Purposes of Practicum
For me personally, there are several purposes of my practicum. The first one is that I want to gain new knowledge and experience related to pedagogy to improve my teaching skills. The second one is I want to challenge myself to teach students who come from different country, cultures and backgrounds so that it can open up my mind and broaden my horizon and lead me to be a better teacher. The third one is to enhance my communication and English skills. And the last one is to build up a networking that is undeniably necessary for my future career as I got the opportunity to know extraordinary people from many different places.
Procedures of practicum
The procedures are as follow:
1st week: orientation with my receiving university and observation at the school where I conducted my teaching practice.
2nd week: Becoming a teaching assistant
3rd and 4th week: actual teaching practice and evaluation
Outcomes of practicum
After I conducted the practicum, there are some outcomes that I have achieved. The first one is significant improvement towards my teaching skills. That’s because I could learn new teaching methoods in the reveiving institutions, get constructive feedback from my mentors and apply the knowledge and skills that I’ve already got. This program also forced me to go beyond myself. The second one is considerable improvements towards my communication and English skills since I had to speak English all the time for one month. The last one is I could gain a lot of valuable experience in relation to teaching and new cultures of the country where I stayed.
The challenges of practicum
The biggest challenge that I faced during the practicum was the language barrier. Most Thai students still cannot speak English fluently and even understand what I’m saying if I speak fast. Thus, I had to speak slowly and clearly and use gestures or body language to make them easily understand what I delivered. I also used interactive media tools such pictures, power point and flashcards. Another challenge for me was about how to manage the classroom well and grab the students’ attention. I taught elementary school students and sometimes they tend to make noise if the teacher is boring. Therefore, I had to be as interesting as possible to make them enjoy while studying with me. I gave my best smiles, moved around the class, ask questions to the students, and make jokes to grab their attention.
Overall impression
It’s such an honor for me to be a part of SEA Teacher Batch 7 Project. The program is really of a big help for future teachers who are eager to widen their knowledge and develop their teaching skills like me. There are so many things that could be learned throughout the program. Not only can I learn new teaching pedagogies and methods from the receiving institutions, but also I can taste new cultures, gain a lot of valuable experiences and get to know from many people with different backgrounds. I believe the experience can be a stepping stone for student teachers to be excellent teachers and I also believe that this program can produce a lot of superb teachers in the future.
Suggestions for future improvement
My suggestion is addressed for SEA-MEO. The program is a student teacher exchange program in South East Asia. In South East Asia, there are 10 countries, but so far only 4 countries which have joined this program. Thus, I hope that all of the ten countries join this program so that there will be more student teachers can join the program and hence it can create greater impacts for the betterment of the ASEAN countries. I also suggest to extend the duration of the program. I think one month is not enough to practice teaching and learn new cultures in a different country. It might be great if the program lasts for at least two months or even more so that the participants can gain more knowledge and experience.
For my receiving institutions, Valaya Alongkorn Rajabhat University and Watchumponnikayaram School, everything was almost perfect; the service, the treatment, the dormitory and other things. You’ve done so well. Thus, I just want to suggest to keep giving your best service for the participants of the next batch.