Sarah Doble – Meet our Teachers

As a new Year 2 teacher, what is your vision for the 2020-2021 Academic Year and what would you like to achieve?

Moving to a new school and country is always an exciting time in one’s life, so I would like to take in the lovely sights and sounds around Thailand. This way I can get to know the community, language and the culture which will make my experience here even better.  This school year I would like to get to know the children at Bangkok Prep and know every child’s name in Year 2 by the end of January. I have started to make a dent in this, but I still have a few more names to learn. I am excited to be a member of the Eco-Team in Year 2 and can’t wait to come up with a few ideas with the children to help make the world a better, cleaner and healthier place. I am looking forward to teaching children how to ask good questions and find different ways to answer them, especially in science. I am also so lucky to work with such a talented team of colleagues. I plan on working closely with them so we can create even better learning experiences possible for the children at Bangkok Prep. We are really working hard to develop the children’s background knowledge, so that they can use this in creative ways.

What were your first impressions when you initially arrived at and started working at Bangkok Prep?

When I first arrived and spent my first two weeks in quarantine, I was grateful for the kind and supportive messages and zoom meetings with Mr Owen, the Year 2 team and the Thai teaching staff. Knowing that others were thinking of me, got me through those horrible COVID-19 tests. After quarantine, I had such a warm welcome from the staff and children in the school; I knew I had landed in a lovely and lively learning community. I have to say a special, thank you to the children in my class and their families for giving me such a warm welcome to the school. In my 15 years of experience, this has been one of the best starts to the year ever!

What was the reason you initially decided to start teaching?

I always knew I would be teaching something, even from a very young age, but I didn’t know what I would be teaching until much later. At first I wanted to be a World Languages teacher. I loved the idea of giving children skills to communicate and relate to others from different cultures and geographical areas. Then I started teaching younger children in primary and elementary schools, and I was hooked! Now not only did I get to teach exciting things like reading and investigating, but I also get to teach children the skills they will need for any other learning that they do in their academic careers. I am hoping that this will give all the children I work with the confidence to communicate and relate to others from around the world and to get out to explore it safely.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work, I like to do yoga and meditation to keep my body and mind working together. I like to read all different kinds of books. Lately I have been reading some Russian classics from Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. I do like a good mystery novel as well, so Agatha Christie pops up quite often in my ‘to read’ list. I also love to travel and try new food and drinks. I love coffee and the chemistry of coffee and its different flavours due to roasting and brewing in different ways. I have even been to a coffee plantation in Colombia. I am always on the lookout for a new coffee shop, roast and brewing technique.

Please can you give me a summary of your qualifications and previous work experience?

I went to university at the University of Minnesota in the USA. Just after my third year, I was a canoe guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and got a job as an English as a Second Language teacher in southern Minnesota. This experience helped me to build on what I wanted from my job and from my life. I decided then that I needed to work with younger children to help instil an enthusiasm for learning for life. After this I went back to university for two more years to grow my certification and teach elementary aged children too. I then started to take my teaching qualification on the road and went to South Korea and the United Kingdom where I studied more to earn my Qualified Teacher Status for primary aged children. After more than 9 years in the UK, I went back to South Korea where I learned the joy of educational research and implementing creative strategies to increase the joy in learning which certainly enhances the joy of teaching.