Volunteer Stories  |  Josine

I've been teaching in Nong Khai for four weeks now. I had no teaching experience before I came here, so I didn't really know what to expect. As I have just finished high school I remembered how students can give a teacher a hard time, but when I first went to the high school here it was so different. First of all the students look much younger than they are, it felt like I was teaching children while they were only one or two years younger then me. Also they are so enthusiastic; they really enjoy learning basic conversations and are very inquisitive. As you walk through the school everybody is giggling and greeting the 'farang' teachers.

I also taught at the Tourism School, giving 'English for hotel and tourism'. Not that I had ever studied tourism myself, but that wasn't important!

Conversations like 'Can I have a single room, please?' started very basic, but when they became less shy, the students started to develop their own sentences.

'Can you tell me more about the room, please?'

'Yes, madam, there is a balcony and a Jacuzzi, a large bed and it costs 10.000 bath for one night.' Followed by much laughter.

A part of teaching in Thailand is that you're never sure what to expect. One morning I was told that I had 27 new students and I had to grade them all in a period of two hours. That was pretty hard, I didn't know one single name and while they were doing conversations I had to give them grades for grammar, pronunciation, acting and interest. But it was fun, and it certainly forced me to use my creativity!

One of the best parts of teaching in a small city like Nong Khai is that you run into people you know all the time. In a bus to visit Udon Thani (the nearest big city) one weekend, there were suddenly students in the same bus, screaming: 'Hello teacher! Where are you going?'. As I cycle my bike through the streets, I often hear my name being called: "Josine! How are you?. Some of the adult-students from the temple own restaurants or work in stores in Nong Khai, so they offer to cook for you and have a nice conversation while you are eating to practice their English.

Around Nong Khai there is a lot of lovely scenery to explore. One day we visited the sculpture park near Nong Khai. After that we saw a sign which said 'Waterfall'. Interested as we were, we decided to cycle in that direction. A local told us that it was a 10 km cycle ride, so we went on our way. Cycling and cycling, but no waterfall appeared. When we asked another local if we were heading in the right direction, he started laughing: "Nooo, no waterfall, 180 km to waterfall, hehehe." We had no clue why there were signs then, until we found out that there was no such thing as a waterfall in this area in the dry season. Ahaaa. But on our way back, next to the Mekhong River, we passed through small Thai villages which were even better than a waterfall, I think.

I'm really glad that I came to Nong Khai. When I made a two week trip to Chiang Mai and Laos with 3 other volunteers, I really felt at home again when I came back to Nong Khai. All the familiar places, food and friends. I'm looking forward to my last two weeks coming up, but not to the end of it…

Josine Verhoeven