Bailey Campbell - Australia 2012


“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.

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