My Life in Thailand

School Life and Education

My community report is about school life and education in Thailand, based on my own

experiences teaching at Uthaiwittayakhom School during my volunteering year and research

done on the subject around the country.

My life this year has been about the school; I lived on the school grounds, I went into the

school every day, including at the weekend, and all my friends have been the teachers that

work there and past M6 students (the oldest ones, they are my age)! Ive seen everything that

goes on at the school, the way the people are, the buildings, the change from day to night, the

seasons and how theyve affected the area all year round.

In short, in my study I will primarily look at the state of the education system in Thailand

and some of the people within it, whom I have had the good fortune to work alongside and

teach.

Above: The full group of Thailand Volunteers in front of a monkey-warrior statue in

Suvarnabhumi Airport.

UTHAI THANI

Uthai Thani, where the school is, is a small city in central Thailand. There is really a mix

between urban and rural landscape; travelling from the school to the town centre, you pass

through countryside, paddy fields, a few shops, and more and more shops, buildings and

concrete as you reach the area where it is most built up. Just like the great contrast in

environment, there is a large gap between rich and poor.

During my time overseas, the school in which I have been living and working has been the

sole focus of my year, the centre for everything that goes on, and my family and friends.

Top line left to right: My house just behind the school; my school picture for the staff board;

the school field and gym one evening. Second line: The English block; a class of students in

circle time; students playing wink murder. Third line: 2/2 students; the whole school in

assembly on Christtmas day; teaching students at a nearby temple school.

Introduction to ASEAN the future for

todays students in Thailand

Above: Volunteer Jacob stands in front of a huge ASEAN-themed gong.

My report will mention ASEAN a lot I have tried to track some changes in the Thai

education system based on what I have learned, and this is one of the most important

initiatives of the moment. It will have a massive effect on Thai students in the future,

because it depends on whether or not the education system is able to meet the needs

of that environment and therefore whether it is a suitable system to support its

students in that respect.

ASEAN stands for The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and it is a group of

countries in Southeast Asia working towards a community in the style of the

European Union. It began as just an association of countries in 1967, but over the

years the nations within it have signed various charters making them increasingly

united, and it is now a legal entity. A big step for ASEAN, and for Thailand, will

happen this December 2015, when ASEAN becomes the AEC (ASEAN Economic

Community). This will make the region into a single economic region, and allow

people within it to move more freely to work. Thus, the development is extremely

significant, particularly for students in Thailand, as the opportunities created will

have the potential to benefit them the most; they will be the ones living and working

within the new AEC.

While I was in Thailand, I soon became aware that the AEC group was being put

together, building on the foundation that the ASEAN group had begun, and the

education system put a lot of emphasis on this happening. The topic of ASEAN was

brought up in lessons I saw, there are displays in the English building illustrating

what it was, and students also have the opportunity to discuss everything about it in

English, as part of the local, regional and national competitions the school takes part

in.

ASEAN is an example of Global Citizenship I think, with the motto One Vision, One

Identity, One Community; a coming-together of a number of countries to say that

they are working together for a better future. The official language of the AEC is to be

English, which shows the value of learning English for those living in the area,

especially for young people whose future it involves. If they can get by in English,

they have the potential to be able to thrive anywhere they want to in the AEC.

I observed one of the discussion practices between one of the students and my co-

teacher Pe Pom, and the question was Is Thailand ready to join the AEC?. The

young student, who was very impressively answering this all in English, pointed out

that although the Union had the potential to be a great benefit to Thailand, she didnt

think that the general level of English throughout the country was currently at a

sufficient level for it to be able to reap all these benefits. This is a valid point which

makes the improvement of the education system all the more pressing.

Part of ASEANs plan to improve education and English-language speaking for the

AEC is to have native speakers to come and interact with students. Therefore I am

confident that I personally have had a positive effect on education in Thailand, as

part of ASEANs initiative.

ASEAN reminds me of the European Union, particularly the point about raising

education across the region so there are equal opportunities for education, a

continuing European goal. Even though some issues within the EU have become

more prominent recently, with some members considering leaving the Union, I still

personally feel a part of the European Community. I believe that together, we have

more power to work together and achieve more things, which is what I want for the

AEC.

As regards Global Citizenship, the next goal beyond these regional Unions is to treat

everyone in every country in the world as part of one community, and whilst it

certainly is challenging, they are moving in the right direction.

The issue I have with ASEAN and trying to bring education up to a standard level

across the region is that I feel that they are going to try and make too many changes

in the Thai education system too quickly for it to be sustainable.

In April 2014 ASEAN said that:

The Office of the Education Council is accelerating the development of the

Thailand Qualifications Framework, so that the country will be able to

produce graduates in response to the demand in the ASEAN market.

(http://en.aectourismthai.com/content1/1106)

The official ASEAN framework for education for all countries joining the AEC will be

ready by 2018.

I dont think that the development of the system should be accelerated. With

acceleration there will almost certainly be mistakes, which have the potential to

damage a whole generation of students. It is not worth it simply for the sake of

progress; in doing this the situation will be worse than the one they were trying to fix

in the first place. Thailand should instead regulate its own development in line with

other changes in the country so that changes made are more likely to be positive and

improve the lives of the people in the country in the long run.

