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An important part of Thai schooling is provided by Pattaya Sports Club
Philip Delaney welcomes the PSC
and Rotary.
William Macey
Being able to speak English provides children with so many more
career opportunities when looking for employment after their education has
been completed at school/college both here in Thailand and, perhaps, abroad.
Nigel Quennell, president of the Rotary Club Eastern Seaboard, mentioned to
Pattaya Sports Club that they were donating 300 English/Thai dictionaries to
the Nongprue School for children in the age range of 5 to 9 years. The
timing could not have been better and gave PSC the ideal opportunity to
contact Philip Delaney (the school’s English teacher) to enquire whether
some laptops would be useful in his efforts to teach the children with their
English lessons.
To say that he jumped at the opportunity is a slight exaggeration but both
the director, a senior teacher and Philip were present at the first meeting
and all were overjoyed at the prospect. 4 laptops were provided as were 4
CDs helping Thai students to understand English.
This came about because Pattaya Sports Club were presented with a number of
laptops, programmed mainly in English, to donate to schools intent on
teaching their students to read, write and speak English. Many of the
children who will benefit from this imitative were there at the
presentation, as were a delighted Philip and director.
Pattaya Sports Club are always happy to contribute in whatever way possible
to enhance the education of Thai children, and will pursue any opportunity
that presents themselves to help young children further their education. The
same can be said of Rotary.
Philip and the director explain
about the laptops.
The laptops are presented to the
children.
It is good to see the children so
happy.
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Kipin Kapin Kapakkaan raises
51,000 baht for Drop-In Center
Khun Pae, Manager of the Drop-In
Center, accepts the donation from Gizmo.
Derek Franklin
The annual Kipin Kapin Kapakkaan pub race took place on the first day of
March and this year almost one hundred and fifty participants raised 51,000 baht
for the Father Ray Drop-In Center.
The Kipin Kapin Kapakkaan is organised by Finnish expat, and Finnish language
magazine publisher, Juhana Keronen, better know to his friends as ‘Gizmo’.
For an entry fee of just 500 baht, the participants received a t-shirt, on the
back of which were the names of ten bars located throughout Pattaya where they
would receive a free drink on arrival.
One of the younger residents of the
Center.
Bars in Jomtien, Thappraya Road and Central Pattaya took part
and welcomed the racers with glasses of beer, coffee or anything else they
wished to drink.
The proceeds of the Kipin Kapin Kapakkaan were donated to the Father Ray Drop-In
Center which is located on Thepprasit Road.
The Drop-In Center is the smallest of the projects managed by the Father Ray
Foundation, but one of its most important. It is where children are assessed
before a permanent place of residence can be found, either at the Father Ray
Children’s Home or Village. It is also where families living in poverty can get
advice, medical help and food, and the donation from Gizmo and his friends will
make a huge difference to the children and the Center.
More information can be found at www.fr-ray.org or email
[email protected].
The 2014 T-shirt.
The children of the Father Ray
Drop-In Center.
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Twenty students shortlisted for this year’s Young
Journalist of the Year Award
Winning entries will be announced
at a special journalism workshop in Bangkok on Friday 14 March.
Tim Eaton
The competition to award the title of Young Journalist of the Year for 2014
is reaching an exciting climax in Thailand, with 20 student essays shortlisted
by the panel of judges. The two winning entries will be announced at a special
journalism workshop in Bangkok on Friday 14 March.
The competition, which is in its second year, has been organised jointly by
Amnesty International Thailand and Regents International School Pattaya.
Launched in October, the competition attracted entries from 20 schools across
Thailand. Entrants were invited to write in English about one of the following
four topics: The Death Penalty, Refugees and Migrants; Torture; or Women’s
Rights.
The judging panel comprises Nation Newspaper journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk and
Alec Bamford of Amnesty International. Their task is to choose two winners, one
each from the 11 to 14 and 15 to 18 age range. Their task will be a difficult
one, with excellent essays written on a range of topics, from sexual violence in
Columbia to the Thai media’s portrayal of women, and refugees in Sudan to
torture in North Korean gulags.
The overall winner in each category will each receive a
trophy, 5000 baht to donate to any good cause of their choice, an Amnesty
International Thailand goodie bag, one year’s free subscription to Nation
Junior, a five year membership of AI Thailand and the title, ‘Young Journalist
of the Year Thailand’.
