ICL: Teaching English in Thai, Dian Avina SeptianiWhy Not? by

Living in Thailand for almost 2 months of course you will gain a lot of experiences, or even some “tickling” things. I, myself, as a student of English education in Semarang State University (UNNES), Indonesia, find a lot of beneficial things and facts relating to English subject in Thailand.

First of all, I was placed in Songkhla Wittayakom School, Songkhla. The first day I came to school was like “Wow, could I be able to teach in this big school?” Many great things were running at my mind at that time. On the first day, I observed the school. I also joined some English teachers’ class to know the ability of the students in that school. In a day observing, I found the biggest problem faced by Thai students, which is they are not able to read the latin words. That is why the teacher should always transcribe the English word into Thai to make the students understand about the material given.

 I was in that school for only a week. During a week, I tried to teach them English using my own treatment. I drilled the students and forced them to spell the words I gave. Fortunately, it worked. The students finally can read the words without having a transcript from Phasa Thai (Thai lanhuage). The students often came to my room and asked me to teach them more about English. I’m  honestly very glad to find that the interest if the students increased after I taught them, which meant that I was managed to fullfil my project.

Actually, I was so sad when I should move to another school since the students and the teachers in that school were very nice at me. However, I have a serious reason that I must move another school. Luckily, I moved to Sangkhom Islam Wittaya School, Sadao, or people usually call this school as Banloom and I will finish my project in this school. There are of course a lot of interesting stories (I hope) that I am going to tell you about everything in my new school.

 In this new school, I live in a dormitory with an Indonesian teacher and also with some students. Yes, it is my very first time living in a dormitory, so I was like “Oh really I will stay here for almost 2 months?” The first week I was here was like I must adapt with every single thing in this dormitory. One thing that is hard for me is that I must wake up at 4.30 AM every morning and take shower at that time. Why? If I do not do that, later I will queue for the bathrooms with a lot of students. It is pretty hard for me for the first week since I usually get up at 5.30 AM.

 Next, I will tell you about the school and the students. The school is very big because it includes annuban (kindergarten), pratom (elementary school), and mattayom (junior and senior high school). Of course there are a lot of teachers in this school. If I am not mistaken, there are more than 150 teachers, including 8 teachers from Indonesia. This school also has a supervisor for English teachers and he will come every month to control the progress if the students especially the English Program (EP) classes.

I am scheduled to teach 13 classes including the EP class in mattayom. I do not mean to compare my new school with the previous one, but I find the students here are better since the can read latin words better. Yes, I feel easier to teach the students here because they can understand me faster and have less problem in communicating, of course because some of them can also speak Malay.

The teachers of this school are also very nice, yes because Thai people are very nice at all. Some of them can speak Malay so it is fun to talk with them. I of course do not make my chance to learn become meaningless. I learn a little bit about Phasa Thai with the teachers here, so I can speak Thai a little.

One day, the teachers of this school also asked me to go with them to a kind of mountain named Khao ley  near Sadao. We hiked in the morning to find such an amazing view of the top of the mountain. It was a very nice moment that I might not be able to forget.

Oh, I almost forget to tell you about my experience in joining an English camp held by Watkuanneang school. On the 15th-17th of September, I and 6 of Indonesian friends joined that event. There, we taught English to the students of elementary school. We also met a Philippines teacher named Jev. She has been here for more than 7 years so she has already known about Thai students and how to treat them since she teaches in Senannarong school, Thailand.

I loved to be a part of that event because the interest of the students in learning English is very high. They want to know everything, they have good confidence and not afraid of being wrong in writing or even speak in English.

In that event, we also learn how to make a small traditional donnut of Thailand and another snack like what we have in Indonesia “klepon”. At night, the students also performed a traditional dance from Thailand and a drama spoken in English. We also performed a traditional dance from south Sumatera called Tor-Tor dance.

Oh I love Thailand. But not long after this, I must go home. I must finish my study and hopefully continue to a higher level. I hope I can visit Thailand in some other day. See you soon, THAILAND!!!