“The sometimes hidden message of ECC is that was my time
volunteering to teach English with these children wasn’t to be so much about
teaching and education, but rather being a source inspiration to generate what
will hopefully become a longer term drive for English proficiency.”
The
roads are red and dusty, the rice paddies dry and wilting under an oppressive
and every present sun, I have arrived in Thailand’s dry season. Those that grew
up here and bus home to Isaan seasonally, to harvest their family’s field, have
long returned back to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, or other city to support their families
back home. Driving through the many villages to my school I cannot help but be
struck by the absence of an entire generation of people, the rarity of sighting
a female between the ages of 18 to 30 is only surpassed by that of seeing a
male, the scarcity of seeing a face here my own age (22) is almost haunting.
This is a poor region, a fact I seem to all too regularly neglect, perhaps it
is the un-extinguishable attitude and spirit of Isaan people that continually
overwhelms me and redirects my attention. Every day I am surrounded by
teachers, students and villagers who appear so categorically content with their
lives with the simpler pleasures, that I too forget so many of the possessions
and infrastructure I view as necessities back home in Australia.
This
is a country within a country, where late is on time, the weather is dry or wet
and the people seem only to smile. Where children run laughing down beaten
forest paths to fish from bamboo poles from the edge of shaded dams, and where
the presence of a westerner in the village is looked upon in excitement, a
little nervousness, and as a great opportunity for the local men to test manhood,
whether it is athletically, or by alcohol tolerance (all in great sport).
A
land overwhelming patriotic to both country and King and governed by a social
hierarchy in which family always comes first. A family I am quickly welcomed
into as both “brother” and “son” this is a country and a people I have firmly
fell in love with. My travels and experiences here recollected are only
romantised to a degree as to provide a story with the justice of its truth, to
simply recant chronologically the adventures, meetings, smells, tastes and
confusion, would in my opinion repress this truth. Those that know me, and
those from ‘English Crazy Club’, my host teacher and family will attest that I do not
espouse a flowery or unrealistic view of sociology or economics; I am straight
forward a pragmatist. I do however maintain an enormous sentimental value to my experiences in Thailand with ECC.
I would and shall now encourage anyone considering volunteering with this group
to do so, and do so with a level of confidence and experimentation that will
gain you the admiration and respect of both your peers and everyone you meet in
Isaan. I will apologise for what appears to be the onset of a long and emotive
storytelling of my time volunteering with ECC.
Thailand’s north east, Isaan, is a
land truly forgotten and thankfully all but un-adultered by western visitors,
this is now to be my fourth trip to Thailand, my second to Isaan and my first
experience teaching. Notwithstanding this will also be the first time I
surrender all trust and faith to a foreign organisation, from an unknown
university, to house me, feed me and hopefully not lose me in the vast rice
fields of for what is for all intents and purposes an alien land and culture. I
stumbled upon the student organisation, ‘English Crazy Club’, by accident on
the internet while engaging in that endless search for justifiable
procrastination I think every undergrad seeks during examination periods. My
discovery of the ‘English Crazy Club’ was unbeknown to me at the time, one of
the most fortunate discoveries of my life. As horrifically clichéd as it sounds
- I had no idea the journey I was about to embark on, as I diligently filled
out their questionnaire (endeavouring not to exaggerate my personal and
professional competencies as I too regularly find myself doing on resumes).
English Crazy Club (ECC), is a network of past
and present students from the University of Ubon Ratchanthani in Thailand’s
north east (Isaan). Fear not - I won’t make the mistake of recanting the
structure of ECC, least to provide my own insight as to how they worked for me.
P’Aom, the lovely young lady I can’t help but feel I took terribly advantage
over, with my countless emails, hounding questions and never ending cascade of
changed plans, dates, and arrival modes. Honestly this is a woman that should
be running a major corporation, for what she continuously achieves with so
little resources and finance is truly remarkable. P’Aom seems more than ably
assisted by P’Geng, and a lady who I can’t help but feels is mother hen of
everything charitably and good willed in and around South East Asia, P’Netting.
