Banphakamnongrua School, is a small school in the Buntharik district of Ubon Ratchathani province which holds about 300 students and 17 teachers. The children range all the way from nursery age to grade 9 who are 15 years old.
The school's director is Mr. Kom Suan (shortened) who has been a director for 5 years. He was incredibly kind and welcoming to me, and even though he did not speak English, our friendship grew anyway over the two week period I visited the school.
Tooktik (nickname) is the main English teacher in the school and the only person who can speak English fluently. She is from Ubon Ratchathani, where she graduated in English Major. She was my host for the duration of the stay and made the entire experience very enjoyable; mostly because she was able to translate all the Thai conversations with the other teachers for me! But she did also try to take care of my every need far more than necessary. Being the first volunteer at the school, everyone was very excited to have me, and great efforts were gone to, in order to welcome me. This included a ceremony where I was wished good luck and fortune based on Buddhist practices.
During the days I took several classes, taking a dominant role in most of the teaching after a couple of days. Rather than follow any set curriculum I aimed to motivate the students to enjoy learning English and interacting with an English person which was a novelty for them. I used several core topics and taught at different levels using a variety of games and activities.
In the evenings I I joined local people and staff who lived in the village for dinner. This was an excellent experience as I learnt how to cook at eat with people of this culture. A highlight of this for me was going fishing in one of the families ponds to catch super!
I would recommend anyone with an interest in teaching English to volunteer at Banphakamnongrua School, and for longer than I did. I would tell them to embrace the whole experience and see a totally different way of life. You don't always have your creature comforts, the toilets are basic and they eat liver, and intestines in some local dishes. If you don't want to try this life then don't come to Ubon!
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