National Museum Volunteers Bangkok

There is no end of organisations that you can join as a newly arrived foreigner in Bangkok and I can thoroughly recommend considering the National Museum Volunteers. (NMV) This group of volunteers has been welcoming foreign visitors to the National Museum, Bangkok since 1969.

Under the auspices of the Fine Arts Department (กรมศิลปากร), the NMV offers a wealth of cultural and educational activities for all those who love the rich history and culture of Thailand and the broader region.

If you think that guiding with the NMV group may be for you, then read on!

English Guiding workshop

Please note there will be no EGW in 2020

Once a year they run an English Guiding workshop to train potential guides. The course covers Thai history, culture, and religion over a two month period. There are lectures, museum visits and excursions all designed to inspire us to take things to the next level and become a volunteer guide.

The hardest thing for me was not deciding whether to join the group, it was planning my travels to ensure I was largely based in the region. Even so, I did miss a couple of sessions when I was in South Korea.

NMV LECTURE Series

Once a week we would attend lectures at Chulalongkorn University, one of Bangkok’s best universities and nothing encourages learning than arriving at Uni for the morning lecture!

Our lectures were are a really nice mix of eminent lecturers specialising in their topics and volunteer guides, who not that long ago were course participants.  Having got inspired to learn more they are now lecturing the newbies (note to self: this NMV course looks addictive!)

MUSEUM in-house TRAINING

The second part of the week is an In-house training and learning session held within the grounds of National Museum Bangkok. This ain’t any old in-house venue, we are talking about the Wang Na Palace, home to the National Museum, Bangkok, the museum’s buildings date back to 1782.

Here we can find the largest museum in South East Asia. It’s a vast, and perhaps somewhat daunting for a new guide to be. The huge collection of artefacts and antiques from around Thailand, includes a pre-history and beyond galleries of Neolithic tools, painted pots, bronze objects and many, Buddhist sculptures in stone, bronze, and terracotta.

THE NMV GUIDES

The museum is growing, changing and improving all the time. Recent renovations bring more and more information in foreign languages. The special exhibitions mean that things are moved so it was good for us to get to know the museum a lot better. A guide is helpful to find the amazing treasures on displays.

In addition to guiding course, we were also given the opportunity to enjoy five excursions for more learning. Visitors to my Instagram @LWWren will have seen examples from some of these visits.

WHO JOINS THE NMV?

There have been nearly forty of us, who have undertaken the course. I have really enjoyed the diversity of experiences within the group. Some come with previous historical knowledge or even guiding experience elsewhere in the world. Others are Mum’s rushing off to collect kids from school or retirees who now call Thailand home.

We are a truly international bunch and many are taking the English guiding course in their second or third language. I have made some great new friends in Bangkok, through this course.

Guides, Guiding Guides

The next stage is for participants wanting to become Volunteer guides to undertake a GGG which is Guides, Guiding Guides. For this, we prepare a 10-minute presentation on something in the museum which has grabbed our attention that we want to research some more and present our learnings to other guides.

The course shows us that the museum is so vast it is impossible to be an expert on everything. Instead, guides are given an overall knowledge of the history of Thailand, Buddhism, Hinduism and then it is suggested you can pick out a few items in each gallery and explain the story behind what people are viewing.  This will take the visitor experience from a potentially overwhelming one to hopefully an engaged and wonderful visit to Wang Na Palace.

I am having trouble finding a date to do my GGG this session as yes you’ve guessed it my wanderings have meant I’m travelling quite a bit, but I will certainly keep my connections with the National Museum Volunteers.

NMV Guides

Guided tours are given free by volunteers in English, French, German and Japanese starting at 9.30 a.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Guided tours in some other languages can be arranged. Entrance to the museum is 200 Baht.

NMV ANNUAL RECEPTION

For further information on the National Museum Guides can be obtained at their upcoming annual reception: 22nd November 2019 CLICK HERE!