Through
my many emails and eventual meeting with P’Aom and P’Netting in Bangkok, I
could see they had an immense passion and dedication for what they did. During
my short time with ECC it was evident that through their spearhead leadership
this organisation with its countless part-time volunteers provides a
substantial and surprisingly realistic opportunity for the school children of
Isaan. The sometimes hidden message of ECC is that was my time
volunteering to teach English with these children wasn’t to be so much about
teaching and education, but rather being a source inspiration to generate what
will hopefully become a longer term drive for English proficiency. My
time with them was to be so short (30 days) that the biggest impact I could
have on their education was to provide them with a positive experience learning
English and exposure to a native speaker.
Well
with the smog, congestion and overcrowding of Bangkok far behind me, I sit back
in my chair as I fly towards Ubon Ratchanthani, I know I should have caught the
train, this trip is supposed to be about experiencing new things...but for an
extra 15AUD, flying was well, too irresistibly. In my defence I have done long
bus journeys in Thailand before, both first and second class, and I was already
running a few days behind schedule so 12 hours on the road kind of felt like it
would be time wasted. Having said that, my plane was running an hour late and
it would seem I was off to a bad start for first impressions with my host
family. ECC member Yok (21) and her family were to host me for the next three
or so days whilst Ubon. The idea of a host family in Ubon I believe is designed
to ease a volunteer into Isaan culture, (like keeping a goldfish in a bag of
water when placing it in a new tank I suppose :P). Yok and I had chatted on
Skype and exchanged a few emails before I arrived in Thailand, so at least I
knew who to look for when I touched down.
In
the passenger terminal at Ubon I heard my name called out and I turn to see Yok
with what must be her father, I apologise profusely in English, and made one of
my many bashful attempts at repeating sorry in Thai to Yok’s father. Yok
quickly proved to be very gracious and kind and extremely shy, the room her
family provided me was well and above what I had expected and Yok and her
family went out of their way to make me at home. That evening was University of
Ubon Ratchanthani’s Christmas party, ECC of whom most members seem to originate
from the English Language department of the University was hosting one of the
parties and I was quickly whisked on a motorcycle to meet various other members
of ECC.
It was regrettable that this was to be my
first only night in Ubon with Yok, due to the confusion created by my delayed
arrival, my host teacher was to surprise me the next day with an early
departure to my host school. Again I found myself making my apologies to Yok
and her family (I am off to a great start aren’t I ?...) as I climb into the
passenger seat of my host teacher’s truck.
My
host teacher – P’Joob - short, well fed, bob cut, huge smile, comedic black
glasses and always laughing - usually accompanied with a good natured punch to
my upper arm or shoulder.
Within
the first five minutes of the 2 hour easterly drive to Buntharik province,
P’Joob my host teacher had alleviated all of my fears; this was an absolutely
awesome lady, non stop laughing, and a great story teller with a great grasp on
English. While I was to be staying with P’Joob she was to be announced by the
Thai Government as one of Thailand’s top 1000 teachers, a title she earned
every day with her students. P’Joob bi-passed her village and drove me straight
to ‘Non Mark Duay’ School, she had told her students 4 hours ago she had “gone to get a surprise” and wanted to
get me back before school finished for the day. Well I’m glad that she was
excited because at this stage I had developed sweaty palms and was getting more
and more nervous at how I would cope with all these children and by how
increasingly deep we were going into the countryside from the main road.
As the truck rounded the final corner, I saw
the white brick gates of a school at the end of the road, the yellow flags for
the King and the blue white and red striped national flag of Thailand cascading
off the walls. P’Joob cast me a look from the corner of her eye and pulled the
car off to the side of the road, turning to me, she pulled up the handbrake and
asked
“Okay?”
Was
I okay? Yeah I guess I was okay. Was I ready? Absolutely not, all of my fears
were rushing to the surface, what if I can’t teach them? What possible use am I
to this school? - I don’t have enough teaching material to last 30 minutes
never mind 30 days...how could I possibly vent all these thoughts to my new
host teacher, I couldn’t, so I lied.
“Yeah, I’m good”
I reply “let’s go”.
