Teaching for a Nonprofit - by Teacher Caitlin

The first thought that comes to my mind when I think about the children that Phuket Has Been Good to Us works with is:

Resilience.

Many of the children, particularly the residential students, have been through so much hardship in their short lives but are still able to smile. I am often in awe when I see the little community that is created among the children who live at the school. Without parents to help them, they depend on each other. Working at RPG 36 Kamala School is not always easy as there are often underlying psychosocial issues that are not addressed properly. As one would expect, working with children of diverse histories is challenging but also incredibly worth it. Nothing that is worth it is ever easy, right?

To be a teacher is to be a role model, a leader and a person to turn to. The ultimate goal for me is to make a safe space for these children; a space where they are free to be children, to play, to learn and to grow. I believe that it is crucial for children to be able to play and have time to simply be young and carefree. When we let children play they develop the skills needed to thrive in our world. That is why Coconut Club, PHBGTU's afterschool and weekend programme, is essential. Residential students can join after school and just relax and be kids. With activities including drawing, cooking, and sports- we are enabling them to have fun and explore their own interests while practicing English with us in an informal atmosphere. Coconut Club becomes a safe space to be just like any other child and to bring normalcy back into their lives. 

Coming from an International Development background with a focus on Children and Education, working for a non-profit is an integral part of who I am. I doubt I would ever teach English at an International school simply because, for me, there needs to be a greater purpose. I believe there needs to be an overarching goal we strive towards. I feel comfort in knowing that the Foundation seeks to improve the lives of children through a supplementary English programme so they can enter into well-paid jobs in the tourism industry once they graduate.

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in Thailand, and the largest industry in Phuket, generating more than 145,000 jobs with more being created each day. English is necessary to communicate, negotiate and make transactions with tourists. If a person can speak English and are able to have conversations with foreigners, then they are much more likely to obtain a higher paying job securing economic stability. 

 Is teaching English a long-term solution that will fix all the ongoing development issues in Thailand? No.

 However, the Foundation has the potential to change hundreds of children’s lives by improving their employability and opening doors where there would not be otherwise.

It may sound silly, but my favourite part of being a teacher is being able to give positive support to the students that come into my classroom each day. Being able to encourage my students to believe in themselves is something I cannot take for granted. Seeing their smiles and giving them a high five (or 10 high fives) for a job well done is often the highlight of my day. When we lift children up and teach them that they can do anything, we begin to instill a sense of hope and possibility beyond the school gates.

I’ve really enjoyed my time here so far and am learning a lot about what kind of teacher and role model I want to be moving forward. I feel grateful and blessed to be a part of such a wonderful organization. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store!

Teacher Caitlin's Primary 1 class at RPG 36, Kamala School is made possible by a grant from XL Catlin. 

The Road Less Traveled

Let me introduce myself through an excerpt from my all-time favorite poem written by Robert Frost:

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by…

    I am Jerraleen J. Balais, a teacher by profession and human rights advocacy is my passion. I was born and raised in the Philippines, grew up in a simple, loving family with parents who have shown us that although life is not easy, there is always something good that we can do for others.

    I had an amazing but challenging high school life and was surrounded by teenagers like me having the same teenage issues and pressures and in the middle of all these, we’ve had teachers who despised us and we’ve had those who made us realize that although we cannot control all the situations in our lives, we can use our experiences to learn more about ourselves and understand others better. 

Childhood, teenage years, it is a very critical stage in anyone’s life. Some children do not have a safe home or family, and I am thankful that schools exist because it can be the closest place for us to have that nurturing environment with caring people. It is because of these teachers, my heroes - that I was inspired to be one.

I graduated from the University of Santo Tomas with a degree in Bachelor of Secondary Education, majoring in Character Education and School Guidance. I started teaching high school students in the Philippines and volunteered in different non-profit organizations in our long holiday. I studied at night and took a Diploma in Social Work at the University of the Philippines-Diliman.

I worked part time in Childhope Asia Philippines’ prevention, recovery and rehabilitation program for street children through organizing youth activities in the slum areas of Manila and teaching basic, functional literacy in a temporary shelter for street girls who have been sexually abused and in need of rehabilitation. In all these experiences, I realized how education can change the lives of people one single to collective effort, one policy, one step at a time.