This is clearly demonstrated by the proposal of the U-Net tests, University National

Education Test, which were going to be imposed recently as an international

standard by which all students could be measured against each other. They were to be

optional, to be taken alongside University students current studies, but they were

expected to be taken by most students to improve their employability. However, they

were deemed to be impractical and were widely criticised by students. Despite this,

the tests were still to be put in place, when the criticism became too much and the

tests were suddenly dropped with no explanation.

Student Backgrounds

Above, left to right: Singing the banana song with Phoebe and Taras students in Kutchum;

Scout Camp sports on the school field; 2/3 students enjoying my class.

Students are from different backgrounds; some come from well-off families in shiny

modern houses, but their next-door neighbour in the same class may live in a much older

wooden house, or even one of the corrugated iron shack-like houses nearer the edges of the

town.

Those who are from poorer backgrounds are much more likely not to see the value of

education, as their parents are more likely to have grown up poor and had to work instead of

continue with education to afford to live.

Their children then are more likely not to do as well in school, drop out early (students can

legally leave school after M3, the third year of secondary school) and get a job in the town

and just stay there. Others, with parents with more disposable income, get around flaws in

the education system (and occasional apathy on the part of their children when it comes to

school) by sending their children to extra tuition classes after school, which make the

students study hard. This is a very common thing actually, and many students take extra

classes, if they can afford it. In my opinion if the students tried more in class during the day,

they wouldnt need so many extra classes outside of school. But equally, teachers need more

training to be able to make the most of all of their students time in the classroom.

Without a good level of education as standard for everyone, the poorest are trapped in a cycle

of being poor, as they dont have access to these extra classes.

The volunteers in Nakhon Sawan worked for a charity that focused on helping

children from hill tribes and other poor areas near and far to get an education. One of the

charitys recent success stories was that of a young boy known as a buffalo boy in a book

about novice monks called Little Angels by Phra Peter Pannapadipo (the head of the

charity the volunteers worked for in Nakhon Sawan). This boy had come from a poor family

in Srisaket province and became a novice monk before moving to central Thailand and

attending secondary school. With the help of that charity, he realised the importance of

education, and after gaining his high school diploma as a novice monk, he disrobed and was

funded by the charity throughout the rest of his education. This year, he graduated with a

PhD in political science! Without the charitys support he would not have been so successful,

and may even have continued with his buffalo. He said that, as a young boy, all he could see

ahead of him was working with the buffalo; there were no opportunities in his village to do

anything else. This is why the work of charities like this is so important in Thailand, to

promote education and help children achieve more. Unfortunately, there are many, many

more poorer children throughout the country that still do not continue with their education.

This is either because they are unable to do so, or because they believe continuing their

education would prevent them from doing their filial duty to their parents and work on the

land with them.

If Thailand is going to make the most of the ASEAN Community, more students need

to be in education for longer. While agriculture is important, especially the

production of rice (Thailand is almost the largest exporter of rice in the world),

Thailand has predicted the growth of other industries in the country (motor and parts

industry, electrical and electronics industry, machinery industry) that require

different vocational education for students, which will become more important for

the economic growth of the country.

(http://tdri.or.th/en/tdri-insight/tackle-worker-deficit-now-foster-growth/)

Lifestyle

Above, clockwise: Students during the meditation portion of the morning assembly;

assembly being given outside under the hot sun for a special occasion; giving alms to monks

in Ubon Ratchathani; a statue of Buddha in Nakhon Sawan; novice monks at Wat Kiriwong

school in Nakhon Sawan.

Every morning at 8am, the whole school sits down in front of the stage for a 40-

minute assembly. Teachers issue notices and talk about certain subject they want the

students to think about, the students meditate for a while, and sing the national anthem and

the school song, as well as chanting Buddhist mantras. This is a really good way of focussing

the students minds first thing in the morning before lessons start, especially the meditation

section, when soft music is played and students are expected to close their eyes, sit in silence,

and meditate for a few minutes.

From this simple daily ritual of Buddhist chanting and paying respect to the shrine to

Buddha on-stage, it is clear to see that Buddhism plays a big role in the lives of students, and

the lives of Thais as a whole. I was interested to discover that the first common people to

have an education were taught by Buddhist monks, when education was more sacred and

had more to do with Buddhism than it does today. The education system was secularised by

King Rama V towards the end of the 19th Century, and the Thai people particularly love him

for his modernisation of a lot of things in the country at around that time. In fact, there is a

University named after him in Bangkok; Chulalongkorn University, the oldest University in

the country, established in 1917. I find it particularly encouraging that the Thai people value

modern, secular education so much whilst still relying on the ethos of the Buddhist tradition;

that the importance of the two can exist so peacefully at the same time.

Values

Above left: The first day of the new term in November, with other teachers in their Monday

uniforms.

Respect is one of the most important values that Thai people hold.

