Rebekah in Chiang Rai - UniBreak teaching

Teaching in Thailand



Teaching in Thailand

I love working with kids and helping them learn, so the teaching element of this placement is one of my favourite parts. I have some amazing students, and they are all so varied. Of a morning I teach a class with the ICT staff here at the organisation. Their English is patchy conversation wise, but their vocab is great (if that makes sense - they're not good at sentences). They are just so curious and our lessons are basically one big exploration of the world and how to examine and describe it, which is great! Our lessons range from global warming and the greenhouse effect to discussions of the periodic table, ecosystems and English grammar.

I then have a school class or two in the afternoons (we do a different class each day of the week) who have a standard that is probably comparable to our primary school LOTE skills. They are lots of fun and are sooooo cheeky. The custom here is to take off your shoes before you enter a room, so last lesson the kids took great delight in me searching after the lesson for my hidden shoes! The biggest challenge is to keep some continuity between our lessons, especially when there are so many of us teaching and often school gets cancelled without warning. We have been using some resources prepared by an ESL team back in Australia and they have been great for ideas and the kids just love the colour and professionalism of the resources.

In the afternoon I am taking an English extension class for some kids from the local schools called Top Kids. These lessons are great fun because the smaller group allows you to have a bit more flexibility and creativity in the lesson. Becuase the kids are coming to class on their own time and after a full day of school lessons the classes are fun and largely focused on games.

And finally after dinner I take a two hour class for two of the Japanese students here. They have a very high standard of English, so we are focusing on the finer points of grammar so that they can structure and organise their speech and writing better. This is probably my favourite class of the day, simply becuase they are always asking questions. It is a constant reminder to me of how I should be approaching my Thai lessons, with an open mind and an open mouth!

And then once every couple of weeks we travel out take a whole day class at the local special school for mentally and physically impaired children. THese kids are so affectionate and often so creative it is a truly wonderful day. I walked away from the class feeling as though I had taken as much as I had given.

So it is full on and the preparation is crazy, particularly for me without a background in this kind of thing! But I am loving it and everyday I learn something new about myself and the the locals :)