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Join our countryside family and help with gardening in Songkhla, Thailand

Thailand
Favourited 300 times
Last activity: 14 Apr 2024

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Host rating
100 %
Last replied
11 Apr 2024
Reply rate
100.0 %
Usually responds within 2 days
Feedback
23
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Badges (2)

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Availability

2024

Min stay requested: at least a week

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What's this?

Details

Description
I am Walaiphon Thongchan, 46 years old, and happily married with a 13-year-old son. My husband is a teacher at a public primary school, while I work remotely for a charity that supports disabled and underprivileged children in rural Thailand. Our residence is in the scenic countryside of the southern region of Thailand, in Songkhla province. We own a rubber farm and maintain an organic vegetable garden, surrounded by various fruit trees like bananas, papayas, coconuts, and so on.
Types of help and learning opportunities
Language practice
Teaching
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Farmstay help
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
General Maintenance
Help with Computers/ Internet
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
You will see the real Thailand with local people in countryside. You can learn Thai language, Thai culture. I like cooking and I am good cook so you also can have cooking lesson with me too.
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Ideally, I hope for my helper(s) to balance their time assisting with household and gardening tasks while also engaging in language learning sessions with my 13-year-old son. Depending on your skills, interests, and the time of year you're here, I am open to sharing experiences of Thai culture and local cuisine. Those who have an affinity for gardening and/or language teaching would be well-suited for this exchange.
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Thai: Fluent
This host offers a language exchange
I would like to improve my English and my son want to learn speaking English as well.
Accommodation
You will have your own room with a big bed, but sharing a western style bathroom. We provide healthy meals prepared with fresh ingredients from the garden three times a day. You are welcome to use kitchen to cook your own food if you like.
What else ...
While you have no work You can use my motorbike to explore area. My house is not far from the beach. It's very nice beach without tourist. Perhaps you will find your own beach. You can walk or use my bicycle to visit villager. The place nearby is local temple and masjid. You can go to Hat Yai city by local train. Train station is very near to my house.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
How many Workawayers can stay?
Two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

Host ref number: 228126714876

Feedback (8)

16 Mar 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Vadim)

Vadim stayed at my place for almost two weeks. He is good and responsible well in the task work I give. He is following the house rule that I'm not allowed to smoke in the house. He helps with cleaning and gardening as well. We had many interesting conversations during dinnertime. He uses his free time to explore the area by himself and sometimes… read more

(Excellent )

27 Feb 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Natalie & Jonthan)

Natalie and Jonathan bring a lot of positive energy and a willingness to learn. In the short time they spent with us, Natalie helped with gardening, while Jonathan assisted me with digital skills. They also dedicated time to helping my son improve his English, focusing on both listening and speaking. Natalie's baking skills were a delightful… read more

(Excellent )

19 Dec 2023

Left by Workawayer (David) for host

Walaiphon initiated contact with me, requesting that I tutor Sila (her son) online. Initially I was unable to do so, but I expressed my interest to help, and did so when my circumstances afforded me opportunities to volunteer.

Sila is a polite student who focuses well during English practice and impressed me with the excellent logic and… read more explanations he often gave to support his answers. Sometimes he gave short and simple answers when we began to converse, but as we spent more time practicing, he would generally become more talkative. For that reason, I am glad that I was able to help him practice having immersive English conversations and to develop greater confidence in his ability to listen and articulate himself using English as a second language.

After volunteering online for several weeks, I made plans to travel to Thailand. Walaiphon and Weerasak (her husband) were kind to invite me to stay at their home for about two weeks. While there, I helped with duties like gardening and planting rubber trees during early mornings. In evenings, I continued to help Sila practice conversational English. However, because we were sharing the same physical space, it became practical to give Sila feedback and coaching as he began to study from a student book. Its main theme is how students of different cultures reflect on the experience of studying at a new school, which is where they meet each other. It was wonderful to hear Sila talk about how he related to those characters and their interests.

Another noteworthy thing about teaching Sila face-to-face is that he demonstrated dramatic improvement in his ability to accurately talk about the time of day in English. He was able to demonstrate great competency in his ability to tell time according to the conventional 12 hour clock, use terms and phrases associated with it (e.g. "half past _," "a quarter to _," "a quarter past _," "midnight," etc.), and to convert expressions of time from the 12 hour system to the 24 hour system - AKA "military time."

Sila enjoys playing some mobile video games, so I rewarded him for the effort he put into his studies by letting him play Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, a game I had on my computer that can be easily controlled with a standard keyboard. (I wasn't traveling with a gamepad/controller.) It was fun to watch him play that game and see the enjoyment he got out of it.