The teacher is a very important person in Thai society. The day before Teachers Day,

students have the whole day off timetable to make flower garlands and decorations for the

half-day teachers ceremony the following day! There is a deep respect for teachers in

Thailand, and this is an indicator. Each class makes garlands out of five different types of

materials; one to show love and respect for the teacher, another to show their minds being

expanded by the teacher and so on. The ceremony involves each class presenting a pair of

garlands to the teachers as a gesture of respect.

The wai is a greeting and also a display of respect, that Thai people greet each other with;

and is especially given to teachers. I was fascinated to discover that the wai, like the

Western handshake, has come from a greeting in the past that would show your hands to be

empty of weapons. The lower person in society wais the other person first, to show the

other person to be higher and more respected in society. All respectful students will wai

their teachers.

This system of respect is part of the approach to discipline in Thai schools; teachers dont tell

students to be quiet when other teachers are speaking in assembly, for example (but its

difficult to put the blame on the students when they have to sit through an assembly thats

basically the same for 40 minutes every morning). Students that are quiet and respectful are

good and those that dont are bad. What this generally means for the education system is

that not many sanctions are imposed for bad behaviour, and so there is a risk that learning is

affected.

This idea is supported by the fact that is not Thai culture to get angry or shout. Instead

people are used to repressing strong emotion so as not to lose face, another important

value. This has a downside in that issues are not discussed thoroughly for fear of feeling too

strongly and losing face, something which potentially weakens education and learning.

Above: Students in English Club playing Monopoly they understood it quite well and

conducted the game in English!

Attitudes

Above left: 2/2 giving a presentation performance about local tourism. Right:2/6 had fun in

their last lesson with me teaching them.

The students desire to have fun often clashes with the teachers desire to use

dictation and copying as their main form of teaching. Often, it can appear that the students

dont particularly care about working. This particularly struck me when I first came to the

project; the classes were nothing like my own back at school in England; structured, focused

and varied. The students didnt seem to be able to get through anything with any sort of

speed or ambition. But how can you blame them when they are expected to stay in school

until they are about 23 years old (including University) if they want to get a good job?

University students also have to wear a similar uniform to those in Primary and Secondary

School. While the uniform perhaps keeps them in the mind-set of learning throughout their

time in education, personally I believe it doesnt allow them a lot of freedom as they grow up

and become more responsible.

Students are almost always late to lessons, and the teachers generally dont go to the

class for at least 10 minutes after the start of the lesson, mainly because they know their

students wont be there yet. There is also a problem with students just skipping lessons and

walking around the school instead from time to time. There is not very much being done

about truancy and this has a direct effect on their learning, and the learning of others in their

class. If they miss the lesson, they dont understand what is happening in the next lesson,

then the teacher has to go over that, and the other students are prevented from advancing.

If students are particularly late to lessons, sometimes (depending on who it is) the teacher

will actually hit them a few times with a cane. Thankfully this does not happen all the time,

but it is still technically illegal.

I think that this lateness could be due to a lack of breaks in the school day and a problem

with timetabling. One of my teachers, Pe Pom always gave her students a ten minute break

before her lessons to go to the bathroom and have a drink, because she doesnt think the

students have enough time for this during the day. Students are at school from 8am until

4pm with only one 50-minute break for lunch, with no transfer-time between classrooms;

one lesson finishes and immediately the next one begins. This means that students have less

time allocated to themselves and that they are more likely to have to take a little bit of time

out of the timetabled school day just to have a small rest, disrupting classes that are

timetabled for specific times. My opinion is that if they gave the students a couple of short

breaks they would get more out of the time they are in lessons.

As it is, students in Thailand spend 1200 hours a year in the classroom, not including

any extra after school classes they may take. At the same time, Ive read that students

in Finland spend just 626 hours in lessons (almost half the amount of time), and its

one of the most admired education systems in the world! I think Thai students would

benefit a lot from reorganising the timetable and considering the quality rather than

quantity of teaching, bringing down the number of extra hours students spend in

extra tutorial classes as well (and the cost of them!).

(http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Lessons-Thailand-can-learn-from-

Finland-30258007.html)

Shyness is a massive issue in Thai schools, and it doesnt show much sign of

changing. When picking students numbers to get volunteers for an activity (every student in

the class is assigned a number instead of using students name to choose volunteers and read

out test scores and such), they seem perfectly resigned to have to join in, but asking for

volunteers explicitly will not yield any takers. This demonstrates that the students dont have

a lot of confidence in their abilities; they dont volunteer for fear of doing something wrong,

and in front of a whole roomful of their peers too. I think this could also be due to the fact

that the students are not made to work very hard to reach the right answer to a question,

before the teacher tells them the correct response to what they were considering how to go

about answering. One of the biggest issues surrounding this point is that the teachers dont

see this as a problem they can fix, but that it is just in the students nature. This may be true

up to a point, but there is definitely more that can be done to improve students confidence.

Classroom politics

Above: My host sister is glued to her phone, making for a picture-perfect photo opportunity.