In December 26, 2004, the devastating Tsunami hit so many countries including Thailand. I went with the Daughters of Charity to visit and distribute relief goods in the evacuation camps of the displaced Karenni community in Phuket in April. My journey also took me to the refugee camps along Thai-Myanmar Border and to the nameless mountains in Mae Ramat to visit the stateless people. Before I left my country, I had so many complaints about the government, politics and more…here I was humbled and met people who are peaceful, happy, strong, surviving even if they are ‘unwanted’ in every country they go. They don’t have freedom. They don’t even have a flag to be proud of. I was still in my last semester in my Social Work course but I decided not to go back home to finish it and proceed to the Master’s program but instead spend my time doing in real life what we were taught in class. I helped organize a school for street children, mostly of the indigenous peoples and Burmese migrants. It felt selfish for me that in reality, the people that I have met and their stories of courage taught me more about life than I have taught them in the class. How little I know about humanity, about people’s pain and suffering. I can’t change their past but education can help them start anew.

In as much as I wanted to continue volunteering, I had to find paid work to support myself and family back home. From the north of Thailand, I moved to the south and worked as a teacher in private and government schools. In 2007, I was a teacher and also the liaison officer representing the principal and the board of directors in an international school in Songkhla province. I taught English, Character Education, Arts, Science and Information Technology to primary and secondary levels.

I traveled back and forth Thailand and Malaysia as the Liaison Officer and also the Primary Years Programme Coordinator of our IB (International Baccalaureate) School in Penang Island. I was involved in school management, curriculum planning and development, guidance and counseling, teacher training, events and charity projects of the school. 

I was working with the same company for 7 years. I loved my work, the children and my team, yet in the middle of those busy days and administrative tasks, I was missing the hands-on teacher and human rights advocate in me. I left my job gracefully in September of 2015 and headed back home for a brief rest. My parents asked me what I wanted to do next. I knew what I wanted – I wanted to be back in the classrooms again and I wanted to do more than teaching.

It seems that fate has brought me to Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation. It feels like all my experiences in the past, all those stops in the ‘road less traveled’ have a significant connection to what the Foundation does. When I’ve read that the Foundation was started after the Tsunami, that their main mission was to provide better life opportunities for the children through education and that in their biggest school- Rajaprachanugroh 36 (RPG 36), there are more than 170 residential students needing help, I told myself - “This is my next path.” And I couldn’t be any happier.

I started working in the Foundation in February 2015. I was amazed how a small group of teachers and a small team in an office could do so much not only for the 3 government schools that it is working with, but how it slowly helps the local community. In April 2015, I was offered the role of the Senior Teacher.

My favorite time of the day is being with the children either in classes or at Coconut Club. I am teaching Grades 3 and 6 as well as Year 2 and 3 in secondary level. Some days are tough but as a teacher, I know that those who have behavioral issues in class are the ones that need my understanding and attention the most. Happy days are those times when you see your students write their own names independently, or hearing them say “I can”, or seeing them do a task they haven’t done before confidently. It is when children who started out quiet and aloof suddenly share with you what made them happy that day, or when they run to you to tell you they’ve lost their baby tooth and a new one is growing or come to you to confide and ask you to help them save a stray cat at the end of the day. I wake up for those moments.

Most of them have gained the confidence in starting and engaging in simple English conversations. The school initially only wanted us to focus on teaching conversation and vocabulary words. However, we felt that these are not enough because students can indeed respond to questions, express their thoughts and feelings in the most basic ways but sadly, the current educational system’s choice of assessment is mainly in written form and they mostly fail because they are very weak in reading, comprehension and writing.

In 2015, we began incorporating phonics in our curriculum. I have modified the curriculum to follow the requirement of the Thai Ministry of Education, and at the same time also incorporated Cambridge Primary English as a Second Language Curriculum Framework which was developed from the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This is to have a point of reference as to where our students are in terms of their language skills. Within 2 years of working on the students’ reading skills, we have seen improvement as most classes in the primary level have acquired the skill of simple blending of 2-5 letter words. 

It is still a long way to go but it is definitely a progress especially that RPG 36 has also opened the English for Integrated Studies (EIS) programme where other subjects are taught in English language. Since the EIS programme’s inception, our teachers have also been teaching Science and Math for Grade 1-3 classes. Some of our primary and secondary students who had to relocate for various reasons have also been accepted in private schools and well-known universities where a good level of English is required. Although we are sad that we’re missing them in school, we are happy to know that they have found better opportunities elsewhere. This year, we are working with the Youth Career Initiative (YCI) and local hotels to help the Year 6, secondary level students to learn skills in the tourism industry as an alternative for them to secure jobs in the future.

