Teaching English with Opportunity Foundation

This is a volunteer position special enough to receive separate attention.

After a basic education, the thing most important for eventual career success for Thai people, even those working in Thailand, is knowledge of the primary international language: English! Everyone wants to learn English, and many need to do so for their education, jobs or social communications. Opportunity Foundation welcomes, and organizes, volunteers to teach English. This would include a variety of opportunities, such as:

• Teaching English to our own staff and children, ranging from professional vocabulary to elementary school English homework! And plenty of conversation development at all levels.
• Teaching teachers, helping develop curriculum and materials, and teaching students, kindergarten, elementary, high school, vocational school, commercial college... and more?
• Developing English capabilities and building relationships through teaching staff of local organizations such police, hospitals, churches, government officials, banks, and commercial business sales people and executives... or bar girls? It depends on your own interest and background what you could best do!
• Private tutoring of individuals such as students, government officials, villagers or business leaders... evenings or weekends most likely.
• Teaching music using English, especially if you like guitar, keyboard, singing, drums, or even dance... there is so much interest in music here, musicians are certainly welcomed as teachers.

This English teaching is meant to be first for all our children, our staff, and then as a valuable service we can provide to the community. The need is everywhere... Buriram is not a major tourist destination, but there are some tourists visiting, and many westerners living here. For example, a year ago one of our volunteers went to many shops in Nang Rong trying to buy a motorcycle. The volunteer did not speak Thai, and none of the employees in any of the motorcycle shops spoke English. Even the brochures were all in Thai. Decision making for the purchase was impossible for the western customer. Finally, with the help of an Opportunity Foundation employee who new both Thai and English, the transaction was successfully completed. Imagine the advantage to the shop with an English speaking Thai employee! The shop will gain more of the significant and growing foreigner business, and the English speaking employee will likely have a better salary.

In the Thai public schools many English teachers neither speak nor understand spoken English. They teach formal grammar, vast number of vocabulary words and many such things most native English speakers have learned and then forgotten. Speaking and proper pronunciation is not taught. If you are a native English speaker you can make a tremendous difference here in Nang Rong.

Opportunity Village will eventually have its own supplemental learning center where we will teach our children, as well as others in the community, English. In the meantime you can still assist us both with helping our children learning English as well as developing our relations with the Nang Rong community by volunteering to help with English education in one of the Nang Rong schools. To get an idea of what this can be like, read a report from one of our volunteers.

At this time English teaching volunteers from mature high school age on up are welcome. It is helpful, but not required, to have a TEFL or ESL certificate. There are numerous sources of this education. Two or four week (50 or 100 hour) courses, which are available all over the world, and can make you more effective teacher not to mention put you more at ease as you plunge into your first teaching experience.

We welcome volunteer stays for English teaching anywhere from two weeks to a year or longer.

When we open our supplemental learning center we will be open to families coming to teach. While you work with the older children, your children can enjoy activities with our little ones, helping them to learn the basics of English informally.