In your Thai style washroom  you’ll have a cold shower.  Sorry about that.  You’ll get dressed in your teaching clothes  and head off to breakfast of rice soup at the school. You'll arrive at 8 a.m.

After school assembly  your teaching day will begin about 8:30. The students in your school will number 150 to 300 and range in age from 6 to 15 years old.  You’ll likely teach every student in the school in one or two classes a week.  Shown here are typical schools from our placement program. 

Your classroom will probably have about 25 students.  Here's what it could look like.

 During the school day you’ll teach about 4 hours.  The rest of the time you’ll be surrounded by students who j ust want to hang out with you   Classrooms here can be noisy and the noisy fans tell you there’s no air conditioning.  Noisy classrooms mean you have to speak loud enough to be heard.  Which can be quite loud.  And that takes effort and stamina.  Particularly when you’re teaching typically 4 hours a day. 

Lunch will be provided by the school cooking staff and you’ll join the Director and teaching staff for the mid-day meal.

School ends at 3:30 but many Thai students linger around the school playing football or spending time with their friends.  Many volunteers use this time to get to know their students informally. 

Dinner will usually be at what is called an outdoor  village sidewalk restaurant.  For this you’ll pay 20 THB.  Volunteers are also frequent guests at the homes of villagers and the teaching staff. 

Teachers normally go to sleep rather early, often before 9 p.m.  Teaching, particularly in the beginning causes a huge energy drain.  Adjusting to the Thailand climate is a big job itself. 

Frustration also creates stress and strain.  Thai students don’t speak or understand English very well.  Some students speak none at all.  Others may have trouble understanding your pronunciation because they’ve never heard English spoken by a native speaker.  A percentage of your class may tune out entirely to what your teaching.  When they get restless they become a disturbance.  They become an obstacle to your teaching to the ones who want to learn.  Some teachers report frustration at not knowing if they are making headway with the students.   

On weekends, the school director will often arrange trips for the volunteers to local attractions.  Shown here are some examples. Schools in the Kanchanaburi are close to several local attractions.  The Bridge on the River Kwai area is a nice day trip.  The area also has some of the country's most visited waterfalls including Erawan which is at the doorstep of one of our schools. 

For every school we accept we reject a dozen or more.  If the school Director and staff are less than enthusiastic about English teaching, we reject the school.  Lack of management support for volunteers diminishes the volunteer teaching experience. You must have constant access to a staff member who can speak English.  You must have complete freedom at the school to teach how and what you want.  We insist on providing clean, safe and secure surroundings and living conditions for our teachers. Our schools must be within walking distance of vibrant villages where volunteers can mix and mingle with the community.  There must be good transportation access to major population centers such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai or Kanchanaburi.
 

Your school will look like the one shown.  It could be in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Kanchanaburi, a suburb of

Bangkok

or Hua Hin.  It will have 150-300 students from 5 to 14 years old.  It will be staffed by a school Director and from 5 to 10 Thai teachers.  Usually one or two teachers are somewhat fluent in English.  Nearly every school in Thailand has an internet connection and at least one or two computers.   

i   

There are two types of schools in Thailand:  government and private.  Government schools tend to be larger reflecting the larger population base in which the are located.  Smaller communites and rural villages rely on small private schools which are an integral part of the community.  This type of school is traditionally the chosen venue for volunteer teachers.   

The students, the school Director and the local villagers will welcome you.  All of them are trying to resist the pull from larger regional government schools which have the budget to hire native English teachers.  But for local students that means a 2-3 hours spent on the bus every day.  It also means the prospect of classes with 55 students instead of 20 and less opportunity for personal attention from teachers.   

Small rural schools provide the best opportunity for volunteers to experience authentic Thai culture.  Local villagers will appreciate the presence of volunteers because it is their sons and daughters who will make up the enrolment at the school.  More than anyone they recognize that improving Engish speaking ability is the single best thing their child can do to get a better job one day or to move on to college or university. 

Because it is true:  The students at your school will struggle with the compulsory subject of English.  They will be taught by Thai English teachers who don’t speak English well themselves.  The school is small and doesn’t have the budget to hire native English teachers like Bangkok schools do.  It will, however, be clean and bright and decorated by students and their families.  It will have fans, chalk blackboards, internet access and the usual books and school supplies.