Teaching in Thailand

I know that there are a few teachers that read this so this one is for you…

The Peace Corps volunteers in Thailand are divided into two groups there are the TCCO volunteers who work in the classroom & teach English and there are the CBOD volunteers who work in the local government offices & work in community development (I am a CBOD volunteer). The TCCO volunteers have a pretty set plan as to what they are supposed to be doing (teaching English & providing teacher training), but the CBOD volunteers have a wide open plan. I can pretty much focus my work on anything I want…if I want to work at the health clinic, work on HIV/AIDS prevention, work with youth, work with small business, work with the farmers, or work at the schools…pretty much anything. During our training, they told us that we are supposed to spend the first year “getting to know your community & their needs & wants” and then the second year is typically when we are to start our projects. They also told us that our community will probably want us to teach English at the schools but that it was up to us if we wanted to do so or not.

Now, I have noooo training whatsoever in teaching, and while I have thought of going back to school to become a teacher, I am a long ways from that point right now. So when my community asked me to teach for an hour at the grade school I reluctantly said yes. I figured that I wasn’t doing anything else (you can only read an issue of Newsweek so many times) and it would be an excellent way of getting out into the community.

I was terrified the first day of class. I had no idea what to expect…the only thing Peace Corps really told the CBOD volunteers about teaching in the classrooms is that the Thai teachers will ask you to come & help out & then leave you all alone with a bunch of students while they go to run errands. But that first day was wonderful. The kids were terrific, we had fun, and the teacher even stayed in the room with me (to act as translator & disciplinarian). I taught at that school for a few weeks before they asked me to teach at another school for two hours, and I couldn’t say no because I still had nothing else to do & I had said yes to one school so I can’t say no to another.

This time it was two classes for one hour each. And again, that first day, the students were wonderful, we had tons of fun, and the teachers stayed in the room to help out. So I was excited, things seemed to be going well, and I wasn’t sitting around with nothing to do. That is until the second week.

When I went back to the second school, the teacher pulled a disappearing act…which wouldn’t be a problem in the schools in America…I can handle those kids no problem! No, I am not talking about the language barrier – I was doing ok with my limited Thai – it was the discipline. These students were little shits!

I was breaking up fights. Students would get up and walk out of the class for no reason, but I also had random students come into the class to listen to me teach (they were actually supposed to be in the next class). I had students climbing up on the furniture. I had students playing games. I had students hitting & kicking other students. I had students sitting along the side of the room completely ignoring me. I think during the worst class, one student bit another student (hard enough to leave deep bite marks) and of the 32 students, only 6 were participating…the rest were sitting in corners or along the side of the room talking.

And there was nothing I could do about it. I tried yelling…they just talked louder. I tried sending students out of the room…they just walked in the other door. I tried not saying anything until they quieted down…it took 15 minutes before they noticed. I guess I shouldn’t say that there was nothing I could do, because there was…in Thailand they hit the students. I have seen teachers hit students along the side of the head. I have seen them slap them, hit them with sticks, pull them by their ears, you name it, I’ve seen it. And I refuse to hit a student.

I was near tears. I had no idea what to do. I hated going to that school & honestly it was pointless because I didn’t get to teach. Finally, I asked my counterpart at the government office to call the school & tell them that Peace Corps will not let the volunteers teach without a Thai teacher in the room…I played it off like there were translation issues & that the students couldn’t understand me, but it worked. I now love these kids too (I now let the Thai teacher deal with the bad kids). We play games, we sing songs, and we joke around…it’s great!

They have asked me to teach for two hours at the high school and again I said yes. I have taught twice now, and neither time had a Thai teacher in the room but so far, the students seem pretty good (other than the one student who videotaped my entire lesson on his cell phone – but that was more odd than anything else). So keep your fingers crossed.

Now I think I have mentioned that the kids in Thailand love foreigners. I have definitely gotten a feel for what it’s like to be a celebrity. At school number 2, the students have started to stop me after class to ask for my autograph. It started with shaking of the hands (they get a big kick out of that here) and then one student asked me to sign my name on their notebook & then all the other kids wanted the same thing…but some of them didn’t have paper…so I was signing hands and arms. Then, one student asked me to write my sister’s name…so I wrote my sister’s name on notebooks, hands, and along arms…then my brother’s, then mother’s, then my father’s. There are little kids walking around with the names of my entire family scrawled across their bodies. The worst was when one student asked me to write my name across her forehead!!!! I’m not joking!!! Her forehead!!! And she wouldn’t leave…so I looked over to the teacher and he just laughed and shrugged…so I signed a girl’s forehead! Luckily her face was a little oily & the pen didn’t write very well. Another kid brought a big black marker and asked me to write my name up his forearm (luckily the girl who wanted her forehead signed had already left).

So if any of you want to know what it’s like to be a celebrity, come to Thailand & teach English to grade school kids!

Oh, and some of the students can’t say Kellie…so I am known as Teacher Harry in one of my schools.