It's the number one question asked by volunteers.  A two week placement isn't much time.  What can students learn in just 10 teaching days?

Actually, quite a lot.

Just because most Thai students do not speak English well, doesn't mean they don't have a lot of information about it.   They've learned quite a bit about the subject of English but have not been given the chance to develop the "skill" of actually using English. 

The information students have learned is in the form of memorized vocabulary.  They know a lot of English words connected to their special interests--sports, music, action heroes, animated cartoon characters and movie stars.  They know the English names of convenience foods and items their parents buy at food and convenience stores.

Taking this "information" and using it to begin building the "skill" of creating English can be the role of the volunteer teacher.  They can begin by building very short sentences using the vocabulary to communicate very simple ideas.  "I student, you girl, I tall" are not grammatically correct.  But in the beginning it is more important to teach "communication" even if it is via broken English.  Eventually, the simple structure of "I am, I have, I can" can be learned.  When students can answer real questions about themselves such as "can you swim?", "yes I can" or can she swim?, Yes she can, students are on their way to creating natural and spontaneous English.