Sometimes Sila and his mother played some card games with me, and those were certainly fun times. A card game they like to play is called Dobble, and it is great because it is a fun way to build and practice vocabulary in any language. I also had them join me in playing a few sessions of Drawful - a computer game that promotes the skills of writing simple sentences and drawing unconventional things.

Every day, there was delicious and healthy food to enjoy that Walaiphon had prepared, and sometimes there was fruit as well! The area where the home is based is quite pleasant in the sense that there is lots of nature (many rubber tree plantations) and also a couple of temples that aren't too difficult to access by bike. I wasn't able to enter any of their chapels, but the temples are nevertheless nice to marvel at from the outside.

Most of the area has very little traffic, and because the roads are generally very smooth and the family had some incredible road bikes (not mountain bikes), it was an absolute joy to ride around in the late afternoon until the early evening - a window of time when intense sun and heat was limited. However, because there is very little lighting on the roads, it's very important to return to the home by the time it gets dark.

In conclusion, I am glad I got to work with Sila, and would like to continue helping him when it is practical for me to do so once again. Staying with the family and going on bike trips around the area surrounding the home was the highlight of my last trip to Thailand!

(Excellent )

View all 8 feedbacks

Photos

Surrounding

Butterfly pea flower tea

Small garden and fish pond

Show all photos

Baan Sila house

Room for volunteers

Food made from vegetable around the garden

My family

Feedback

These are extra optional ratings when members leave feedback. The average rating left for each option is displayed.

Accuracy of profile:
(5.0)

Cultural exchange:
(5.0)

Communication:
(4.8)

16 Mar 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Vadim)

(Excellent )

27 Feb 2024

Left by host for Workawayer (Natalie & Jonthan)

(Excellent )

19 Dec 2023

Left by Workawayer (David) for host

(Excellent )

23 Jul 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (SEAER2023)

Having Greta and Michael at my place was wonderful. They are nice and helpful. Michael checked my four bicycles professionally, and Greta helped in the kitchen. Both of them eagerly pitched in to tend to the garden, engaging in tasks such as weeding and planting a variety of crops like sweet potatoes, pineapples, and rubber trees. Also, they took… read more

(Excellent )

14 Jul 2023

Left by Workawayer (Elena) for host

The week we spent with Walaiphon, Weeresak and Sila was such a unique and wonderful experience. They opened up their home so lovingly and made us feel welcomed from the moment we arrived. Walaiphon is a great cook and spoilt us every day with delicious meals with vegetables from the garden. We were also free to make our banana ice cream with their… read more

(Excellent )

7 Jul 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Elena)

Hosting Francesca and Elena was fun! They were full of energy, smiling, and loved to sing. Francesca's laugh was infectious and made everyone laugh too. They helped my husband and me in the garden, cutting trees, weeding. plating rubber and bettle nut trees. They also help my son with his English practice after dinner. We can nickname them the… read more

(Excellent )

7 Jul 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Francesca)

(Excellent )

13 Jun 2023

Left by Workawayer (Grahame) for host

I am so grateful to Walaiphon , Weerasak and Sila for sharing their lovely family home with me, the excellent food , and relaxed after dinner conversations....I wish I could have stayed longer...after 1 week I felt totally comfortable ....but u nfortunately I need to keep moving...Walaiphon arranged for me to teach a few days in a local… read more

(Excellent )

12 Jun 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Grahame)

We really enjoyed having Grahame and were delighted by his brief stay of just one week. It was great that he brought some much-needed rain, as we had been waiting for it. Grahame was kind and helped out in the garden with my husband. He also taught English and played football with my son. He even spent three days at the school, teaching five… read more

(Excellent )

12 May 2023

Left by host for Workawayer (Léana & Lise)

Léana and Lise, two delightful French girls, were a perfect match for us. Their helpfulness and enthusiasm were truly remarkable, and we felt incredibly fortunate to have them as our guests. Throughout their one-month stay, they lent a helping hand in the garden and actively participated in the school program. One of their favorite activities was… read more

(Excellent )

14 Dec 2022

Left by host for Workawayer (Matthieu)

Matthieu and his friend Louise are great. They stayed one week with us and helped a lot in the garden, Matthieu is full of farming experience, fixing things and DIY. Louise is nice and easygoing, she helped to weed and cook but spicy food is not for her. They are good with kids too and play some games with my son, Sila. We have wonderful time… read more

(Excellent )

12 Jul 2022

Left by host for Workawayer (Sophie)

Thank you Sophie for your help. She is the first volunteer at my place after the Covid-19. We were happy to host her. Sophie is a nice girl and helpful. She help both to gave English lesson at school and help in the garden at the house. Also, she help with my online work. We had fun with cycling in the afternoon after school time, played football… read more

(Excellent )

10 Mar 2020

Left by host for Workawayer (Jérôme)

Jerome helped to make irrigation system at the farm together with Korean volunteer. He also joined English class at local school. The student and teacher are happy with him. He likes to learn and always want to help. Now he learn typical way to make coconut milk. He played football with my son after school. He is nice guy. Thank you again, Jerome!

