My TEFL program in Ao Luk
One of the many benefits of participating in the TEFL program at GVI is
that we are able to teach the same group of students almost every day. This
gives us, the teachers, the benefit of really getting to know them as people and
understand their needs and specific learning styles. The other benefit of
teaching the same group of students is we get to learn a little bit about Thai
culture and how the students lead their lives. Sometimes this happens within the
walls of the classroom, but in my case most of my learning has been with my
students in the open classroom of Ao Luk.
My students have been so kind and generous and have invited me into their
personal lives on three occasions. My first taste of Thai life was through a
cooking lesson with one of my students Aed. She taught me how to make Massaman
curry, Som Tam (spicy papaya salad), and a noodle dish with pork and shrimp. I
spent the day trying to quickly write down everything Aed was doing, laughing
when I didn't understand her mix of Thai and English, and most importantly
eating. We served lunch to some of the other students and enjoyed an afternoon
picnic in Aed's front lawn.
My second taste of Thai culture was through a visit to a local temple on
one of the Buddhist days. On these days the local people pray with the monks and
give tiffin containers filled with various dishes to them for lunch. I went with
two of my students and sat through the two hour prayer service. I have never
experienced any of the Buddhist rituals before so it was a wonderful experience,
After the service the monks ate a little bit from the containers and then sent
them back to the people who brought them. Once we had our containers back we ate
lunch in the temple. For me lunch meant eating whatever the people around me put
on my plate. The constant question throughout the lunch was "Aroy?" which means
delicious. Aroy indeed.
My latest taste of Thai culture was on Tuesday night. Instead of having
class my students took me out for dinner at a Thai barbecue restaurant. It was a
lovely evening filled with so much laughter, questions about America, questions
about slang, and yet again food. I may be their teacher, but throughout these
experiences the roles were reversed and I became their student.
Julia Knecht, Teaching English Volunteer, Thailand
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