I would say that there is an issue in the school with mobile phones. According to one

of my co-teachers, Pe Na, its actually against the rules to have phones out during school

time, but you wouldnt be able to tell. Students constantly have their phones on them,

messaging each other, taking photos and surfing. Some students actually play games on

them during lessons! Pe Na tells me that it doesnt work taking the phones off them, because

the students wont hand them over, and the parents just wouldnt support it. Occasionally

she will tell her students to put them away, with limited success. This is directly distracting

students from learning.

Sometimes students are using their phones to translate something they dont understand,

which may not be too bad. However you could say that while they are translating something

with their phone, what motivation is there for them to actually learn the language properly

when technology could do it for them? Also, more often than not they are trying to translate

whole pieces of text on Google, which is notoriously inaccurate when translating Thai to

English or English to Thai. The fact is that it doesnt make the language into any sense going

either way with the translation, but the students dont understand this, meaning that the

English they may learn from doing this is very likely to be incorrect.

The influence from parents.

Above: M2 students in a lesson about Family. I had a photograph of my family on the

overhead projector, they loved it!

Theres evidence of some inequality in school, and money contributed by some

parents can have an influence on how the school is run to some extent. I had to take one of

my classes in the maths block because the parents of the children in the maths class had

donated money for air-conditioning in the English block and wanted their children to

benefit from it.

Theres an annual parents evening for parents to ask teachers about their childrens

progress, which is fairly well-attended; perhaps this demonstrates that a good number of

parents actively care about their childrens education.

Above: Students on a school trip to Suphanburi province. We went to see a Thai traditional

performance together (pictured right)!

Support and opportunities for students,

especially the less academically able.

Above: 2/2 after speaking presentations about tourism in the area happy its over!

There is next to no support for less able students in the school; and this is one of the

things that I find the most difficult to understand. There is a big poster above the door in the

English office with the quote All students can learn! Every child has their own strengths and

talents. They just learn in different manners and at their own pace. Howard Gardner,

Theory of Multiple Intelligence. However, some attitudes I experienced towards students

identified as less able are a bit dismissive.

Students are set by year and ability, where 1/1 is the best class in the first year (based on

testing) and 1/10 is the least able class in the first year (there are 6 years in total). One

opinion amongst some staff about classes /8, /9 and /10 is that they are unable to learn and

cant be taught properly. The students Ive seen in 3/10 cant actually read English, even

though theyve been at the school for 3 years and seem generally quite enthusiastic about

learning. When they were asked by my partner (who is their teacher), they said that their

teachers had just made them copy out of textbooks the whole time. These less-able

students generally suffer from a lack of motivation and a lack of discipline; the only solution

to which is thought to be copying out vocabulary or long rambling pieces of text in the hope

that something may sink in. The real reason being is that it keeps them a bit quieter than

doing something else perhaps more interactive or useful. As a result, they will only fall

further and further behind the other more able students in their year.

I believe that there needs to be more support for these classes of students. I get the

impression that in Thailand if you can do something for the first time learning it, everything

is fine and you can carry on, but if you cant do it the first time, someone else can do it better

and they will. These students need to be given more of a chance to learn at a different pace,

and perhaps in a different way in order to be able to achieve their personal best.

There are quite a lot of opportunities for those interested to take part in local,

regional and national competitions for things like Storytelling, Skit (a small piece of group

acting), Spelling and ASEAN Quiz (a quiz about everything ASEAN, where the headquarters

are, when it was decided to form the union, who is involved etc.). For those that have a

passion to learn and improve, these competitions are a great opportunity to travel about the

country and get better at something they enjoy. I only wish we had more things like that

when I was at school in England!

Above left: Our first English Camp at Ban Srabua School they always make special banners

and give out prizes on occasions like this. Right: novice monks at the annual volunteers

English Camp in Nakhon Sawan.

There are opportunities for most students to attend English camps too. These

events usually last a day and allow the students to get involved in fun activities which require

them to use their English. The Thai government has said that these English camps are one of

the most rewarding events that students can get involved in. I also believe that they are ones

that promote English learning in an environment that tests your knowledge whilst still being

an amazing amount of fun! English camps that Ive been involved in had many activities, my

favourites being singing songs in English in a big circle altogether, obstacle courses where

separate teams of students direct their blindfolded teammate to the finish line, a race to

create a monster in small groups according to a long list of specifications like number and

colour of eyes, noses, tails, horns and so on, out of loads of craft materials! They really

involve all the students thoroughly and I believe they are extremely valuable to promote

English learning amongst students. In good-sized schools, the government provides funding

that allows schools to offer English camps to its students, because the amount of funding a

school is allocated is based on the number of students it has. However, this is a problem for

smaller schools in poorer areas in the countryside, particularly in the north and the

northeast, because they dont have the numbers to provide much funding for their students.

This means that they miss out on the fun of English camps, and perhaps on wanting to

continue with the relatively staid study of English solely by rote and repetition, leading to

fewer students staying in school and continuing their education. If more students enjoyed

their education more thoroughly, more would want to continue with it.

Above: the schools outdoor pool; they have some good facilities like this.

Changes

Teachers approach and training; are things changing?

Above left: English staff on Christmas day. Right: My partner Tonicha and I looking through

some important information during one of our schools English Camps.

