Summary & Suggestions
Purposes of Practicum
My professors from my university have always told me that teaching in other countries is really different from teaching in your home country. From that, I challenged myself to not stick on what I am used to doing and adjust my way of doing things. Since I was handling different levels, I had to be flexible enough to provide them with the best possible teaching approaches.
One of the objectives of this project was to practice English skills which I believe I was able to achieve. More than my personal improvement, I was also eager to use my skills to help them improve theirs. Understanding their situation, I knew that I had to adjust and make them learn from me. During practicum, it was basically me enhancing my skills in using English as the medium of instruction while my students were learning something new as well. It was a win for all of us.
Handling lower primary levels required me to apply a warmer approach in assisting them – a way that they wouldn’t be scared to ask for help. On the other hand, in higher levels, I had to be cool while being firm so I could maintain a friendly but respectful relationship with them.
Procedures of Practicum
My practicum was systematic; I just had to follow several procedures as advised by my cooperating teacher. It usually starts with my cooperating teacher assigning topics for me to discuss and which classes to teach. After getting all this information, that’s when I usually start to read their workbooks and decide whether I have to access other resources or not. Then, I begin crafting the lesson plan – goal, content, lesson proper, materials, and evaluation. In this part, I always consider the goal I have set for my students because all activities have to be aligned with it. If all activities are set and approved by my cooperating teacher, then I will be preparing the presentation and other materials to be used for that lesson.
On the actual day of the lesson, I implement the activities as planned and teach my topic in the best way possible so my students will achieve the goal for that day. Before ending the lesson, I always ask questions to make sure they really learned the topic, and if they also have questions about the lesson or confusions, I give them the opportunity to raise their concerns.
Outcomes of Practicum
The learnings and skills I’ve acquired and developed from the practicum did not only come from the teaching itself, but also from the people involved in the process. From the observation, assistantship, until the practice teaching, I gained helpful insights from the teachers, students, fellow exchange students, mentors, and myself. There’s still so much to improve and I will remember the pieces of advice my mentors gave me and make an action to better my skills and strategies.
I am also happy that, in a short period, I get to teach a relevant topic to the students during my final demonstration, which surely they could use in their daily life. I always put in mind that the success of a teacher can be reflected on the students. Seeing how well my students grasped the concepts I was teaching and how much they learned is what I consider the ‘success’ of my practicum.
Challenges of Practicum
This experience was far from perfect, I’ve had my personal struggles, but those challenges are what made this practicum much more memorable. This was merely not to show me the darker shade of this profession but to deeply convince me how my role could potentially change how a learner could view themselves to the future.
Being in a completely new country means adjusting to a new culture and language. The most challenging part of it all was the language barrier, just like what I had expected. Fortunately, the teacher that I’m with is an American, a native English speaker, so if I had anything to ask I could directly talk to her.
Given this expected circumstance, I had to be resourceful and make use of the technology we have to survive my daily interaction with them through an online translator. Communication is crucial in the teaching-learning process so I had to make a way to make things clear for both ends.
Though many people say that Thailand is very similar to the Philippines, there are still these traditions and cultures that make each of them unique.
As a Filipino, I am used to taking a shower in the morning before going to school, like I could go to class with my hair dripping wet. But, in Thailand, we learned that there’s a different meaning when you go out in public with your hair wet in the morning, especially girls since it’s too obvious for them. We learned this a week after we already went out confidently with our hairs fresh from the shower. It was funny and embarrassing. My takeaway from this is to always read about the culture and dos and don’ts in a new country to avoid being subject to misinterpretation.
Overall Impression
I had many of my firsts in this project alone and I couldn’t be more grateful to have been chosen as one of the SEA Teacher Project participants. I struggled, I laughed, I learned - all these things one could experience from traveling for the first time made the entire journey so worthwhile. There were lots of good moments as well as just stressful ones but If I had to decide again whether I’d join or not, without a doubt, I’d still join.
Our receiving university, LPRU, and Ban Pong Sanook opened several learning opportunities for us. Those opportunities were the puzzle pieces that completed our practicum journey. This project and the lessons I’ve learned are something that I can proudly share with my fellow students and I want them to experience as well. With that being said, I am looking forward to seeing more preservice teachers experience this amazing opportunity.
Suggestions
Providing actual pictures of the place, availability of home supplies, and nearby stores/shops prior to the internship may help to inform the exchange students on what to expect and what to bring or prepare for their stay there.