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Many people know Thailand for its beautiful beaches or Bangkok's temples and shopping on Khao San Road, but few people have ventured off the beaten trail to the more rural areas of Thailand. Whereas in these tourist destinations,  many people speak English and have a strong worldly knowledge, people in the rural eastern part of Thailand have rarely seen foreigners, let alone had a chance to speak English with a native speaker. Students in the eastern Isan area have difficulty competing with the more privileged students in the cities for enrollment in universities or for jobs.
In our brand new Thailand program, volunteers will be working in the Nakhon Phanom Province, in Northeastern Thailand, with Elementary and High School students. This program will focus on English language education, mostly in underpriviledged, countryside schools. Volunteers will give these students a chance to interact with foreigners and be introduced to different cultures.
WorldTeach will accept up to 20 volunteers for the 2009 school year. Roughly half of the volunteers will be placed in elementary schools in rural towns, while the other half will be placed at high schools mostly in the cities of Nakhon Phanom.
Volunteer Role
Volunteers will begin with a month-long orientation, in which they will be trained in teacher roles and curriculum for teaching English as a foreign language, as well as lesson planning, classroom management, and teaching techniques. They will also be introduced to the Thai language, history, and culture, and will be given a chance to practice teaching prior to the beginning of the school year.
Volunteers will primarily teach English to underprivileged high sch ool and elementary students. Each volunteer will have about 20-25 hours of classes per week, and may teach at more than one school in a given area. They will also facilitate student clubs and extracurricular activities in areas of their own interests, e.g. sports, dance, music, arts and crafts. Also, in an effort to make the schools more self-sufficient, volunteers will be encouraged to guide the Thai English teachers in finding up-to-date materials on the internet to help facilitate their teaching.
It is the main objective of this program to get students from Nakhon Phanom interested and excited to learn English, and to aid the Thai English teachers at the schools in becoming more self-sufficient and effective. This province is one of the most underpriviledged and remote areas of Thailand, and therefore has had little interaction with the outside world, in comparison to other parts of Thailand that benefit so greatly from foreign tourism. As a volunteer, you will be given a unique opportunity to influence the youth of this relatively untouched area and promote education in an effort to create a better future for the students there.
Placement Site, Housing, Food
Volunteers for the WorldTeach Thailand program will be placed in the cities and rural towns of Nakhon Phanom Province in Northeast Thailand, on the border of Laos. Volunteers living in the city will be teaching high school students, while those living in rural areas will teach elementary school students. Most schools in the program will  have between 40 and 100 students. The level of English among students in these areas is relatively low, so the volunteers will be expected to teach basic English vocabulary and grammar.
Volunteer teachers' housing will be provided by the schools at which they teach. Some will be in teachers' apartments, while others may live with host families. All volunteers will have their own private bedroom, and will share a living room, kitchen, and bathroom with other teachers or with their host family. These facilities will have running water, but some will lack hot water. Food will also be provided by the volunteers' schools and/or host families.
The food of Nakhon Phanom is Isan food, which shares qualities with both Thai and Lao dishes, but it is distinguishable from both. It is known prominently for its use of sticky rice, rather than plain rice, as well as spicy peppers. Isan food is generally more spicy than food in other areas of Thailand. Popular dishes are papaya salad, meat salad, and grilled chicken.
Length of Program
The first group of volunteers will depart in October for three weeks of training, during which they will receive teacher training, as well as be given an introduction to Thai language and culture. Volunteers will start teaching in November. The whole program will last for 1 year.
Cost of Program
The current program cost is US$4990. This covers round-trip international airfare, health insurance, in-country orientation, transportation to your site, meals and housing during orientation and throughout your teaching service, and 24-hour field support. During the year, volunteers will receive a monthly living stipend of 5000 Thai baht (roughly US$150).
Requirements
Volunteers must have English fluency and at least a bachelor’s degree. Applicants must work well with children and demonstrate flexibility, maturity, as well as an interest in English education in Asia. Given the especially low English ability of the students in the area, it is also very important that the volunteers be able to exhibit a great deal of patience and maintain a positive attitude. It is not necessary that the volunteers have any prior Thai language or teaching experience, although it will certainly strengthen your application.
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