In 2001, as an experiment, SET sponsored a ‘gap year’ student from the UK to teach English conversation skills in a Thai vocational college for a year. The experiment was amazingly successful.

The student was chosen and assessed for SET by the UK’s Project Trust organization. Project Trust sends about 200 volunteers to 20 developing countries every year, including 18 to Thailand. SET’s sponsored teacher worked at the college in Nakhon Sawan with the aim of improving her students’ speaking confidence. Besides teaching formally in the classroom, the volunteer ran a ‘language clinic’ in the college Self-Access English Center, where students could practice their English conversation with her on a one-to-one basis. She also helped out at SET-sponsored English Camps at other colleges and schools. SET paid the volunteer’s wages for the year and the college provided free accommodation on campus. The experiment was a great success, with the college director claiming that the volunteer made a remarkable improvement to the students’ speaking skill and confidence. In 2002, a second volunteer was sponsored, with a similar encouraging result.

In 2003, the program caught the attention of the British Chamber of Commerce in Thailand which offered on-going sponsorship to cover the wages of more volunteers. SET now has three teachers working in the program.

Although it is not planned to increase the number of teachers, the program was extended in 2007 so that more students can benefit from being taught conversation skills by native speakers. The volunteers take time out of their usual high school or college teaching schedule to also teach at a school for novice monks and at an inner-city high school.

Kiriwong School is one of very few monastic schools able to give students the opportunity to learn English from native speakers. SET's sponsored teachers from the UK take time out from their usual college teaching schedule to work at the school for several hours each week. The novices really enjoy the girls' relaxed teaching methods, which use word games, competitions and fun exercises to get the message across.

One volunteer said: "Our students at the novice school are all boys from very poor backgrounds and most have had difficult lives. Some had little formal education before they became novices. Many studied at tiny rural primary schools where educational standards can be quite low, especially in teaching English. Then they became novices so they could study at monastic high school free. None of the boys have much understanding of English and a few can't even read or write Thai. Teaching them has been a real challenge, especially as they're even more shy than normal Thai students. At first they seemed really scared of us because we're foreign - and women at that - but we were equally nervous of them because they are novice monks. Happily we got over all that quite quickly and once they got to know us, teaching them became a lot of fun.

"It's the same at the inner-city school. The majority of the children are from very poor families and some live in slum communities, but like the novices they are also great fun to teach. Usually it's only the best city schools that have native speakers to teach English, so it's great that we're able to help give these disadvantaged youngsters the same opportunity as those from more privileged backgrounds".

(Note: This program is only for UK 'gap year' students chosen for SET by Project Trust and sponsored by the British Chamber of Commerce. Unfortunately, SET cannot offer teaching positions to others who would like to volunteer).