Working with Thai schools is not without challenges but more than the obstacles that we have been facing, it is inspiring to meet so many local and foreign people from all walks of life wanting to make it better for the children. No matter how different our perspectives, our strategies, our ways are, we all have the same goal – to help improve the chances for all of these children through education.  We have also initiated teacher training and sharing sessions with the Thai teachers on classroom management and teaching strategies. They too are an essential part of the team. Some days, it gets really difficult but there’s nothing a team of dedicated staff and teachers will not be able to overcome for the children. If it’s easy, we won’t be here.

With all of these small steps, moving forward we have a vision of making the parents and the local community more involved as well in the progress of the children. The 3 key factors affecting children’s overall development are family, school and community. It may be a long shot but it is worth trying…we are getting there. Our Foundation does not receive funding from the Thai government, it is through our own projects, fundraising events and generous support of amazing people that we are able to continue what we are doing.

…And that has made all the difference.”

Sincerely,
Jerraleen J. Balais

Reflections on Volunteering Abroad by Ruth Hall

When I arrived in Phuket to start my 6 months volunteering with Phuket Has Been Good To Us I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, but it wasn’t that I would spend over a year here working with the Foundation. What started out as 6 months quickly turned into the best year of my life. I have met some amazing people who will be friends for life, had the chance to explore new places and gained new experiences. Most importantly I have loved getting to know the children and working towards giving them a better education to benefit their future.  

During my time with PHBGTU, the majority of my responsibilities as an Office Fellow included marketing and social media, volunteer recruitment and looking after visitors to the Foundation. During the last few months I got involved with running our fundraising events, specifically planning A Night at the Opera 2016. All of this was new to me when I arrived, but my experience here has taught me so much about life behind the scenes in an NGO and all the hard work that goes into running a charity. I learned so much from everyone at PHBGTU that I know I can take with me to my future.

Every afternoon I would try to make it to the school to join in Coconut Club activities. This is always the best part of the day for anyone working or volunteering with the Foundation. After a tough day in the office, there is nothing better than heading down to school to see your all your favourite students. We spend the afternoon playing games, painting pictures and having fun. At the end of the hour, you find yourself with paint on your face, glitter on your arms, feathers in your hair and a million selfies on your phone. It’s hard to put into words how much I will miss all the children at school and the crazy afternoons at Coconut Club.

As much as I loved Coconut Club, Saturday swimming was always the highlight of my week. Every Saturday afternoon you can find a group of residential students, teachers and volunteers marching down to Kamala beach or one of the local hotel pools. There are always a group of students waiting at the teachers’ office hoping to go. This gives them the chance to leave school for an afternoon and have some fun while learning to swim. The children are so excited to be playing in the water and the sand, throwing Frisbees and doing handstands. Thanks to Kamala Green Club who donated gloves and bags, during this time we also get the kids to do a beach clean on their way. It’s fun to see how pleased they are when they manage to find the biggest piece of rubbish. It is also a great way to expose them to some extra English without them noticing they are learning!

During my time in Thailand, I have been lucky enough to travel and learn about Thai culture. From weekends being a tourist in Bangkok, beach days and rock climbing in Krabi, scuba diving in Koh Phi Phi, getting to know elephants at an elephant sanctuary, and exploring tea plantations and cities in Malaysia I feel lucky to have been given the opportunity to see some of the incredible places in and around Thailand. As amazing as all of this has been, most of all I have loved working with the team and getting to know some amazing people and kids. I am sure that I will be back to visit my PHBGTU family in the future, but for now, I feel lucky to have been able to call this beautiful country my home.

A year in volunteering - by Leo 'the Lion' Ferrari

When I was in my home country, Brazil, I decided that I needed some change and needed something else to fulfill my expectations as a human being. Reflecting on how I should use my time to make a positive impact, the possibility of volunteering with a cause that promoted child education seemed the perfect fit for me.

I have a good level of English, thanks to my parents who worked hard and made me attend many years of English classes. One of my least favorite activities as a teenager opened up some of the most amazing opportunities in my adult life. After deciding on a cause, a destination, and a few foundations that shared my goals, I found Phuket Has Been Good to Us (PHBGTU). PHBGTU is a foundation that works to improve the economic opportunities and life choices of children. Based in Phuket, it was created after the tsunami in 2004. The concept is simple; to generate funding and offer high quality, practical English language education to young children in government schools.