(Excellent )

9 Mar 2020

Left by Workawayer (Jérôme) for host

I stayed ten days at Wailaphon and Weerasak home.
It was so far, my best work away experience! I had the opportunity to give some English classes at the local school and I tried my best to help them with the garden!
I would definitely recommend anyone to stay here! :) !

(Excellent )

28 Jan 2020

Left by host for Workawayer (Ana maria)

Ana is great. She stayed two weeks in my place. She is very active person, enthusiastic and always want to help. She have been teaching in school. All teacher and student like her. She did preparing her lesson very well. Kids are enjoyed and happy to learn with her, even just one week, that's short time but it's good memories. In the farm, she… read more

(Excellent )

15 Dec 2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Ennio)

Ennio is a real farmer. He had a lots of experience. He shared many information to do farming. He is hard working person. He help in building, planting pine apple, help to fix the door and many more. He can do everything. At night he play game with my son and watched Mr.Bean together. He really enjoyed eating papaya from my garden everyday. We… read more

(Excellent )

15 Dec 2019

Left by Workawayer (Ennio) for host

I stayed two weeks with this fantastic family!! Walaiphon cooked me very good vegetarian food, Wirasak is very friendly and the son Sila is lovely boy. I did farm work, building and few days teaching.I enjoyed my time.

(Excellent )

11 Dec 2019

Left by Workawayer (Andrew) for host

Authentic village/kampung/country experience, in a modern friendly home !

Here is the day-by-day summary of things i did:

1) weed 1 garden bed
dig soil to mix with compost
transplant Seedlings

2) weed 2 garden bed
play with Sila soccer, stones

3) dig soil, cut tree branch, plant stems
school
talk about gardening
mix compost into bed
… read more

(Excellent )

29 Nov 2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Andrew)

Andrew stayed in my place one week. He have done many things for me, planted vegetable, weeding and mixed compost, harvest mango, dig galangal, planted pineapple, pruning tree, watering. We share many topics about plants and gardening. I teach him to cook Thai food some recipe like Tom Kha Kai (chicken in coconut soup), Kang Keaw Wan Kai ( green… read more

(Excellent )

13 Aug 2019

Left by Workawayer (Laura) for host

This was the first place I've seen from Thailand, and it was the best experience in this country! You are not only in a lovely, happy family but you feel all the time like your help is appreciated and highly needed (especially in school, I feel so sorry that I left after this short time) and I felt so comfortable and happy staying at and with… read more

(Excellent )

13 Aug 2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Laura)

Laura is nice girl. I hosted her one week. She help me in garden, pulling grass,watering plants and vegetable. Also she took experience to teach English in local school for three days. She did it well. Student in school like it. Thank you Laura. I hope I and my family could come to see you in Hamburg.

(Excellent )

18 Jun 2019

Left by Workawayer (Lewis & Maria) for host

Walaiphon and Weerasak were great hosts from the very beginning. They have a beautiful home in the Thai countryside, in the middle of a rubber tree farm as well as their own fruit and vegetable garden. Our favourite thing about the location was that it's away from all the busy tourists spots, so you can get a sense of the real Thai lifestyle.… read more

(Excellent )

17 Jun 2019

Left by host for Workawayer (Lewis & Maria)

Lewis and Maria are nice couple. They stayed with me almost two weeks. They are great people, helping me in the garden to make vegetables beds and planted some seeds. Also they joined in teaching English in the local school. Students likes them and had good times. Maria and I were exchanged food recipe. Maria teach me to make Irish soda bread. It… read more

(Excellent )

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Join our countryside family and help with gardening in Songkhla, Thailand

Profile information

Host rating

Last replied

Reply rate

Feedback

Email verified

Badges (2)

Find your perfect host

Availability

Details

Description

Types of help and learning opportunities

Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

Projects involving children

Help

Languages

Accommodation

What else ...

A little more information

Space for parking camper vans

How many Workawayers can stay?

Hours expected

Feedback (8)

Photos

Feedback