Normal rules do not apply.

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We have been teaching English in Nonthaburi for just over three weeks but our stint of employment is now coming to an end. It certainly has been one hell of an experience both good and bad. We organized our teaching post when we were last in Bangkok mainly to experience a different side of Thailand and traveling but also to earn a little cash. Neither of us have any school teaching experience but were intrigued by an advert in Rambuttri village offering paid work for native English speakers. After a few emails and a very formal interview we were deemed worthy of employment. It was that easy, all we really needed to do was be able to speak English. Having a degree was a bonus but for our employer not entirely necessary even though Thai law insists on it as a bare minimum! (The proficiency of English in Thailand is one of the lowest in Asia so the demand for native speakers, teachers or not, is incredibly high) So after six and bit weeks traveling through Cambodia and Vietnam we returned to teach, learn and earn, or at the very least try.

We arrived in Nonthaburi, Bangkok on the 12th of August at around midnight. Our employer had arranged our accommodation at the apartments attached to his language center in Nonthaburi, he gave us the address and instructed us to head straight there once we arrived in Bangkok. After an hour long taxi ride we found ourselves at the language center. We were greeted by a friendly Thai security guard who showed us to our room, gave us our key and some bedding. At first it felt very surreal, the room was huge, there was a bed, a table and two chairs and a wardrobe, there was also a tv set on a chair and a small toilet/shower in a separate room in the corner. The sink was outside on a small balcony. It was really basic and felt very clinical. To be honest neither of us knew what to make of it. All we knew was that at some point we were going to start work teaching English and this is where we were going to live for the next few days or weeks. It quickly hit us both that we didn't really know that much about our situation, had we not been quite so tired we may of headed back into Bangkok and familiar territory, but instead we decided to rest our heads and see what the morning would bring. (We opted not to use our 'complimentary' pillows as they were grey with sweat and dribble stains so used our inflatable cushions instead (thanks Gina!).) It wasn't the best nights sleep.

In the morning we tried to find out what was going on, where we were going to be teaching, when we would see our boss, anything really that might improve our situation and make us feel a bit more comfortable. This took some time but we eventually made contact and discovered Helen was teaching in two hours!! Where was our training? Our induction? There wasn't any, there wasn't even an introduction to the syllabus or the proficiency of the student Helen was supposed to be teaching. Straight in at the deep end! Sadly Helen's first experience wasn't great. In her words 'it was more like baby sitting four five year olds than teaching.' This isn't what we expected, we thought from our interview and the questions we had asked we would either be teaching private extra curricular lessons to high school kids or teaching business English to adults - not teaching kindergarten. Over the next few days the same thing happened, we received notification of lessons at short notice and 'taught' younger and younger kids. On day three we managed to pin down our boss and find out what the deal was.

He apologized for the lack of communication and explained that he had been in Hong Kong for the last few days organizing our visa's for China and that I could get a work permit because of my degree and that Helen could join me because we are married. Visa's? China? Work permit? As soon as he said this I butted in and asked him exactly how long he thought we were planning on working. His reply was 3-6 months, maybe a year? My jaw hit the floor. We had explained in several emails and when we first met him that we would only be available for four weeks at the most, I specifically asked him if four weeks would be of any use to him. We were both in disbelief. How could someone misunderstand so much and at the expense of flights to Hong Kong? He was actually quite calm about it, he said he would find someone else and that he had work for us at the English centre as supply teachers. Although his misunderstanding and our first few days had made us slightly dubious about hanging around we decided to stay and take from the experience what we could. Sadly though the cloth between our boss' ears remained and after several unfulfilled requests for Helen not teach infants she decided enough was enough. Infants are tough at the best of times but even tougher when you don't speak there language; aside from the obvious problem of knowing what the kids wanted or if they had had an accident (there were no Thai speakers in the language centre classrooms) Helen had come to teach not baby sit so she decided to leave and take a trip to Chang Mai. I decided to stay, as on the whole I was enjoying the experience. Teaching is also something that I am interested in possibly pursuing as a career so it made sense for me to stay. I am glad I did, as fun as Chang Mai sounded the experience for me has been good, I am not sure how much I have learnt about teaching but I have certainly discovered plenty about Thai culture. Teaching different ages (5 to 17 years old) and at different schools has also given me different insights into the teaching profession, although I am sure it is very different in the UK.

Most of my classes for the first few weeks were at the language school teaching phonics and grammar to 7-17 year olds. I enjoyed this and found it fairly easy; the classes are extra curricular and private so I never had more than four students at one time and there work books were no problem to follow. On Fridays and Saturdays I covered kindergarten classes at a school an hours drive away which was a lot more demanding, especially on my voice. The classes were bigger with 30 or so kids and just involved a lot of drilling, for example, 'this is a banana', repeat, 'this is a banana', 'the banana is yellow' repeat and so on... One week we did animals and I had to run around pretending to be a lion roaring or a crocodile snapping. After three hours I was exhausted. Much respect to primary teachers! It either takes alot of coffee or superhuman special powers to do that job. During my final week I spent three days at a government high school where I covered English speaking classes, it was here I enjoyed the most; having continuity was good but it was the education structure and the kids that really interested me.