I had never worked directly in the nonprofit sector. I had zero experience with the day-to-day activities of a charity but I had the drive to learn new skills and tackle all the challenges that came with the unfamiliar work place. Tina Hall, the director of operations at the foundation decided to give me the opportunity and trained me in the basics of fundraising, event management and building relationships with donors. As a small team, multitasking became a large part of the job. From printer operator to leading meetings with hotels on new projects; this was all new to me.

One of the most exciting parts of my day was the possibility of interacting with the children we teach and experiencing firsthand the reason we do this work. After school hours the Foundation runs Coconut Club, this offers opportunities for the Thai children to practice their conversational English outside the classroom in a relaxed, fun, and social environment. This is an essential aspect of the learning process and developing the language skills they have gained from their classroom lessons. My favorite activity was Saturday swimming classes which offered the perfect setting to enjoy the beautiful beaches in Phuket at the same time as seeing the delight on the children’s faces. Many of the children we teach are orphans. They have a complicated home life and often live on the school grounds. Seeing these children happily playing at the beach and interacting with us in English made it come together in my mind why the work I was doing and the mission of the Foundation were so important.

An unforgettable, personal highlight of my time at PHBGTU has to be training to be a Muay Thai fighter. One of the big fundraising campaigns hosted by PHBGTU is a Muay Thai Gala Night. We needed two volunteers with no previous experience to be trained in four months to be able to get into the ring on the night and take part in a Muay Thai fight. I decided to be one of the guys. This opportunity enabled me to experience one of the most traditional examples of Thai culture. Training Muay Thai with the locals changed my perception of the country in so many ways. If you are curious to see how I did on the night, click here. 

Phuket is conveniently located in the South of Asia making traveling easy and affordable. During my time as a volunteer I was able to visit a few of the most amazing places, I had ever imagined. From deserted beaches in Cambodia to river parties in Laos to a surf trip in Bali. Close to Phuket, my favorite beach was Railey, a small peninsula between the city of Krabi and Ao Nang. It is only accessible by boat and surrounded by huge limestone cliffs -a hard place to forget.

Thailand will always impress me with its purity and I still remember the first time I heard the words “Sawasdee Krap” in the back of a taxi, weaving through the congested streets of Bangkok. It is hard to express my gratitude for a country that made it possible to meet my girlfriend (who now lives with me back in Brazil), experience genuine smiles and helped me find a new sense of fulfillment in life.

It may be cliché to say “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”, but the work the foundation does in Phuket is remarkable! I will always think fondly of my days as a volunteer, from the Pad Thai meals, the office cats to the amazing people I worked with. I left PHBGTU to continue on my life path but those smiles will never leave my heart.

Reflections of Teacher Hossain

Coming up to the end of my year teaching with Phuket Has Been Good To Us, there are many things that I would like to share with you. Teaching has always been challenging and exciting to me, and this challenge keeps on driving me forward. People often say teachers never reach the end of the learning continuum as there is no end to learning. I believe anyone will certainly experience this if they happen to teach in Asian countries, especially in Thailand, where every student brings a new world into the classroom. Every day I experience new things, learn to adapt, experiment and improvise, and ultimately I improved as a teacher throughout my time here. I am glad that I was given this golden opportunity to work for a charity teaching organization, Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation in Thailand. Teaching is always exciting, but working with underprivileged children makes it all the more unpredictable.  

It’s really a mammoth task to put a years teaching and learning experience into a handful of words. But let me try.

Teaching in a Thai government school is both challenging and exciting at the same time. We, my fellow Foundation teachers and myself, teach with very limited resources, our students come to class from different backgrounds and with different English proficiency. This makes teaching itself quite challenging, but this also brings us together as a team. We plan our lessons together, talk through the lessons, and try to come up with best possible ways to adapt the plan to cater for different learners and learning styles. This has helped us to work together as a team, collaborate with other teachers, and plan lessons to meet the needs of all different types of learners.

While working with Phuket Has Been Good To Us I taught students between the ages of 12 and 18 years old. Before I began teaching at the school I reviewed the Thai exams that the students are required to take. The Thai exam system demands a higher reading proficiency from the students. Therefore, I started to focus on improving the reading skills of all my students.

I began with reading simple texts and doing basic reading exercises to improve reading skills. Gradually my students moved on to working with long reading passages and complex linguistic structures. They have also worked on reading sub-skills like scanning and skimming. They have begun to master these skills and I am sure that they will continue to improve in the future.