P’Joob
chuckled fully aware of my trepidation, and drove the car in through the front
gates and onto the dirt track, making a right hand turn bringing us out from
behind the tree line that surrounds the school boundary and into view of an,
aging wooden building shaded by neighbouring tall evergreens which framed the
two storey school. There must have been a lookout, a sentry or scout, hiding on
one of the upper verandas or in bushes below because with one high pitched war
cry, children flooded out of their classrooms and onto the balconies that
surround the school, quickly followed by their teachers, all to watch, peering
at the slowly approaching car as if pure will alone would provide them x-ray
vision through the heavily tinted windows of the car.
P'Joob
parks the car in front of the main school building and shoots me a final look,
“Ready?”
“Let’s
do it”, and with a bit of false confidence, I exit the dual cab and come around
to the rear of the truck and into sight of a hundred and fifty odd uniform clad
Thai school children. I make my initial gesture (a friendly wave) and watch as
their smiles drop, fear hit their eyes and all, absolutely all of them
retreated, screaming and scurrying back into the safety of their classrooms,
behind a teacher’s skirt, or across the playground for the rice paddies be
yonder. I look over to P’Joob for reassurance, and find her almost in tears
from laughter, she promises me all is okay and that they are just nervous.
Casting my eyes back over to the school I see cracks appear in the curtains of
classroom windows, small cute smiling faces peeking out from behind shrubbery
and some of the more cheeky girls already collaborating together to single out
a peer to push towards me giggling the whole way.
The rest of the afternoon was a blur of
introductions, a mirage of smiling faces and unpronounceable names, teachers,
assistants, administrators, cooks and children not to mention the countless
games of table tennis in which I was unashamedly beaten by the reigning school
champions. Sweating exhausted and a bit overwhelmed, P’Joob almost
instinctively concluded the day and led me from the school yard and into the solitude
and comfort of her air conditioned of her truck. Day 1, was over...
P’Joob
lived with her Mother a lovely lady who from our first meeting enforced her
position as mother, or ‘Meh’ in Thai, her English proficiency was very basic
but made for some very interesting conversations, wherein she attempted to
foretell my future by reading he palm of her hand, perhaps successfully, I just
didn’t understand any of it J.
I suppose it is an important reflection, in that you, like me, will at times
become undoubtedly frustrated with your inability to communicate effectively
with the people around you. I was extremely fortunate to have a host teacher
with sound English skills and a patience to think of how to explain something
rather than say: “it doesn’t matter’.
My
accommodation was a 3 by 3 metre tiled floor room with a mattress on the floor
and a fan, all very clean and more than acceptable for my length of duration,
rest assured had I been staying for longer than one month I may have invested
in the $100 on a proper spring mattress, it doesn’t matter how young you are,
tiles are very unforgiving on the back J.
Privacy was absolute, whenever I needed to shy away from Thailand, and get on
Skype or YouTube for something recognisable there was never an overwhelming
presence. This is a feature I would recommend noting when P’Aom or other
representative asks your preference for a home stay with a host teacher or a
local family. I spoke with another ECC volunteer who seemed a little
overwhelmed in her environment and the limited personal space she had
throughout her stay with a local family. Whether this was the character of her
specific hosts, a commonality of local families, or just a lower tolerance of
the volunteer herself, I do not know, however it was point I noted at the time,
perhaps, largely due to my comparably good fortune.
From the second day I found myself alone
standing in front of a classroom of 20 or so children, P’5 (Grade 5) children
about 11 years old. P’Joob had asked me if I would like to join her in the
classroom for a few days or start off straight away by myself, I was cocky...
