about students’ self-esteem. Last challenge was observing how student achievement seemed not to be the main and common goal driving the school. It is a common sight to see students just hanging out because their teacher chooses not to show up or teach.

Greatest Rewards

I absolutely love my site placement—from the feel of our bigger village that has a satisfying combination of rural and urban, to the teachers at my school, to my students. It is a great feeling knowing that I am becoming more and more integrated to the community. 2. My students are hilarious. They are more outgoing than I could have ever expected. They really do make teaching fun. They bring meaning to my everyday life here. 3. My experience raising money for the earthquake victims in Haiti was a humbling experience. My school and village community really showed tremendous support towards my efforts. We managed to raise about $700. This greatly exceeded my expectations from a village where most of the people are farmers.

WorldTeach History at the Site

This year was the first year WorldTeach sent volunteers to Thailand. Also, I am actually the first foreign teacher that has ever worked at the school. Considering this, Plapak has showed unbelievable kindness and hospitality to me from day one and still now, five months in. I can really feel that the students and teachers genuinely appreciate my presence and work here at the school.