Teaching in Thailand Helen Bray writes...
"For me, taking a gap year was one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made. I was fed up of learning facts just to regurgitate them all in exams. I wanted to learn about people, the world, and get a grasp of the bigger picture. So I set out looking for a way to fulfil my dreams.
 GAP was just one of the many gap year organisations advertised in my school, but they caught my attention. My highest priority was that the year should be as full and productive as possible, not just a gap from studies. But as a naďve 18-year-old, I also felt I needed guidance and support. Dealing with only 17-19 year olds meant, in my mind anyway, that GAP knew the kind of people they would be dealing with and would therefore know exactly what we were looking for. They provide a 24-hour support network, looking after you without being claustrophobic. They leave you to your own devices to make the most of the opportunity you have, whilst at the same time reassuring those anxious parents!
After much preparation at home and a two-week teaching skills course in Bangkok, all the volunteers set off to their designated schools. Leaving the security of the GAP group in the hotel to go off in a minibus with a group of Thai teachers was... terrifying! As was introducing myself to the whole school over a microphone! Not to mention the first time I stood at the front of the class holding nothing but my carefully coloured-in flash cards and a beanbag!
 But that initial fear is soon replaced by a much warmer and more satisfying feeling of achievement. The children were so excited to have us teaching them - we were bombarded by lots of little hands, smiles and ‘hello’s every time we stepped out of our door! After being awoken by the school anthem played at full volume through the speakers in our room of course! Before long, the place had become our home, the people our family. The Thai people were so generous, thoughtful and selfless. They’d give you the world if they could, and by the end I wanted to give them the world too.
Our day-to-day routine consisted of between two and five hours of lessons and activity groups, a lunch (how many of your friends can say they’ve lived on Thai school dinners?!) and rounded off with aerobics and dinner. Talking of food - it really is aroi, or delicious in Thai! I lived by the sea, which meant huge fresh fish, shrimps and oysters, literally plucked out of the sea and served (generally with a bit of cooking in between)! My teaching partner and I were even given cooking lessons from the restaurants we went to on a regular basis!
 I have so many fantastic memories of my time in Thailand, ranging from riding elephants and skydiving, to hearing my class of forty ten-year olds shouting ‘red lorry, yellow lorry’! I’m so glad I took a gap year. I’m a more confident, more independent person. And in a bigger way, it made me realise how much more there is to see in the world! It also showed me just how vast the range of opportunities available to everyone really is, as long as you’re willing to put the effort in to get where you want to be. It’s a good lesson to learn, and I can’t think of a better way of learning it!"
 Name: GAP Activity Projects
Address: 44 Queen's Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 4BB
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