The teachers at Uthaiwittayakhom School are certainly well-educated, and their level

of English is generally very high. Unfortunately, teacher training in Thailand has a large

focus on teaching by rote, repetition, and copying off the board. This doesnt allow the

students to get fully involved in the class, and often they can feel a bit distanced from whats

going on, thus potentially impacting how much they get out of each lesson.

The students in the classes do not work very quickly this was a problem for me at the

beginning, because of the differences between the education system in Thailand and

England. When I was a student in secondary school we were made to work quite efficiently to

get through more material in the time we had. In Thailand as a teacher I found I couldnt get

through a lot of material I wanted to cover, based on my own experience in language classes!

Sometimes I believe students in Thailand arent challenged enough by the system. I saw it

happen a few times that, when doing a test or activity with the students, the Thai teachers

would actually give them the answers, almost without soliciting any input from the students

themselves! When this happens, you can just see some students in the class not try or even

copy down what the teacher is telling them. This disengages them from the class and means

its less likely that they will continue to listen and make an effort to understand.

The amount of resources at the school is improving all the time. There are now five

foreign teachers at the school (including Project Trust volunteers), two of which are also

teaching Maths, Science and ICT classes in the English language. Personally, I think this is

amazing and such a good help for students to learn in context, which in turn will aid their

memory of the things they learn in English. If they are working with something they are

already a bit familiar with then they can refer to their current knowledge and transpose it

into English with the help of the foreign teacher; reinforcing not only their knowledge of

English, but the knowledge of the subject as well.

The teachers love having the volunteers at the school. Even if we thought we werent

doing a particularly excellent job of it at some points, they were always absolutely lovely to us

and always tried to help us out. Thai people know how to treat other people well! And by

doing that you can help people to achieve their best; I know that I felt very encouraged by

this, and it definitely allowed me to improve a lot as a teacher. It makes you feel valued, like

you are making a difference.

The importance of having the volunteers to teach and interact with the students is the idea

that this input can encourage them to learn more. In the first half of the year, we only taught

up until the 5th set (/5), which were the more-able students, but in the second half of the

year, we taught the lower sets of students as well, up to the 10th set (/10). This was an

injection of excitement for those who struggle more academically; who is this strange-

looking person talking some gibberish to me? they were probably thinking! In some

students, there was a marked difference in the amount of effort they put into their English

studies. They just wanted to be able to talk to us, the volunteers.

My partner often told me that a couple of her classes were just constantly trying to chat to

her, even though they spoke next to no English at all; it forced them to be more resourceful

with the English that they had and gestures in order to make someone understand without

speaking the same language. Thus, she was able to teach them some language in context that

they would definitely understand because they were making such an effort to explain

whatever it was to her, and they would be more likely to remember it because they would

attach the language to their memory of the conversation.

I fully believe that this is an incredibly valuable experience for them. So often, I had students

that wouldnt say anything at all, or they wouldnt try at all if they couldnt do or say

whatever it was exactly right. But this will not help them to learn; they must practise! I am

very guilty of doing this in the past. In my French classes I never said anything unless I knew

I had it exactly right and I used to absolutely hate talking to our French teaching assistant

form France, simply because I knew I would make an unbelievable amount of mistakes.

Because I had this experience, I think I was able to coax them into trying a little more, as I

know how difficult it is.

I was also incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to go to Chiangmai at the

beginning of the year to learn the basics of the Thai language, and I think that this

introduction reminded me how hard it is to be starting off in a new language again. Even

more so, I was able to experience a language that was absolutely completely different

Are there any changes that show progress in the school, or in

the education system as a whole?

Lots of things are still done for show. The ground floor used to be an open space for

talks, small performances, and as a place for students to sit with their friends at lunchtime.

This year it is being turned into two new classrooms and one resource and computer room.

All the teachers supposedly involved in the decision voted against the build, arguing that the

original use of the space was more valuable. However, the director still has complete power

in the school, and so he decided to go ahead with the plans anyway. When I asked my co-

teacher Pe Pom why he still chose to do this, she told me it was solely to make it look like he

was making things happen in the school; making progress.

The same thing happened when a proposal was put forward to build a large roof over the

area where assembly takes place to protect everyone from the elements. This necessitated the

removal of about eight tall, old trees in the space where they wanted the roof to go; one of

them particularly huge and extremely old indeed. This tree was so large and old that people

had tied loads of brightly-coloured ribbons around the trunk. They do this because Thai

people believe that spirits live in special trees like that. One day, before the tree was cut

down, a monk came by to transfer the spirits from this tree to another large one in the

school grounds so that it could be cut down.

According to one of my teacher, Pe Ooy, there are still too many children in a class.

Depending on the year, there can be between 30 50 students in a class. I definitely found

that it is more difficult to practise English and learn efficiently in a class of this size; the

teacher cant attend to the needs of her students, particularly when some of the students

clearly dont really feel like learning. Lowering class sizes could be in reach of the schools

resources if the effort is made, but it is not a very high priority.

In 2012 the Thai government launched an English Speaking Year project, meant to

promote the speaking of English as opposed to studying too much of its grammar.

