Paula Burgi / November 2009

I found out about the Learn2give project through a website called helpx.net. The website involves giving your help in exchange for accommodation. I was still new to the website, and had been disappointed by hosts failing to send responses to my emails, so I was very happy when I got not only a quick response, but a very excited email welcoming me to the project.


After sending a resume and a few more confirmation emails, I was on a bus to Ubon Ratachani. At the bus station, I was picked up by 2 very enthusiastic students, both first years and part of the English Crazy Club. They took me to the Ubon Museum, and then to the University, where I met tons of people and felt instantly welcomed. As a gap year student thus soon going to college, it was great to be around other college students, as I had been with a bunch of middle aged people for the past month.



That evening, I left for my first Crazy English Camp, which was going to be 250 15 year olds, and I was very nervous. I knew I had to dance and sing in front of them, and having no talent at either, I was not really excited about doing it in front of a ton of 15 year olds. But the thing about the Crazy English Club is that they can basically make anyone do anything. Because they are such care-free, fun loving and, well, crazy people, they have absolutely no reservations about getting up and looking like a fool in front of just about anybody. And that fearlessness definitely transferred over to all the other volunteers and more importantly the students, even ones that were more nervous than me.



What I really loved about the Crazy English Camps is that the Club did not focus as much on pounding as much vocabulary into the students heads as possible, but rather associating learning English with fun, like learning crazy songs, games and activities that the students obviously love. This club and these camps inspire kids more than I have ever seen any assembly or extracurricular camp do in America. They have so much fun at these camps, and you can tell how much the schools and English teachers appreciate it.



After my first English camp, I was picked up to go to the school at which I would be teaching at for a month. It was about an hour and a half away from Ubon Ratachani University, and very rural. I was the first “falang” to be in their village, and was warmly welcomed by school staff, although many of the children seemed quite afraid of me at that point. Later that afternoon, the village prepared a beautiful welcome ceremony for me, which involved traditional Isaan (Northeastern Thailand culture) dancing and tying of strings to my wrists for good luck.



I lived on campus with 2 other female teachers, who were both very gracious. I sometimes dined with them, but more often than not there was a teacher who wanted to take me out for a nice dinner in “town,” or for a walk around the village and dine at a theirs or a friends house. I was constantly being welcomed to visit people’s homes, or go see their rice fields (some of the teachers were VERY proud of their rice fields). I instantly embraced in the community, and, because I was still seen as a child in their eyes, watched like a hawk, to make sure I did not get in any trouble.



The teaching itself was not what I was expecting, but it was still incredibly rewarding. I was expecting to be teaching mostly younger kids, as I was almost the same age as the older ones, but it ended up that I was teaching the older kids about 75 percent of the time, and the younger ones only about 25 percent of the time. After about a week of figuring out my teaching strategies and getting to know some of my students (they loved hanging out with me in these little huts next to the school’s rice fields) I finally got in the grove of teaching. With the use of games, songs, flash cards, my broken Thai and little rewards for the students who do well or participate and which of these would work the best for which age groups, I finally got a handle on my teaching.



The thing that really helped me understand the kids that I was teaching is that they are not always insanely interested in what you are teaching them, and, from my view point, they act much like American middle schoolers, rather than the stereotypical prototype of teaching in a very remote village of smiling children ready to throw themselves at any assignment you give them. But once I wrapped my head around that and started trying to connect with the kids on a more pop culture-y level, I got a much bigger response out of them, and started to really love my teaching.



Overall, I had a really good experience teaching, and couldn’t thank the English Crazy Club enough for setting me up with such a great experience. They are such remarkable people really trying to make a difference in their part of the world, and would recommend it to anyone who was interested in volunteering in Thailand.