and now I was experimenting with varying teaching styles, I quickly found
success when I realised they were a little scared of me. I was never going to
be able to teach through respect and discipline without speaking fluent Thai,
so I made myself fun, that way at least the children looked forward to my
classes, and laughed when they said something wrong rather than get embarrassed
and overtly shy. I sticked well clear of the text books, my classes while
compulsory were not required to cover curriculum (that was still covered by
regular faculty) I was asked instead to build their confidence as this was seen
as key to their success in testing. We made everything a game, the most
successful was teaching a selection of moods or feelings one day, such as,
Happy,
Sad, Cold, In Love, Angry etc etc
and
testing it the next day by game. I would have all chairs and desks moved to the
side of the room and divided the class into two teams - boys and girls
(naturally). These teams would stand in line at the back of the room with the
leading person holding a piece of chalk facing the blackboard 10 ft away. I
would then randomly choose and speak one of our words and then desperately dive
out of the way as the two children raced up to the chalkboard to draw something
that depicting the English word before their opponent could. I would then act
out the role of an art gallery snob, awarding points and critique based on
their artwork, much to the amusement of the students. But oh dear how they
would cheat, and at every chance they got, it was hilarious, they would look at
each other’s drawings, have their teammates call out the word in Thai, I even
had one of the smarter students draw the answer on a piece of paper and hold it
up for their teammate to view, if nothing else these kids learnt how to
circumvent my rules at every chance. This of course led to deducted points
(more harshly from the girls tally in a vain attempt to tighten the scores –
something they caught onto...fast). For all the fun this turned out to be quite
successful, every day more words were added, and at the end of the week, I
would award additional points if the correct syntax was used with an
appropriate action, e.g. I love you (fingers in shape of a love heart), I am
cold(shivering) etc. This is all very basic, but these are children whom only
one week ago could only say their name and of course the daily monotone
rendition of “Good morning teacher how are you?”
Throughout
my time at Non Muak Duai school I
invested all my energy and patience into making learning fun. My style of
teaching probably would not have been a tenable educational style for a longer
term educator, but given my naught teaching qualifications, short tenure and
linguistic limitations, I believe this was the most effective method I could
provide. I was fortunate that due to my short tenure I was not required to meet
the Thailand Education Department’s curriculum for English, for anyone that
does I wish you good luck...
I
never got involved with the curriculum issues, you will see them, they are
there, they’re noticeable, and most Thai teachers recognise it too... and far
too often it serves as the pitfall of foreign volunteers who become
overwhelming discouraged by the system. For instance so much time is dedicated
to grammar, Thai students are being taught English literacy devices, verbs,
adjectives, adverbs, poetry and so on, before ever being able to string a
sentence together. It is frustrating - just leave it alone, trust me. If scope
allows you to do your own thing like me then your lucky – but - if you are
required to teach the curriculum then it is important that you do.
I
had one volunteer triumphantly tell me how she threw the Thai government issued
textbook out the window and created her own English program. I have no doubt
she did so with the best of intentions and I understand her frustrations,
however the students will still be required to undertaking testing and examination of the set curriculum
and those results are important for their later schooling. Moreover this can
and most likely will lead to later hardship for the resident teachers who will
be required to take personal time in order catch up the students on the state
material. Everyone is doing the best they can, don’t make one volunteer’s
mistake of lecturing the Thai English teachers on various failures she
identified in their teaching style/curriculum. Common sense...
This
comes around to link with the overall attitude of volunteers, and with the risk
of speaking ill of another person I feel it is important to note. While on an
ECC sponsored English Crazy Camp in a far away Isaan province I was accompanied
by another volunteer, a woman who had dedicated her life to social work. During
this camp, things went wrong, no there wasn’t a western version for breakfast
EVERY morning, yes the doors to the entertainment complex that we were hosting
were still locked when we arrived on the main day of the camp, Thai’s are
really great about this kind of stuff with the ever ready phrase, “Mai Ben-Rai”
(meaning-no worries, don’t worry etc). ECC creates extraordinarily effective
events with very limited supplies, this is not a well financed group and the
expectation of this other volunteer appeared at stages to be significantly out of
scope with what was available. Her frustration led to open rudeness and
hostility towards some of the foundation members of ECC. This, I believe in
turn became a poor reflection on me in the eyes of some ECC members due to my
association with her, as I constantly tried to lighten her mood. By the
conclusion of the 2 day camp, my foreign ‘Farang’ counterpart was avoiding
work, changing the schedule without consulting the group leaders, and
dismissing early or entirely skipping the next rotation of her campers. It was
really sad to be honest, because the children and even adult learners picked up
on her attitude and it resonated throughout the camp and impeded on P’Aom and
other ECC members major goal to make English non threatening and fun. I was shocked and frankly a little
ashamed, that someone would come so far, for such a great cause just to
get frustrated and angry at the
seemingly futility of her endeavours. A one or two month volunteer is not here
to change the curriculum for English education in Thailand. Any thoughts
otherwise are naive and juvenile, what
is worse is when you then accuse the educators and volunteers in the system as
being the cause of this problem and proponents of it. These are very good
people, please ensure you come here with realistic intentions, just have fun,
go with the flow and you’ll enjoy your time and what’s more have a huge
impact... even if you don’t realise it at the time.
