Thailand Volunteer Locations: Sri Chiang Mai

Sri Chiang Mai is a small town of 5000 people, 40 km from Nongkhai and directly opposite the beautiful City of Vientiane on the Mekong River. It is a peaceful place with a lovely mix of Laos, Thai and Vietnamese people. The town has many temples close by and a market selling traditional Thai food as well as a several banks, hospitals and other facilities. The town has 2 tomato factories which give employment to almost half the town. Each year the town has its own week long tomato festival to celebrate the harvest for the year. The town also regularly stages pop concerts and special Isan events.

Volunteering in Sri Chiang Mai

Hassadee School is a small private but very affordable family school with 200 students aged between 6 and 12 years old. It is located close to town and has excellent facilities including a computer room and a swimming pool. The Principal is very forward thinking and is trying to develop the school into a more western style of teaching and learning whilst still maintaining Thai culture.

The assistant head teacher at the school, Dave Peel, (read Dave's volunteers story) is an experienced teacher who volunteered with Travel to Teach in 2005 and decided to stay on in Thailand. Dave has been responsible for teaching English at the school for the previous year during which time the progress by the students has been remarkable. The English program is about teaching kids to read and speak with confidence and is based on the belief that you should learn English by doing and by making mistakes. The children are taught English for 3-4 hours a week and all live in small towns and villages where there are virtually no Western Native Speakers, however its hoped that over 90% of the school will read, write and speak English to a good level within 2 years.

Volunteers will teach around a set curriculum written in 10 week blocks and there are excellent teaching resources. The students are full of confidence and love learning English.

Past Volunteers

Last year 7 volunteers worked at Hasadee school and all found their experiences rewarding. Volunteers at the School can teach whatever they feel most comfortable with. Some volunteers prefer to teach small groups or just special students and giving them the extra support they need. Others have taught other subjects like math's, swimming and computers. 2 volunteers even painted a beautiful alphabet on the wall outside the infant classes. Whatever you decide to do you will be supported and appreciated and be giving Isan children the chance to improve and develop their love for English.

Volunteer Programs in Sri Chiang Mai
English Teaching
Summer Camps

General Sri Chiang Mai Info

Accommodation
Volunteers will stay with Dave in a small house around 500 meters from the school and a 10 minutes bike from the market and the center of Sri Chiang Mai.

Food
There are no Western restaurants in Sri Chiang Mai, however there is a wide variety of excellent and very inexpensive traditional Thai and Isan restaurants and food stalls. Sri Chiang Mai is also within 40 minutes of Nongkhai which has a wide range of Western restaurants and volunteers often return to Nongkhai on weekends.

Weather
Ask a local about the weather in Nongkhai and they will tell you there are three seasons, hot and wet, hot and dry and just plain hot. In reality the temperature can drop to as low as 10 C between October and February and the brief monsoon rains and Mekong river breeze throughout the summer months provide a welcome respite to the heat.

Activities
Activities in Sri Chiang Mai include swimming, badminton, table tennis, local Karaoke Bars and a number of riverside restaurants. Volunteers can also return to Nonghkai on weekends to meet with other volunteers can enjoy Nongkhai's slightly more Westernized social life.

Staff
David takes care of the volunteers in Sri Chiang Mai. Check our Personnel page.

How to get to Sri Chiang Mai.
Sri Chiang Mai is about 30km West of Nongkhai and volunteers will spend there first weekend in Nongkhai for cultural and teaching introduction, before being accompanied to Sri Chiang Mai. Buses run hourly to Sri Chiang from Nongkhai.

More images from Sri Chiang Mai

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