Deciding to become a volunteer teacher English in Thailand... the best thing I ever did! It is very rewarding to help kids become better English speakers. By establishing a strong grasp of the English language, students in Thailand are able to access greater opportunities in terms of further education and their careers. I really like to interact with the kids and see the impact I'm making.
Each week, I check the learning plan together with the teachers covering the different classes. We handle a specific topic (introduce yourself, family, appearance, sightseeing, fashion, ...) and I add my ideas to the work sheets and focus on speaking and pronunciation skills.
Doing all sorts of games works really well to get the whole class involved and motivated. Using flash cards, little quizzes, meming, ... Also singing and dancing are a good way to teach English to Thai kids. It's nice to see that although they are rather shy, they absolutely lose themselves in the games and dancing, and are confident enough to go for it.
Meanwhile, it has also become a weekly routine that I accompany the sport teacher for the aerobic dance class. Each Tuesday, I do some warm-up and cool down exercises in front of the whole school. And yes, I'm really getting used to the Thai weather - 2 showers a day is necessary though ;-)
Some teaching topics coming up: spooky stories. I'm curious about Thai legends and will prepare a lesson about it, asking the students of the 4th grade to share their spooky stories with me. I will also focus on sightseeing in the 6th grade, discussing places in Europe & Thailand. Looking forward to it!
Volunteer teaching in Thailand is a powerful way that visitors can make a difference while exploring Asia. During the past weekend, I went on a trip to Cambodia with the other volunteers of this year and one of the teachers at our schools. Discover our experience soon in my next blog post.