The class sizes at state schools can have up to 60 students which I think is incredible, how can you get around to 60 kids in 50 minutes and get them to speak English? The answer is you can't or if you could they won't learn much. At least this school was attempting to do something about this huge hurdle in the learning process and employed two English speakers per classroom. This helped but as Brian, my colleague informed me, this still didn't really result in great English speaking proficiency as class size isn't the only hurdle. Thai's are generally reserved in nature and respectful of teachers (which makes sense since most Thai's are Buddhist and Buddha was THE teacher) but in English oral class cultural norms go out the window. English oral is there chance to play up, catch up on homework or not even turn up. Why is this ok? Because until they reach the final year of school they can't fail English oral. They can't fail! There is no incentive whatsoever. I was amazed. No wonder Thai proficiency for English is one of the lowest in Asia. Speaking with Brian and taking the classes I discovered this was a tough job but made even more so by the education system. However aside from the challenges and difficulties I still enjoyed my time at the school. Not all of the students were naughty and some really wanted to learn. I had conversations with many of them. Some were interested in where I was from but weren't happy when I said Bristol because they couldn't work out where it was; they all knew London, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle but as Bristol doesn't have a premiership football team they were stumped as to where it was. One kid did know but he was the exception and had the most extensive knowledge of English football of anyone I have ever known, and he called it football, not soccer! The usual playing up for the substitute teacher happened as well and I was often referred to as Steven Segall or Steven Gerrard and one class called me Harry Potter for an hour, I took it all and at least they were talking. One student sticks in my memory, he was 15 and very consiencious, his English was superb. He asked me what I thought of the current problems in the Thai government. He was referring to the state of emergency that was announced on 2nd September; the government has placed Bangkok under emergency rule to quell the ongoing protests that have been calling for the prime ministers resignation. I explained as best I could that because I didn't possess all the facts it wouldn't be fair for to comment. But I did say that I thought people in any country should be able to feel happy and that it didn't seem like people were happy in Thailand right now. So we both agreed that somehow this needed to change. He was a really nice lad and there were many kids like him who I couldn't help feeling weren't being given the best opportunity due to the current education system.

On the Thursday of my last week I was called to cover at a Catholic School in Bankapi. As you can imagine this school was a huge contrast to the state school I had been in previously and the kids were much better behaved. I think I will always remember this school because of the head of English who was a Philipino Nun. When I arrived I was sent to the English faculty room which was plastered with motivational posters and words and references to God like 'our God is the highest standard of excellence' and 'We should work as if God were our employer. He is the one we want to please' which started to make me worried about what was going to be expected of me. After about ten minutes, after I had read all the walls, in walked Sister Nora who was tiny, not even four feet high but immediately she commanded my respect; she sat down in front of me and stared straight into my eyes. She asked me what my degree was in and when I told her art and aesthetics she told me that at this school they only take art once a week and a Thai teacher does it. She said bluntly 'we don't need an artist' which was fine by me I hadn't come to teach art anyway. She then asked me what was I doing in Thailand and if I had any teaching experience. I told her I was traveling with my wife and the only experience I had was over the past weeks. Her mood changed a little when she discovered I was married but not much. She then said ''well, you have two classes today and then you will take P.E. Work from the books and you finish at 3 o'clock.'' And then she just stood up and walked out. I felt like I was being interrogated. At one point I thought she was going to ask me about my religion but thankfully she didn't, I guess she was just doing her job, for all she knew I could of been a sex tourist or something worse.

The teacher I was covering left lesson plans which made my life easier. The two lessons I had were with the same children, the first was spelling and grammar (no jokes about my lack of it on this blog thanks!!) and the last was phonics. The classes only had twenty or so kids and they were really well behaved. Before each lesson they lined up outside, said a prayer and then said good morning to me before neatly filing inside, bowing before me as they went into the classroom. Maybe religion in school is a good thing if it makes kids behave like this! The classroom was much the same as the faculty room with psalms and the words of God on the walls; on the front wall next to the white board was a makeshift poster with the King of Thailand on it. It read 'Bhumibol Adulyadej means strength of life. We shall reign with righteousness, for beliefs and happiness of the people of Siam' and next to it was a bible quote that read 'let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt.' I have never been in a school quite like this one and I am not sure I would like to teach in one like it permanently, although the kids were well behaved many of their actions and responses were more robotic than human, even the teachers seemed subdued. After my teaching classes I took P.E. which was basically supervision of a swimming class and I went home at 3 having had quite a unique experience.

It has been a long few weeks but really worth it. I think we both gained alot from the experience and not least a few extra pounds in our pockets. We were warned by fellow travelers that teaching in Thailand or any of south east Asia would be a trying experience and they weren't wrong; it was made even more so because we were only temporary. I have looked up teaching on the web since and found many stories similar to my own, not knowing where we were going to be teaching or when until the last minute is all part of the course apparently and the chances of training are slim no matter where you find yourself. Check out this link to see what I mean: http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/Reader/reader1363.htm
All in all though I am very glad I did it. It has been a rewarding and enriching experience albeit somewhat tiring and frustrating, I think my next stint at teaching would have to be in a country where employment law is a bit more tight and favourable to the employee though and I reckon I could do with some training. For now though I am just going to look forward to our next few weeks in Malaysia and lazing on a beach in the Perenthian islands.

Cheers for now

Steve x

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Photos

Suankularb
The kids in the army uniforms have been at army cadets. They choose to do this one day a week for 3 years as it prevents them from being conscripted. It only applies to boys.

Bored.
This is a photo of a drawing from the national gallery titled 'images from the small classroom'.