Bringing supplies and English practice to rural classrooms
My family and I regularly visit small village schools and kindergartens in Isan — the same communities the Isan Storytelling Championship draws from — to drop off donated books and supplies and give kids a low-pressure chance to try out a few words of English with a native speaker. These visits are informal, but they've shaped how I think about teaching: the students who are shyest on paper are often the ones who light up the most once someone meets them at their level and makes it fun.
Greeting day in the neighborhood
A wave and a "hello" go further than you'd think. Small, repeated moments like this one are what convinced me that ESL teaching has to start with confidence, not correctness.
Community meal preparation
Most of what I've learned about being part of this community came from unscripted moments like this one — helping prepare food for a village gathering, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with neighbors rather than in front of a classroom.
Isan Storytelling Championship
My wife Ploy and I run the Isan Storytelling Championship through USAEnglish.com — an English storytelling competition that gives students across the Isan region a real audience and a real stage to perform in English, rather than just a grade. Students prepare using the free vocabulary tools on EnglishTeacher.com and, for many, it's the first time they've spoken English in front of anyone outside a classroom.
ESLteacher.com community
Alongside classroom-facing work, I co-founded ESLteacher.com, a job board built by and for working ESL teachers, based out of Chiang Mai. It's a different kind of community work — connecting teachers directly with verified schools — but it comes from the same place: making the ESL world a little less confusing and a little more honest for the people in it.
Housewarming blessing with the community
When our family moved into our home, our neighbors and community elders led a traditional Isan house blessing — a reminder that teaching English here is only one part of being part of this community. Moments like this one are as much a part of why I do this work as any lesson plan.
Temple festival with neighbors and friends
Thai community life runs on these kinds of gatherings — temple festivals, merit-making, and the everyday hospitality of showing up for each other. Being a regular, welcomed face at events like this one is part of what makes the trust behind the classroom work possible in the first place.