Pravit Rojanaphruk commented, “Young students are more keen to explore human
rights issues than many adults would have thought and it is well reflected in
the entries. The competition undoubtedly also encourages youths to seriously
ponder issues that would be pertinent to the quality of their future world.”
Andrew Chambers, who organised the competition on behalf of Regents, commented,
“I’ve been impressed by the quality of this year’s essays. Students were
encouraged to include a balance of factual information and their own feelings
and opinions, and that’s precisely what we see with the successful entries.”
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Exceptional learners performing exceptionally
St Andrews secondary students are rewarded with
second place in the overall competition.
Bryn Stothard and Deborah Bradshaw, Primary and Secondary School
Exceptional Learners coordinators
Last weekend, Students from St. Andrews International School travelled
up to Bangkok to take part in the prestigious “Tournament of the Minds”
competition. A group of 7 primary students from years 5 and 6 and two teams of
secondary students from years 7-9 competed against 27 other teams of students
from other top international schools in the country. The primary team from St.
Andrews worked on the Language and Literature challenge and the two secondary
teams worked on a Maths and Engineering challenge.
The Tournament of the Minds competition involves teams working collaboratively
on a six week problem solving exercise. The students then have to develop a
creative and original way to present this to the judges on the day of the
tournament.
St. Andrews students celebrate their success.
On the day of the competition students were also faced with a spontaneous
challenge. This challenge requires rapid interchange of ideas, the ability to
think creatively and well developed group cooperation skills.
“The spontaneous challenge was really fun because there was no right or wrong
answer - we had to throw creative ideas out there and work together as a team to
create a good answer about why three donkeys were tied together and what they
were plotting,” said Sebi, Jake and Kaia from Year 5.
At the end of an exciting day of presentations and challenges St. Andrews
students performed superbly with one of our secondary teams gaining second prize
overall.
“It was a fantastic opportunity to meet students from other schools and see
their machines in action,” said Andy from Year 8.
Taking part in the Tournament of the Minds competition is part of St. Andrews
school’s “Exceptional Learners Program” which aims to identify and nurture our
most highly gifted students, giving them a chance to compete and succeed against
similar students from other schools.
“We are very proud of all the students who competed and pushed themselves to do
their very best in such a challenging environment,” said Mrs. Deborah Bradshaw,
Primary Exceptional learners’ coordinator.
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Learning is a journey at St. Andrews International School
Melbourne shares learning about materials from her
inquiry folder.
Oanh Crouch,
PYP Coordinator
Learning journeys are a series of learning experiences which has the
overall objective of achieving a series of defined learning outcomes. At St.
Andrews we use learning journeys usually at the culmination of a unit of
inquiry, to demonstrate not only what has been learnt but also how it has been
learnt. Just before the half term break, four classes were involved in learning
journeys.
Parents were invited to the learning areas in Reception, Year 1, Year 5 and Year
6 to share and celebrate their children’s processes and products of learning.
The inquiry cycle is used to demonstrate how the children tuned in, found out,
sorted out and applied their new learning and knowledge.
The scientific process is demonstrated using digital
media and information posters.
Children in Reception explained how simple machines such as wheels and levers,
made our lives easier to get work done. Using a wheelbarrow to carry a load of
bricks is certainly easier than carrying them by hand!
Year 1 children demonstrated their knowledge about the properties of materials
and how we use this knowledge to build and create structures. Books, photos, 3D
models and inquiry folders were used to document the learning.
Year 5 students embarked on an inquiry into the performing arts and showcased
their learning journey through their online blogs. The product of their learning
was expressed through the children’s performance as they conveyed their own
personal message through their interpretation and renditions of poetry,
storytelling, mime, songs, circus performance, drama and dance.
Balon explains how we can design simple machines.
Year 6 communicated their learning of the scientific process by setting up their
own experiments relating to gravity, friction and air resistance. Hypothesis,
materials, method, results and conclusions were all shown using digital video
footage, information posters, photos and written learning logs. Thanks to the
teachers and congratulations to the students on their excellent presentation and
communication skills.
Our programme of inquiry at St. Andrews provides opportunity for children to be
involved in a learning journey, at least once every year in the Primary School.
This allows each child to build on their research, self-management, thinking,
communication and social skills; essential skills for learning.
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