Unfortunately, I cant personally see that this has had much success at all, even though I

hadnt seen the way things were before the initiative. From time to time I have seen

fundamental issues with grammar prevent students from making sense to someone that

perhaps cant tell what theyre trying to say. However, on a few occasions, I have seen a

couple of my teachers, one more than others, teach grammar in a very confusing and

complicated way, making English learning a lot harder than it is to begin with! My opinion is

that teaching of grammar needs to be stripped down a bit more so it is clearer for students to

understand, whilst keeping the teaching of grammar going every lesson in a practical way;

teaching some sort of speaking activity whilst pointing out the grammar at work in the

sentences, almost as a side note. This is something I have endeavoured to do with my

students this year, and I hope its taught them that although English is not separable from its

grammar, it doesnt need to be complicated in isolation from context.

My opinions on the schooling system have changed a lot over

the year

AT THE BEGINNING

I thought that the state of the education system was not where it should be

(comparing it to my experiences in my own country); it seemed to me that it was

disorganised, slack, and not encouraging students to achieve their best. There was little

discipline, apparently no government-imposed syllabus, and at times the teachers

themselves didnt know what was going on in the school. All the while, the people teaching

and learning within the system seemed to be unaware that this was a problem.

BUT NOW

I think that beforehand I was very particular, and am still a perfectionist now.

However, I realise that the situation in Thailand is that people dont rush around, sacrificing

everything else, to achieve impossibly high aspirations. They are enjoying their lives as they

happen! They give themselves time to enjoy school, and if it isnt fun then theyll have trouble

concentrating on learning.

There are occasions when I find the lack of notice about things that are happening (like

certain events) annoying, but I know how to deal with it. More importantly, I know what

works with my classes. Theres just a way of things that need a bit of patience to understand,

that I know will help me be more patient learning new things in the future.

I remember when we actually started teaching our own lessons in November, and I was

stressing about it, overthinking. What if I cant think of anything and Im just standing at

the front of the classroom doing nothing?? I was thinking. My host teacher Pe Ae told me

dont be serious. At the time I thought that was ridiculous really; dont be serious?? Im a

teacher now, I have to be serious, I thought. I knew that teaching was a big thing; I was

responsible for the learning of 600 students a week!

Above: Young filmmakers on the track from the school to my house.

The use of English from inside the classroom to outside it

While I was in Chiangmai on the 3-week language course, I was surprised to actually find

people who didnt share a first language communicating in English. I had never seen this

actually happen before, and it gave me confidence in that what I was doing would be useful

and helpful for the community I was living in. If people can learn a bit of English, they can

use it to converse with people from other countries and cultures as well, not just those from

English-speaking countries.

The Survey!

After teaching at Uthaiwittayakhom School for a while, I became very interested in what the

students actually though of learning English. Did they actually enjoy it? Did they not? Did

they have any future ideas about what they actually might use their knowledge of English

for??

I created a survey with the title; Why do you learn English? and wrote a number of

statements next to tick-boxes so that students could identify which statements they agreed

with.

12%

14%

13%

4%

1% 2%

0% 6%

6%

9%

7%

12%

11% 3%

I enjoy learning English

I think it is important for my life

It is a necessary skill nowadays

I am confident about speakingEnglish out loud

I am forced to learn English

I don't like studying English

I won't use English in the future

I find English really difficult

I like speaking to foreign people

I am interested in the culture offoreign countries

I want to go to a foreignuniversity

I want to understand songs, TVand films in English

I will be able to have a good jobin the future

I want to marry a foreigner

Whole school results

14%

13%

13%

6% 0%

0% 1% 2%

9% 8%

11%

12%

10%

1% 1/3

13%

12%

10%

7%

2% 2% 1% 3%

10%

9%

8%

10%

10%

3%

1/10

14%

14%

15%

1% 0% 1% 0%

7% 5% 9%

8%

13%

11%

2%

2/4

13%

10%

11%

5% 1% 4% 2%

6% 7% 9%

6%

11%

10% 5%

2/10

15%

13%

13%

5% 0%

0% 0% 2%

8%

12%

8%

12%

11%

1%

3/1

11%

14%

15%

1%

0% 3% 1%

8% 4%

10%

7%

12%

10% 4%

3/8

10%

12%

13%

7%

1% 2% 0% 4%

7%

11%

8%

11%

11%

3%

4/7

14%

15%

13%

2% 2% 4%

1%

7% 2%

8%

6%

10%

12% 4%

5/6

10%

19%

16%

1% 1% 2%

0%

13% 2%

8%

4%

12%

11%

1%

6/5

12%

15%

13%

3% 0% 2% 0%

6% 5%

10%

6%

14%

11% 3%

6/1

9%

16%

15%

2% 1% 2% 0%

10% 2%

9%

8%

13%

11%

2%

6/7

Talking about trends

I surveyed 11 classes; 6 more able classes, 5 classes of lower sets, identified as less able.

Overall, there doesnt seem to be a world of difference between the types of classes; results

werent too dissimilar across the school.

