A teacher from Thailand is bringing Thai language and culture into Taiwan’s classrooms. Natty Nattaya met her husband in South Africa and moved to Taiwan to build a family. When her own son started learning Thai, she got serious about language education. Now a qualified school teacher, she’s one of the most passionate intercultural educators.

A range of Thai cultural items are lined up. Nearby is a string of Southeast Asian flags that bring color to the classroom. The teacher is Natty Nattaya from Thailand. She’s been living in Taiwan for more than 20 years, and particularly loves promoting Thai culture and teaching the language.

Teaching a class like this is a piece of cake for Nattaya. She graduated from Thailand’s historic Kasetsart Univeristy, before going on to further studies in South Africa. That’s where she met her husband, who was working in open ocean fishing. She later got into promoting Thai culture so that her children could learn her language.

Natty Nattaya
Thai cultural and language teacher
I wanted my own children to start learning Thai, and I thought about it for a while, and then I said to my son, “How about mommy be your teacher?”

She didn’t do it by halves, but went on to take official teacher training, qualifying to teach Thai in public schools. She teaches in many elementary schools, writes her own courses, and wants to pique students’ interest in Thailand with fun and exciting material.

Natty Nattaya
Thai cultural and language teacher
Doing it makes me very happy. I want my students, all my students, to have fun in learning, and to discover themselves through it, and develop using language skills. The students are working very hard so of course I have to work very hard too.

Nattaya grasps every opportunity to raise awareness of her native culture, and finds great satisfaction in her work, which is bringing Taiwan and Thailand closer and closer.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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