There
are so many opportunities for the volunteer in an Isaan school, I was
immediately adopted into a wonderful Thai family and community. All too regularly
(2-3) times a week, a teacher from another local school would be having a feast
or a party to which the teachers I worked with would drag me along (usually worn
out already from teaching). Everyone wants to meet you, everyone wants you to
try their speciality dish and everyone wants their photo with you. If male, the
local males will want to test your metal with their local whisky and vodka’s.
All this interaction is made with the best intentions and if you’re willing, if
you’re enthusiastic you will have an absolutely great time.
Major
case in point, Dek Wan “Childrens Day” was held while I was volunteering, a day
where throughout Thailand children are celebrated and showered with treats. In
Buntharik province where I was volunteering about 6 or 7 schools came together
at a regional sports ground where numerous jumping castles and other carnival styled
rides were set up. Each school participated in hosting their own showground type
tent with a game or activity for the gathered students. Towards the end of the
day I was watching one of the school’s games, a race, with a series of steps:
First;
the competitor had to submerge their
face in a bucket of water,
Second; locate and pick up a small coin with their
teeth from the bottom of a deep bowl filled with baby powder without the use of
their hands,
Third; consume 9-10 soft biscuits designed to
dry their mouth of all saliva making it near impossible to swallow,
Fourth: quickly down a bottle of juice,
and
Fifth;
finally blow up a
balloon until it popped.
Evidently
all competitors would complete the race filthy and more than a little
embarrassed.
I
was a bit concerned and a little jealous that there appeared to be no adults
participating in this competition. I took it upon myself to announce - with
P’Joob standing next to me - our entrance into the next race (communicating to
the race officials largely by hand gestures). This announcement was met with
much enthusiasm and laughter from onlooking teachers and students, and near
violent protest from P’Joob. Such was the spectacle of our entrance that the
nature of the competitors in the next race was announced over the PA system
throughout the sports field. Within minutes the speculating crowd had grown
from 10 or 15 to over 60 and a growing contingent of students from my school,
P’Joob not impressed...I only assume I was too fearful to meet her gaze :P . Once
up at the starter’s line we were joined by another male teacher from another
school and a trend of teacher competitors was started. Needless to say I cheated;
I personally blame the bad influence of my students whom had corrupted by angel
like ways (yeah right) over the past few weeks with their rule bending and
cunning ability to get away with it. So...I used my hands to find the coin, I
took biscuits off my plate and placed them on my competitors plates, I crushed
up the biscuits with my hands poured them down my shirt rather than eat them
and I popped the balloon with my hands. My exploitive game play (not cheating...exploitive)
gave great pride and admiration from the collection of students from my school
(I only assume), much laughter from the rest of the crowd on and much protest from
P’Joob who sought a side bar with the officials haha.
The
children appeared to gain far more enjoyment watching myself and their teachers
humiliate themselves in this game rather than participating in it themselves. The
male teacher who competed with me ended up being the director ‘principal’ of
another local school, who asked the director of my school where he could source
volunteer such as myself. It really is humbling the effect you can have on a
school community and the manner in which they value your efforts.
This
has already gone on far too long, I hope I have been able to ebb your
enthusiasm to contact ECC and begin your application process. If you’re still
hesitant or a little unsure about anything just put yourself in contact with
ECC and ask the questions, they are very welcoming of a potential volunteer,
and very honest towards any concerns. Trust me you can’t annoy them more than I
did during the lead up to my trip J
It
really is what you make of it.
Will
be doing it again.
Best
of Travels.
