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  • Kawin Chalaemwaree

    High School Learning Support Assistant

    What do you do?

    Industry: Education

    Job title: High School Learning Support Assistant

    Job descriptions: 

    • Academically support students with learning difficulties in the mainstream class
    • Teach them in one-on-one or small classes 
    • Write reports to record their academic performance and social behavior that happens in class
    • Evaluate their learning outcomes and social behavior based on the reports 
    • Communicate with supervisors, subject teachers, learning support assistants, and parents to improve the students

    What are the challenges you face at work?

     I’m in education as a learning support assistant. I support and teach students with special educational needs. The challenges in this field are that students with learning disabilities or difficulties have unstable emotions due to their neurological conditions and that traditional teaching methods and strategies may not be fully applied to teaching them. They need differentiated ways of learning.

    What attracted you to the company?

    The school where I work is St. Andrews International School. It is an international school and is well-known for its academic curriculum. These are why I wanted to be a part of this school.

    What is the key to making you successful in the internship and getting to your current job?

    The key factor during the internship that helped me land the job was that I tried to be professional as a full-time employee, such as being on time and asking questions.

    Does your degree equip you with the skills required by the job?

    BA English has given me the necessary skills to be a learning support assistant. But communication skills are skills that I have found most important in my job because successful communication will help me deliver promising lessons and convey verbal and written messages to my students, subject teachers, colleagues, and supervisors effectively. The courses that strengthen my awareness of and sensitivity to languages and communication in general and in the workplace are

    ● Sociolinguistics

    ● Technical Writing

    ● Business Communication

    ● English Through Multimedia

    ● Introduction to Public Relations and Advertising.

    What are the challenges you face in your job? How do you overcome this?

    Students’ emotions and the British accent are the main challenges in my job. Some students tend to have unstable emotions because they have been diagnosed with neurological symptoms that cause learning difficulty or disability. For example, minor school routine changes can make them aggressive or depressed. Two ways I use when facing these situations are reminding myself of their conditions and relaxing with myself both at school and home. The British accent is challenging as well. There are many British teachers here, so it is spoken commonly in the school. I am not used to it, so it is sometimes difficult for me to understand when they speak with a British accent. I overcome this challenge by immersing myself in it. I talk more with them and watch British movies and TV series.

    Is there any advice you would give current students about academics or life at STIU in general?

    There are two pieces of advice I want to share with current students. First, some courses that may seem hard or unimportant can be useful in the future or impact your perspective to some extent. I didn’t pay much attention to Professional Ethics during my time. Still, I automatically question my professionalism, and I’m aware of it because of this course when I work. Second, get involved in university activities before you are ready. I intended to do activities in my second year because I wanted to study hard for my grades in the first year, but we moved to online courses because of Covid-19. So, I only did a few activities and only met a few friends in person.

    How did your experiences or time at STIU help shape you as a person, moving from being a student to a graduate of the University?

     My time at STIU shaped me to be analytical, open-minded, and receptive because of its internationality and interactive teaching.