8 Survival Tips When Teaching in Thailand 2016
Survival Tip #1: Roll with the Punches
Me posing with a pro Muay Thai Fighter at Lumpinee Stadium in BKK… I could probably take him.
Muay Thai is one of the biggest sports in Thailand, and in a lot of ways you have to act like a boxer to be a successful teacher here. Ok, so you probably won’t have to throw any left hooks, but you do have to be able to think on your feet.
As a foreign teacher in Thailand you are put on the spot constantly. Sometimes you may be asked to do something as simple as sing a karaoke song in front of your student’s parents, and sometimes you may be asked to make grade reports for every individual student you have the day before they are supposed to be submitted.
It can feel like a flurry combo of left, right, left, elbow coming straight at your face, but unexpected issues and events arise all the time at Thai schools.
Mastering the art of jai yen, and keeping a cool head through the frustrating spontaneity of the Thai school system is necessary to be a prize professor and why I have it one of my 8 Survival Tips When Teaching in Thailand 2016.
“Float like a butterfly, speak like a B….a spelling B” – No boxer ever…
Survival Tip #2: Always have a back-up activity
You lean back in your chair, crack your knuckles, pat yourself on the back, and promise that later you’ll go get that sweet green tea you deserve because, that’s right, you’ve created the best lesson ever. It’s fun, it’s engaging, and your students will love it.
Then you strut confidently into class and start explaining the directions. You turn to write something on the board and your confidence begins to wane as you notice the rows of students with faces blanker than an award winning modern art painting.
You start speaking faster and faster, waving your hands about emphatically as your students become more and more confused at your spastic gesturing, losing interest faster than Rose kicked Jack off the raft.
Oh my god, your golden all-encompassing lesson plan is failing. What do you do?
Well I’ll tell you what to do, it’s easy. You enact one of our Survival Tips when teaching in Thailand and revert to one of the backup activities you came up with.
It can feel a bit like this…
It doesn’t matter how great you think your lesson might be, there’s always a chance that it might not work. Even if one class understands your awesome game or activity, there might be another class who just stares at you like you’re some freak skinny Santa Claus.
It’s a good idea to have some simple stand by games, or vocab activities that can be applied to any lesson, and are easy to understand with little explanation.
Having a fallback worksheet is another solid backup plan in case your Sistine pronunciation exercise turns into a misunderstood, mumbling meltdown.
