So what is it like, teaching in Thailand?

Neither of us had any clue what to expect when we rocked up at Montrisuksa School on the 7th January ready for our first day as TEFL teachers. After waking up to the unnatural sound of an alarm (what even is that?!) and knee length skirts in check, we embarked upon the short walk through the village to the school we would be spending the next 9 weeks at.

Lots of people have been asking us how we managed to get such a short term teaching contract which so conveniently fits into our travel plans - just enough time to fund the next part of our trip and gain a decent amount of experience within a new culture. We actually got really lucky as two teachers left the school on short notice with only a couple of months to the end of the semester, which meant we could swoop in and complete their contracts.

The job has turned out to be far from what we were expecting. The company we are working through initially explained that they operate in very remote areas of Thailand, giving the children a better chance of learning English as they would otherwise have very little access. We were also told the level would be extremely low - we would just be teaching numbers, colours etc. You can probably imagine our surprise when we turned up to a private school where the children are expected to have a high level of English, and we have to submit weekly lesson plans and grading sheets. Basically.... it's really hard work and we've been going pretty much non-stop since we arrived (hence the late blog).

One of the funniest things about the school is that every child has an English 'nickname' as we would have no chance learning all their Thai names. Initially, it was really hard to call out said names without getting the giggles but I think we have finally desensitised to it. Here are a few personal favourites:

Carbomb
Banana
Fork
MJ
Oven
Poo
Milk
Pond
Window
New Year
Postcard
Lemon
Atom
Roommate

Sarah teaches just one class throughout the week. They are between 7 and 8 years of age and she has to teach a mixture of English, Maths and Science. This has been quite the challenge as the levels of English across the class varies hugely, yet somehow she is meant to be teaching them about electrical energy and soil. Her class is very lively which is perfect for a PE teacher trying to adapt to spending all day in one small classroom with 28 kids - she often has them running round playing active games which they seem to love. The children here don't engage in any PE lessons except dance (which basically consists of children being twisted into unnatural positions!), and they have a constant stream of sugary food, snacks and drinks on offer so this must have some impact on their hyperactivity levels!!!

I teach basically every different age group possible, with my students ranging from 3 to 15. Having never actually taught before, I definitely felt thrown in at the deep end and was extremely stressed for the first week! However, in hindsight, this was probably the best way to get stuck in and learn, and I am now thoroughly enjoying my time as a TEFL teacher. I often find myself in ridiculous situations such as singing songs to 3 year olds that I don't know the actions to (I have no say in this matter - the songs are just put on and I have to go along with it, with about 40 small faces looking at me for guidance). The experience has given me a new found appreciation for all the teachers I know - you guys are amazing!! Having to constantly have things planned, marked, graded on time is one thing, but having to walk into every lesson smiling, full of energy and being super positive when you're tired, ill or just a bit fed up is entirely another. I literally get home exhausted every day - especially as the temperatures are just off 40 degrees at the moment.

I think the biggest misconception we had abou
t coming to teach in Thailand is that all the kids were going to be impeccably behaved in comparison to many children in English schools. There are, of course, many children who are engaged throughout the lessons but for every one that's behaving there's another either running round the classroom, hitting someone, or chit-chatting away. A huge contributing factor is the language barrier between us and them. Although we have a Thai support teacher in each lesson, the idea is not to depend on them for any translation and they just step in for behaviour management purposes. As I mentioned earlier, the levels of English across the classes vary so much that we think a lot of the bad behaviour comes from a lack of understanding so we are just doing our best to teach as much as we can in the short time we are at the school.

The school is a super fun place to be. They love all celebrations and they've already been celebrating Valentine's Day for about a week (resulting in teachers getting 'stickered' every class I.E covered in heart shaped stickers). We get a free lunch a day which is..... questionable, but we have made a point of sticking local and enduring it (just making sure we avoid the meat/ground-up-bones). We work with teachers from all different backgrounds and countries and I think it is safe to say that so far it has been a rich and enjoyable learning experience.

The first five weeks have absolutely flown by, and we are now into the final lead up to the students sitting their finals so it's all go, go, go here. We will try and update the blog again soon, particularly as we transition back into being full-time travellers on the 8th March!

Thanks for reading :)