I would love to have had more teaching hours with my students and more time to see them grow.

Coconut Club has been an exciting part of my job at the school. This gave me the opportunity to build a good relationship with the students outside of the classroom, experiment with different engaging and communicative activities, and work outside of the box. I truly enjoyed all the games we played with the children at Coconut Club, but my favorite was the running Olympics, students run to the end of the line, change their costumes and run back to teammates like a relay.  Moreover, I have learned new skills at Coconut Club, especially arts and crafts, which will help me with teaching in the future.

Every Saturday morning we take students swimming which has been quite fun for me. My weekend could not have a better start than this. The naïve smiles on your students’ faces make you forget it is hard work. I will treasure these memories for the rest of my life.

Once every two months we celebrate a birthday party for students, and this is the best part of the job! Nothing can be as enjoyable as celebrating such an important event with students, their smiles, laughter, and happy faces are the things worth treasuring. We pack gifts for students depending on their ages and try to think of what each individual student would like to receive. I do not have the language to express how I feel when I see the happy faces of my students on this day. I was lucky to have attended 3 birthday parties during my time here and I am going to cherish the happy memories of those days for the rest of my life. 

To conclude, I would say, I have lived the most memorable year of my life here in Phuket. I am definitely going to miss my wise colleagues, my passionate students, my welcoming Thai friends, and this beautiful Kamala beach.

Teacher Hamant’s experiences in Thailand

Before coming to Thailand, I was honestly never really one for charity work. I think we all give to charities of our choice from time to time but to fully involve ourselves in charity work is something else altogether. I’ve been teaching overseas for over four years now and have had quite a few interesting encounters here in Southeast Asia. The cultural diversity, warmth of the locals and incredible food are just a few reasons why the region draws the attention of many all over the world. However, being with the Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation has given me a whole new outlook on life.

I teach in Baan Kalim School and being the only English teacher there has helped me to improve my Thai language skills to no end. The English programme at Kalim is kindly sponsored by Baan Rim Pa, without their sponsorship we would not be able to teach the number of students that we do.

Signing the contract and applying for my first visa nine months ago, I imagined that teaching in Thailand would just be the same as teaching in any other Southeast Asian country. That naiveté was quickly washed away by the tide of reality. Teaching here has been the most challenging aspect of my career thus far. I have become deeply involved with my students and I have certainly grown as a teacher in so many ways. I’ve always believed that the best teachers never stop learning and it seems like the longer that I stay here, the more I learn. 

 Jay, one of my students from P1

Every Saturday we bring the children swimming    

Yin, Cha Cha and Mint goofing around with baby powder! 

The most difficult part of the job is probably hearing the backgrounds that these children come from. Many students prefer not to talk about their pasts and when we learn their histories, it’s quite plain to see why. As teachers, we’re expected to have the answers to the questions thrown at us; we’re expected to be there for the students and wipe every tear off their faces; we’re expected to be that rock that they can depend on when things get difficult. Then again, what does one say when a 6 year old is standing there crying by herself because she misses her mother? What does one say when a child says that their mother is away working in Bangla Road? What does one do when a child tells you that they feel lonely? How does one help a child understand parental love when they live in school and only have the teachers to care for them?

Got from Primary 2 pretending to be a speed racer 

Teaching the children how to play the guitar during Coconut Club

I don’t have answers to any of these questions despite the time I have spent here. I am part of a group of teachers that have reconciled with the fact that it is impossible to answer these questions. All we can really do, over and above just teaching, is to attempt to fill the voids that exist in each and every one of these children. We try our best to do this every single day that we are on the job. 

The teachers at Baan Kalim School on Children’s Day, proving that there’s a child in all of us!   

Having fun with the children during Christmas

In April 2016, I have decided to ride 5000km all along the border of Thailand in order to raise money for the foundation so that we are able to continue doing the good work that we do here in Phuket. The ride is called ‘Going the Extra Mile’ because I want to go above and beyond my job as an English teacher for these children. Read about the ride here: https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/a13qe7/ab/05Fwh9

             I firmly believe that Thailand is best seen on the back of a motorbike 

Safely driving around the country! 

Training session before the real 5,000km ride

I believe in our cause and the people that work for the foundation. I believe that the children deserve a better tomorrow, far away from the hardship of today. I also believe that I will stay here for a long time trying to make this happen.