Travel to Teach: Thailand Volunteer Story

Corine with T2T co-ordinators Rick and Mam

Corine, 46, Holland

Although this was not my first travel experience in Southeast Asia, the choice to stay for longer and not as a tourist has been a wish for a long time. Travel to Teach was the only organisation I could find on the web with reasonable prices and opportunities for a long term cross culture experience in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

I am in my late 40’s and not a professional teacher. At my age you are not so flexible with sharing accommodation with roommates; you need more privacy in a 24hours/7days ‘dorm’ setting. When I asked Travel to Teach in advance, it was no problem at all to arrange a private bungalow for me in Pai.

When I arrived in Pai I was really surprised. Actually I didn’t know what to expect, but not two charming, thin, Thai woman with motorbikes, the local representatives waiting at the bus station to take me to the dorm. After a warm welcome we started to laugh, it seemed to me impossible to take me and two backpack safely to the dorm in the highlands. Because there is no public transport in Pai, I begged the bus driver of the minivan who took me van Chiang Mai to Pai, to take me and to drop me of and he agreed.

The Travel to Teach dorm, named ‘Wonderland House’ is situated in Ban Mae Yen a small village in the beautiful highlands, a few kilometres from Pai after crossing the bridge over the lovely Pai River. Beside a 400 steps uphill temple, Wat Phra That Mae Yen, there are just a few houses in the rural area between the rice-paddies and mountains with breathtaking, gorgeous views.

‘Wonderland House’ is one of the most beautiful Travel to Teach locations. There is a big wooden house with a balcony. It was really great to have a Korean BBQ, sitting on bamboo mats cooking your own food on a pot with soup and a roaster. The kitchen is well equipped, even with a toaster and a blender. Useful to make fruit shakes with fresh fruit from the in town-market. There are four bungalows, each with a bathroom with western style toilets and even hot showers. Sitting on your private porch or in the garden with always splendid views on the mountains and rice fields it is easily to have feelings like to be in paradise. In the beautiful garden with banana trees, bamboo and a lot of flowers there is a roofed place with hammocks. For everyone it is the favourite place to chill out after a days hard work at school.

The introduction program was personal and great fun. It started with a motorbike tour of Pai with the local coordinator Mam showing me how to find the bank, groceries, internet and laundry, and to hire a city bike. The next day after teaching introduction lessons I was taken out for a welcome dinner in Na’s Kitchen to taste the delicious Thai kitchen. The next day is was time to explore the Pai countryside. Mam took me on the motorbike and we visited the Hot Springs (really hot, 80 degrees centigrade sulphur - if you want you can cook an egg in a basket in the water). We also visited a huge waterfall and the Pai Canyon. On our way home we passed a Lisu (hill tribe) and a Chinese village where a tea drinking ceremony was offered to us.

Pai, with 3000 inhabitants is situated in the Mae Hong Son province. Most of the town people are Shan and Thai but there is also a small Chinese and Muslim population and a ‘foreigners’ community. In the highlands there are several hill tribe villages. These minorities can easily be visited by (motor) bike or on foot. I feel compassion for the colourful hill tribe people; you can meet the women with their beautiful handicrafts on the street, and some of their children where to be my students at school. I taught grade 4, 5, and 6 at the Anuban Pai School, a primary school in Pai, and grade 1-6 at the Mae Hee School ,a primary school in a small village. Although there was an English teacher at the school the level was very low. Some of the students could not write down their names in the Latin alphabet. Despite this all my students had a deep desire to learn English. My first goal was to encourage them to speak English in the classroom, I discovered that the reason they where very shy with me was maybe because I was the first ‘farang’ (foreign) English teacher at the school.

I quickly realised that I had to be flexible in the Thai school system. Some students seemed to be having dissection or vision problems. I realised then that they where not lazy, unintelligent or unwilling to study English (one of the Thai teachers called them ‘poor in mind’, because of their minority background) but that many of them had problems which where hindering their learning. In this area there are no ‘school’ facilities to provide things like vision tests or remedial teaching to develop their personal skills.

After a brief disaster in the first week between me and the Asian school furniture (a plastic chair is not meant for western women’s buttocks!) the ice was broken between me and my students. They discovered that I had a different personality from their Thai teachers with a different approach to teaching them. Even though most of the students were attentive during my lessons, they still weren’t quite able to read the Latin alphabet which made me realise that I have to develop other skills to keep them really alert during the lessons. I started to prepare my own lessons depending on the level of the students and their needs. I reorganized the classroom, whilst putting them in groups and sometimes letting the students work in pairs. A brief chat with coordinator Rick enlivened my classroom performance. He taught me some useful songs and dances. This was a great idea, although I wasn’t prepared for the consequences in the classroom. Unfortunally my students were bouncing up against the wall of excitement while Rick came to check on my teaching.

Saying goodbye in Pai was really hard; I was treated with love and respect. Some students started to cry and they overwhelmed me with drawings, presents, big hugs and good wishes (...in English!) and hoped that I’d return later this year for their big event, the Loh Kratong festival. For me it was a wonderful cross cultural experience living and teaching in ‘hill tribe’ Pai. I have made bonds that I am sure will last a life time.

Thank you students, T2T room mates for fun and the unforgettable elephant ride through the forest, Rick for your never ending support, humour and especially always smiling Mam for being there, your excellent Thai lessons and cooking courses. I was really pleased to be involved with your culture, with you, your family and friends.

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