Seeing the world for what it truly is

 Seeing the World for What it Truly is

15th December, 2015

Claire, a guest blogger and pre-service teacher, talks about her experience teaching in Thailand and how it has influenced her views on the world

Many people all over the world experience an enormous amount of difference in terms of life-style, culture, schooling, relationships, family life, employment and religion. These differences can shape one’s life outcomes, how they view the world and reflections on life. I have been brought up in the same house, suburb, and city for my entire life and it has only been recently that I have had the pleasure of experiencing the diversity around my city and around the world.

I have currently just finished my 2nd year of a Bachelor of Education (Primary) and just in these two years I have learned so much about other people’s lives, their children’s lives and how much of an impact this and the schooling teacher can have on children. At the start of the year I traveled to Thailand to volunteer my teaching skills to a local school an hour outside of the Chiang Mai. I was only there for 3 weeks in total, however as a person and as a teacher I developed drastically. I loved it so much that I have booked a trip to Cambodia to volunteer my teaching passion for 4 weeks in 2016. Upon returning I was selected to work for my university in the Community Engagement section where little did I know I would be exposed to and confronted with a wide range of social issues.

In my job there are programs where I dealt with adults who had/were suffering from many different mental health issues, forms of addiction and abuse. I was heavily involved in running and facilitating another program with the local school called a Homework Support Program. This school was situated below the commission building houses where low socioeconomic status families live. These families are subjected to many of the same issues of mental health problems, addiction, abuse and poverty. Within these buildings a large percentage of people are refugees from Sudan and Vietnam. I had never experienced working with children from this background and it was definitely an eye opener.

All of these different programs and experiences have opened my eyes to the wider community and the world around me. From seeing blind, deaf, amputees begging on the streets of Thailand to having drunken, bashed up fathers barging into our homework club in order to take his son away, to dealing with mentally unstable adults dumping all of their emotions and state of events on to you. It has definitely influenced my outlook on life and my outlook on the teacher I want to be.

I do think all of my events and experiences have had a positive influence to me as a person and as a forthcoming teacher. They have taught me important lessons such as, don’t judge someone by how they look without understanding their background (yes, the classic saying of ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’), go with the flow in terms of learning how to live in someone else’s culture, and always have an open heart, mind and an ear to listen with for when it comes to people that both look like they need help, and for those who smile it away.

I believe all of these insights are very relevant for me as a future teacher. If I was to say one thing to fellow pre-service teachers it would be to experience as much as you can and learn from these experiences, even if it may look like it negatively impacted you, think of the positive outcomes.

I don’t believe I have seen the entire world for what it truly is, however I am definitely making my tracks through it.

- Claire Todeschini

Claire just completed her 2nd year as a pre-service teacher and also works as a Community Engagement Assistant for her University. Part of this role involves managing a homework support program for a local school.