The three most popular categories that students agreed with were I enjoy learning English,

I think it (English) is important for my life and it (English) is a necessary skill nowadays.

Thus, I am confident that the students are aware of the importance of studying a language

like English!

But it doesnt mean that they love the idea. Frequently I saw students recognise its

importance but not say that they enjoyed it, or actively tick the I dont like studying English

box.

But this was actually quite rare. Students tend to actively exclaim their enjoyment, or else be

quite apathetic about the whole thing. Personally, I find this to be a good commentary on

Thai society as a whole; I have much more often found people telling me about something

they like rather than something they hate.

I want to marry a foreigner

When I was putting this survey together I asked my host teacher to translate it into Thai for

me so that I could write it in both Thai and English for everyone to be able to understand.

When she did this, she added the statement I want to marry a foreigner. At first I was

sceptical about the value of this question, but her explanation was that this was a feasible

idea for some students.

And students actually chose this option!

The word (fa-rang) in Thai means foreigner. In the UK, this term may well be taken

with offence; its use implies that that person does not belong in the country and should

probably leave. Whereas in Thailand, its just used to refer to someone that is not Thai, and it

is not an offensive term at all, and one I became quite familiar with. Thai people in general

quite like these foreigners; they like their popular culture and their lifestyle, and so on.

Among a certain few its seen as a good plan to marry a rich foreigner and have them take

you away to a Western country. Its realistic enough, its profitable, and it requires a good

level of English, because the foreigner in question will not likely have any knowledge of Thai

beyond hello.

The students that agreed with this option the most were in the typically less-able classes, so

it seems to me that those who have given up on learning English to make their own way have

decided to hope that someone else will pave their path to success; the rich foreigner!

English for fun

Knowledge of English is good for doing things you enjoy, and I was encouraged to

find that a large number of students want to be able to understand Songs, TV and Films in

English. Its also how many students advance their English skills, giving them a good

opportunity to practise for a practical reason as well.

So, not many students said that they actively dislike studying English (only 2%

overall), but some did say that they found it really difficult (with the slightly higher figure of

6%). This option was most common amongst the M6 students (final year students), with 6/1

at 6%, 6/7 at 10%, and 6/5 (the less able class in the year) at 13%. I think by this point,

English gets a lot harder to study and they have resigned themselves to either being able to

do it, or not. In the case of the two more able classes (6/1 and 6/7), they definitely can do it

and theyre good at it; I know from experience that their level of English is quite high.

However some still believe that they struggle a lot. To me, admitting this says that they have

high aspirations about where they want to be with their English; a desire to improve and

work hard, which I find encouraging.

Minorities

Above: Hill tribe people working on the land in the mountains of Chiangmai

Before writing this study, I read a lot of articles about the education system and the

inclusion of ethnic minorities. So, I added questions to my survey to see if there were any

ethnic minorities in my rural school in central Thailand, but there werent. Every student

that I surveyed was of Thai nationality. Some (3%) said that they could speak Lao, which may

suggest some relatives being from there, but theres no way to tell for sure.

The issue with Thailand is that there are a lot of different ethnicities living in in the country,

and even more languages being spoken within its borders. Central Thai is the official

language of the whole country, but there are more beside that which are native to the people

of certain areas or regions. For example, in Issan, their main language is called Issan, not

Thai yet most people will speak both (however they are similar). Elsewhere, in the north

for example, there are a great many different hill tribes living in the region, each with their

own languages. Uthaiwittayakhom school is fine because all students are Central Thai, but

in different projects, for example Wawee in the far north, they have many more local

languages that are not recognised by the education system.

Wawee

I spoke to Daisy Lee about cultural differences amongst minorities in the far north,

who was lucky enough to be a volunteer in Chiangrai province, in a village called

Wawee.

She said that people in the village mostly spoke Chinese actually, as a lot of people in

that area were of Chinese origin, and students coming from the hills spoke seven

different ethnic dialects on top of that.

Because the school that all the children attend is part of the Thai system, Daisy said

that to an extent there was an element that these diverse children have been

assimilated into the nation-wide system. During school hours, there isnt a lot of

difference between students, in that you cant tell where they come from looking at

their appearance and personality. Teachers conduct their lessons in Thai, and

students must respond to them in Thai, but students talk amongst themselves in

Chinese. The main difference Daisy could tell was that students from the hill tribes

were generally more open in expressing their emotions, whereas the Thai students

were more conscious of not losing face and being a little more reserved.

I would be tempted to say that students are being forced into a system that doesnt

correlate with their lives; no-one in the area outside school uses Thai, so what need is

there to learn it? However, the benefits of having this blanket Thai schooling is that

students from different backgrounds dont have the opportunity to segregate

themselves with who they are most familiar with. They can all be equals as Thai

students within the school.

For all the worry that students from these diverse backgrounds being brought

together in this small space would cause rifts and segregation, there is no evidence of

this, which is really encouraging. Daisy did not notice any sort of self-imposed

isolation from other children based on whether they were the same ethnicity or spoke

the same language. Instead she observed that children made their friendships based

on personality and whether they got on with each other, not where they came from.

