- Lightened heart and enlightened mind- Overflowing lessons in life- Various cultures- Extraordinary teaching practicum-
Purposes of Practicum
The purpose of the SEA- Teacher project is to provide us an opportunity to have teaching experiences in schools in other countries in Southeast Asia, for us to develop our teaching skills and pedagogy, practice our English skills and gain a broader world view.
I can say that my receiving university and practicum school did their very best to provide us the best learning experiences to achieve the purpose of this project. My practicum was great thanks to them. They have given me a chance to showcase the knowledge and skills that I have learned from my university and they provided me an opportunity to grow and improve as a student teacher and as a person. I have learned a lot from this practicum and I can't wait to share and apply it when I get back to my country.
Procedures of Practicum
In our arrival at Khon Kaen, Miss Apinya the coordinator of SEA-Teacher Project in Thailand pick us up in the airport and take us to KKU thru KKU van. She welcome us with her kindness and sweet smile. She accompanied us to the nursing dorm where we stayed for 1 month. She had also given us a booklet (prepared by IRDTP) that served as our guide in living in KKU. The booklet contained of the essential information like: contact information of Miss Apinya; KKU profile; our practicum school and schedule; subjects that we had going to teach; name of our mentors and their teaching schedules; our Wi-Fi usernames and passwords; and instructions on how we can get to our practicum school and places where we can eat thru free KKU bus.
ORIENTATION
The next day was our orientation in IRDTP and Satit Modindaeng, our practicum school.
They had given us an overview about KKU and the school. They had also given us a chance to introduce ourselves and tell our expectations in the practicum.
Our first week was spent in observation of the classes of different teachers and during my vacant time I stayed at the office to work on my teaching plan.
In our second week, we gave assistance to our mentor in the classroom, I continued working on my teaching plan during free time and I also had my first actual teaching. As a teacher's assistants we help to supervise the students in the classroom, we also answered some of their questions and explained to them what they didn't understand. We also helped our mentor in checking the students' workbook.
(These are my photos in our office where I worked for my teaching plan.)
My third week was spent on teaching. I have taught 2 classes. I have taught M1/2 in Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and I have taught M1/4 in Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
During our free days I roam around KKU and go to nearby places with the other participants of SEA-Teacher who became my friends. There were also times that our buddies and kind teachers treat us.
In our last week, Monday we were asked to invigilate with our mentor, for us to see how Thai students take their examination. In the same day, I also said goodbye to my dear students.
We also had our 2 days cultural excursion at Udon Thani in the last week of our practicum.
The day before our departure, we had a reflection meeting and awarding of certificate of completion at the IRDTP and a farewell program at Satit Modindaeng. In our reflection meeting they required us (the participants of SEA-Teacher Project) to have a 10-15 minutes individual presentation about our learning experiences and after that was the commendation of IRDTP.
In our farewell program at Satit Modindaeng they allowed us to give some words and I have used that opportunity to extend my gratitude to my mentor and to all the faculty and staff for everything they had done for us. They had also given us souvenirs from their school which we can keep until we all meet again.
And March 6 was our last day, the most difficult part. It so hard to say goodbye to the new friends, sweet students and to all the wonderful people that I have met, but I have to because this was my chance to share to my country what I have experienced and learned to the wonderful country of Thailand.
Outcomes of Practicum
My total learning experience in this SEA-Teacher Project had a great impact on me. I have learned the basic education curriculum in Thailand, the way Thai Teacher teach and their classroom cultures and I also experienced it myself.
I am also thankful to be with wonderful people, that in spite of our differences we still learned to love and respect each other. This once in a lifetime experience given me a chance to experience not just the culture of Thailand but also the culture of my friends from Indonesia and Japan. Through this experience all of the bad impressions that I have heard and known was vanished. Because the more I know them and their culture the more I admired and respect them as a person. Because of the wonderful people that I have met and the admirable cultures that I have learned, I have had the desire to visit other countries and learn more about the different people and culture around the globe and experience it myself. I am grateful for this experience because I have learned to see the beauty of diversity.
Because of this program, I have also learned to be independent and strong as a person. I have also discovered a lot about myself, my personal power. I did some things that I didn't expect that I can do. My flexibility and adaptability have also been improved. I have learned to be brave and step out of my comfort zone.
Before the Sea Teacher Project, I have decided wholeheartedly to become an effective and efficient teacher to teach Filipino children but after my cross cultural learning experience I want to become a great teacher who have a heart not just for Filipino children but for all the children around the globe. Now, I have a desire to teach and inspire children in all nations.
The Challenges of Practicum
My cross cultural learning experience was great but challenges are inevitable. The first challenge for me was the language barrier, even in our arrival at the airport we had already encountered problem in communication. Even when we bought some foods and other stuffs or ask someone about something, and especially when we were communicating with the students and other teachers we had difficulty in understanding each other and I find myself lost for words. So it was not that easy for us to live there and teach at first.
The second challenge was we're supposed to teach elementary students but we assigned to teach secondary grade level, that was my first time to teach secondary level that's why I felt like it was outside my area of expertise.
Another challenge was to adapt in different school environment, classroom culture and way of teaching. It was not easy to adjust with those big changes in my life it was very challenging for me, but I didn't take those challenges negatively rather I accepted it, faced it and do my best to surpassed it. Those challenges offered me great opportunities to grow, reach my fullest potential and be the better version of myself.
Overall Impression
If I will rate this program 1-10, I will give it a 9. The 1 point is for the improvement because no matter how perfect it looks there was always a room for improvement. But over all I am gratified in this practicum. It provided us wonderful opportunities to learn and appreciate different cultures and beliefs. It was a great opportunity for us to have insights into other perspective and broaden our horizon. It also taught me to be brave, step out of my comfort zone and keep learning for me to grow as an educator and as a person.
My practicum last for only one month but the lessons that it taught me will stay in my mind and heart for a lifetime.
Suggestions for Future Improvement
1. Give participants an overview about their practicum schools. We had given an orientation about our receiving university but we don't have an idea about our practicum school. For me, it may be helpful for the participants if they know about the practicum school where they will be deploy. So that they can search and learn beforehand even a little bit about the school curriculum, classroom culture, the method that they have used in creating lesson plan and the way they teach.
2. Give participants their practicum schedule, topics, and the grade level that they are going to teach ahead of time so that they can prepare and study for it in advance.
3. It could be better if the participants will meet their buddies earlier or from the beginning of the program and if there are specific buddy assigned to each participants. So that they can have someone whom they can relied on and someone whom they can ask if they have a question when they are on the process of adapting in different country. Because we had a buddies but we just met them at the end of our practicum. But I am still grateful to KKU for giving us Miss Apinya who always helped us in times of need, and also to the kind and accommodating teachers in our practicum school.
4. If it is possible, make the duration of the practicum longer. So that participants can have a longer exposure in other country and they have longer opportunity to learn the culture, beliefs, educational system and even the language of other country.
5. It could be better if the participants have initial and final demo and the mentor should also give feedback for every teaching experiences of the participants. So that the participants can keep tract of their progress and they can see how much they have improve.