A short account of my summer
at Ban Khunnoo School.

Don't think too hard about this photo, otherwise you'll realise the Thai is backwards.

After a day's teaching I am sat on our bungalow's patio, surrounded by the remnants of our evening meal (spiced fish cooked whole, generous portions of rice and a tasty sauce). I can hear thunder in the distance, the monks' chanting from the temple, and the mewling of a small cat by my feet. This is a 'routine' image of evening in Khong Sai (a small village north of Surat Thani, on Thailand's Lower Gulf) where I am based this summer as part of the British Council's 'Teaching English Thailand 2012' project.

'Teaching English Thailand' has brought more than 60 UK students and graduates to Thailand, with the aim of setting up language assistant placements all over the country. It's the first time the British Council (a non-profit dedicated to the teaching and promotion of English, amongst many other things) has attempted to co-ordinate such a system in Thailand.... aaaaaand the first time I've ever left Europe. Honestly, it's been incredible.

Just a couple of months ago I was at my desk in Liverpool, successfully ignoring the amount of packing I had to do before abandoning my university city to the freshers (having just finished my degree in French and English at the University of Liverpool!), when I received a University 'careers' email: 'Interested in teaching in Thailand with the British Council? Deadline soon' read its gist, and I didn't need asking twice.

Three weeks later I found myself on a flight to Moscow (it was a cheap connection alright!) battling with Russian airline staff:

'Can I have some water please? Water?'
'Ah! Water! Yes. In half an hour.'

I finally arrived, mildly dehydrated and jet-lagged, in Bangkok. A whirlwind of training, meals with ambassadors, and exploring the city followed (all orchestrated by the British Council and the Thai Ministry of Education!) - and from the guided tour of the palaces to the police escorted coach, I doubt I'll ever live to see a weekend quite like it again:

Bangkok skyline.

The palaces.

This little guy's one-man-show didn't go quite as well as he'd hoped.

Proceedings in Bangkok wrapped up, I soon found myself in a minivan ('miniwan' in authentic Thai-English) on my way South! The company here was just as illustrious, with half a dozen high-spirited Thai teachers (who would act as professional mentors and invaluable guides to us) and several other assistants, including Isaac, who I would be sharing Ban Khunnoo school with!

On arrival, we found a sparkling primary school and a ridiculously picturesque bungalow waiting for us. The bungalow is built on supports, suspended over what can only be described as jungle marsh, and we walk a sort of makeshift pier which separates us from the school grounds (we refer to crossing the marsh as 'walking-the-plank'). I'm not sure I can tell you what I was expecting accommodation to be before I arrived (a shack? A luxury villa?!) but suffice to say me and Isaac love our little bungalow. We have our own rooms, connected by an inside door. We have running water, a fridge, furniture AND wi-fi! What more could you possibly ask for?

Isaac settling into our new home.

Well, how about three meals a day lovingly provided by the school! We're still not entirely sure where our evening meal comes from, which is shameful of us, but at about 7pm every night the cry of 'TEACHER TOM, TEACHER ISSAAC' goes up and one of the staff is outside our door with a tray of delicious home-made Thai food. Breakfast and lunch are school dinners, which we had been 'warned' about, but I actually quite like them – perhaps with the exception of bright pink squid, which I'm sure would be an 'acquired' taste if I persevered for long enough...

Even the less brightly coloured varieties of squid look pretty intimidating me....

However, it is not the delicious food nor the sumptuous surroundings which have brought me here. I am here, of course, for the teaching. Having worked as a language assistant for a year in France (also with the British Council!), I know it to be work I love and believe in – I certainly find a pleasure in watching students learn and improve, which I'm sure has driven generations of teachers before me. However, I also anticipated a Thai primary school would be an altogether different prospect than my experience of either English or French education, and I wasn't too far wrong. The following is from one of my first forays into teaching about food:

'Ok class, repeat 'I am eating'
'I. AM. EATING.'
'Bell, what are you eating?'
'I. AM. PIZZA.'

Such mix-ups are relatively commonplace, but the only real difficulty is disguising my amusement. The children, almost without exception, are a joy to work with; smiling, pleased to see you, enthusiastic in class and bright as buttons. In class we switch between content in their workbooks (which are good, if a little esoteric, what child needs the English for flamingo?), and material provided by the British Council... all topped off with a healthy dose of improvisation! The teachers are relatively flexible about this, and echoing the sentiment of the children, seem genuinely pleased to have us around – which is an enormous comfort so far from home!

I told you they were pleased to see us!

Me, Isaac, and the Chinese assistant Lue at school celebrations for the Queen's Birthday.

Another definite plus of working with primary school children is that they love to sing – which came as rather a surprise to me after a year with surly French teenagers. So, I've had a lot of fun getting the kids to sing just about every nursery rhyme and song I can remember, although for future reference 'heads, shoulders knees and toes' is the jackpot – a mesmerising combination of actions and words for any early English learner!

With domestic and professional life playing out so well, all that's been left is to find the time for some serious adventuring! And adventure we have. Only a couple of hours away from us are the islands of KoSamui and Ko Pha-Ngan – which are somehow even more picture perfect than they look on Google images. We spent an unforgettable weekend on Ko Pha-Ngan as a group of assistants – and I've sworn to get myself back there one day, as I have to pitch myself off the rock into the azure-blue-bath-water one last time! Isaac and I have also taken ourselves off to Thailand's east coast, past Surat Thani, which also slips into my short-list of 'most-beautiful-places-I've-ever-been-ever-ever-ever'.

'Our' beach on the Eastern coast, Khanom.

I think with the intention of making sure none of us were doing too much 'healthy improvisation', the British Council also invited us back up to Bangkok for a 'mid-way meet' - it was great to catch up with the other assistants, and brush up on some teaching techniques and Thai (I can still remember the words for potato and pepper. My memory has a knack for the essentials).

However, to describe only the longer trips as 'adventures' is a bit misleading, as we've had so many great experiences during our time at the school. The staff are always enthusiastic to share the region with us, and as a result we've been on fire-fly lit river cruises of the Tapi, had our feet chewed by fish, and picked and eaten as much fruit as is physically possible! (To list but a few examples!)

Fish fond of foot-food.

River cruise.

Back here in Khong Sai we only have a couple of weeks left, and as you can probably tell, it's not going to be easy to tear myself away when the eight weeks are up. It's perhaps too easy to say, but I feel I'm going to be recalling this summer for a very long time to come, and all the unbelievable experiences it's entailed. I really hope I've given you an idea of what it's been like to be a part of this British Council project, and an outline of the pure difference which has made my stay in Thailand such an exciting, constructive adventure. However, if you're feeling like we've had it a bit too easy, and you think this post is missing a bit of 'grit', here's a picture of a huge spider we bumped into near our house:

Still want more?

The British Council's website is the place to find out about their opportunities / careers:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/

The University of Liverpool offers plenty of ways for students / graduates to go abroad:

http://www.liv.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/goabroad/

Although if it's me personally you're after you'd be better off sending an email to:

tm.ready@hotmail.co.uk