Away from the Thai school, most students also attend a Chinese-language school for

four hours a day and on Saturdays. This gives them a chance to have classes in a

language they are more familiar with using, which is a great opportunity for those

children whose families originated from China. However they dont have classes in

local languages in either school, as this would be impractical as regards the large

number of different languages and the small number of students that speak each one,

as well as the fact that the teachers are all Thai and dont speak these languages.

But the fact that they dont get to use their native languages in school doesnt mean

that they are fully assimilated into Thai culture and are not proud of their heritage.

Daisy said that her students would always tell her where they came from, whether

they were from the Karen or Lisu tribes, or others, and explain about their homes as

well. In school time as well, Daisy saw students wearing different jackets and bags

that came from their tribes. They also had a sports day, on which students dressed up

in their traditional dress and lead a parade!

In fact, this cultural diversity offers great opportunities for the children in that area.

Not only do they get to experience all their different cultures, if they can speak their

own local language, Thai and Chinese as well, they could live and work anywhere they

wanted to. Such language skills are very valuable; while some of my own students at

Uthaiwittayakhom struggled to learn Chinese on top of their native language, Central

Thai, Daisys students in Wawee were quite fluently using at least three languages in

their everyday lives, including Chinese!

Teacher Profiles

There are many excellent teachers at the school, especially in the English department.

Unfortunately they are sometimes restricted by their superiors or occasionally their training.

But they know what works with their students and they have a lot of respect from them, and I

think that is of the utmost importance.

Teacher profile: Pe Ae

My host teacher Pe Ae is an absolutely excellent teacher. She works full time teaching

(overtime if you count looking after the volunteers), understands Western culture very well

indeed, and she is extremely intelligent, as well as being a lot of fun to be around!

My partner and I often agreed that she was our role model, particularly for being a teacher.

She is a master of being able to teach simple material whilst giving her students the flexibility

to manipulate the language taught in a number of ways, and have them practise. At the same

time she corrects students mistakes without putting them off trying again.

Teacher profile: Khun Kru Somkiat

Unlike the other teachers in my English department, Khun Kru Somkiat asked me to

call him by the respect particals kru, teacher; and khun, mister. The teachers in my

department had me call them with the prefix pe, which means older sister/brother. I

didnt mind this at all, because Kru Somkiat was my teacher, not my colleague, and he was a

Music teacher, teaching me to play Thai music. I was extremely lucky to have this privilege! I

learned to sing a couple of Thai songs, and I learned to play a musical instrument called a

saw duang, a two-stringed instrument similar to the Chinese Mandolin. I went to the music

department during my free time, about three times a week, for about two hours at a time.

Kru Somkiat is a very generous man; he is generous with his time, his money, and his

patience! The number of times he has run a piece through with me when I thought I could

play it but actually couldnt is unbelievable

Once, my host teacher Pe Ae was driving my partner Tonicha and I to the town in the

afternoon, and on the way we saw children in the Music department and Kru Somkiat

teaching them, and she said Now Pe Somkiat is a real teacher. When we asked her what she

meant, she told us that he was always in his department; he spends every spare moment with

his students, playing music all the time.

He has often told me that he just loves thai musical (thai music), and playing the music.

He frequently got up at 3am, sleeping on the floor in school the night before, to take his

students in his car to play in competitions in Bangkok, Phitsanulok, Sukothai, and all sorts of

places!

Another frequent occurrence was feeding his students (and me) too! He would cook lots of

rice and chicken in the department room, and make spicy and lemony sauces to go with it.

He had me try each sauce every time, with a student on hand to quickly get me a glass of

water when it was too spicy for me!

What is special about Kru Somkiat is that he is utterly dedicated to his students, and his role

within the school. It is my belief that if there were more teachers like him, there would be no

limit to what students could achieve.

Above: singing a song in Thai on Teachers Day with the schools musicians and Kru Somkiat.

What is Global Citizenship?

Above left: Teaching a lesson about the World. Right: Taking pictures with students and

name tags so I could learn their names more effectively. Jade made one for me that says My

name is Emily in Chinese.

The question What is Global Citizenship? is not an easy question to answer, but it is

one that Project Trust have asked us to consider in the past, to get us thinking about what we

would be doing in our volunteering year in the wider sense. When first asked this question, I

didnt know where to start. Now that I am a returned volunteer, I would like to consider the

meaning of Global Citizenship.

Briefly and personally, Global Citizenship is the awareness that everyone else in the world is

part of one large community of people, told apart slightly by different countries and cultures,

but no one being worth less that anyone else. It is being aware of this and acting accordingly,

making sure our actions do not affect others adversely, and communicating and cooperating

with everyone within that community as an equal. It is learning about these different

countries and cultures and being respectful of them, in order to better understand each other

to be able to make the world a better place.

To conclude

The education system in Thailand is one that reflects society in the rest of the country; from

the attitudes of the students, to the approach of the teachers. While its true that theres a lot

of room for improvement in the education system, it suits those within it well and has

students best interests at heart . I have loved being a part of the school community, and

though I was a volunteer Teacher, I have learned an incredible amount myself.