Teaching English in Thailand!

The view from the apartments that I was staying in at the school.

Sa wat di ka (hello) my steemit friends. While in Thailand I spent most of my time teaching English to 5/6 year old kindy students in a rural coastal town called Phetchaburi, 3 hours south of Bangkok. And boy, did I have a ball!

Me getting ready to start a mini show.

Most people would suspect that teaching English would be difficult for those who cannot speak their native language, however most schools in South East Asia prefer you not to speak their language. So how do you teach English to those who can’t understand a word you are saying (ok maybe only a few words)? In the lower grades there are Thai teachers who know very basic English, so if I needed to communicate how to do a task most of the time I could tell the Thai teacher (and use visual aids) and they would translate, however there was still a lot of misunderstanding due to the language barrier. However, while I was there I did try to learn as much Thai as I could even though the English teacher’s were not allowed to use it at all in the classroom.

Myself and my coordinator, teacher Jiji. She spoke really good English and helped me a lot.

Most of my teaching consisted of learning their ABCs, phonics and basic words. I would have a topic every week (ie, at school, my feelings, on vacation, foods etc.) and I would base activities off from that. I used many visual aids such as videos, display boards that I had made and many visual cards. I also made lots of activity sheets and played many educational games with them (ie phonics bingo). I always tried to make it fun. Getting up and dancing with them was always a big hit too.

Me getting ready for another show. Singing and dancing to ‘5 Little Ducks’.

Helping one of the students.

Unfortunately the school didn’t allow the children to have scissors or glue. The school had limited resources and the children could not do anything that got them too dirty (ie painting). So I was limited in the activities that I could do. However, I still managed to make it fun and the children loved it!

In the office (hiding up the back) preparing class materials and marking their work.

The school also had a military aspect to it. Before class everyday we would have an assembly where all the students would line up straight from tallest to shortest. We’d all then pray, sing the king’s song and march. Some mornings there was dancing too.

Me standing outside my apartment that was on the school grounds. Ready for my first day as a teacher.

As the only female farang (what Thai people call white people) I was the face of the school (which I did not like). Pictures were taken of me teaching the students to put in newsletters and on advertisements for the school. I would not have minded as much if it was more authentic and everything wasn’t staged. They’d put me in position and have me fake teaching students I’ve never taught before. In Thailand it is better to look ‘pretty and fake’ than authentic. They also think it is better to have a ‘white face’ with no experience teaching their children than any other coloured person with more experience, even if their native language was English and they had a teaching degree!

One of the photos that was taken for the monthly newsletter.

Other than that my experience as a teacher was amazing and I would do it again in a heart beat. The children are mostly well behaved but always polite and respectful (and adorable!) The only thing I really struggled with was learning all of their names (and nicknames). I hope you enjoyed reading my post. I still have a few more posts on Thailand coming up so keep your eyes peeled.

Below are some more pictures of the school.