The Regent’s Year 7
students
On Sunday the 20th of February, 78 students, staff and
parents of the Regent’s School Pattaya and Baan Koh Phi Phi started a
journey to the northern region of Mae Hong Son. We were accommodated by the
Baan Maelid School in a Karen hill tribe village for three days and nights,
during which we would get to know the local culture, the children and the
staff and engage in some projects to develop a dam, an irrigation system for
newly planted fruit tea trees and teach some English and music.
The
students work hard on their visit to Mae Hong Son.
For most of the group this was the first visit to Baan
Maelid but with no doubt each of us hoped it would not be the last, as the
welcoming and kind nature of the staff and students there made us want to
stay longer or return soon.
On our first night there the group was invited to join
the students at the after-school line up to lower the flag and invited with
the local children up to the nearby village where a lot of them lived. The
students and staff had the amazing opportunity to visit the local people’s
homes and see their way of life and find out more about their culture. It
was a great opportunity to get to know the locals, too.
The next two days were spent doing various activities
around Baan Maelid and in order for everyone to be bright and energetic each
morning the Gap Staff and Mr. Graeme did a morning exercise/aerobics class
as the first thing after waking up each morning.
Our large group was divided into 4 so that each person
could participate in each of the workshops planned for the week. We taught
the local students some English, playing various games to expand English
vocabulary, but later turned out to be a great way of also learning and
putting our Thai and Karen into good use.
The groups also engaged in putting together a music
performance by using instruments made from different things we could find
lying around, planted over a hundred fruit tea trees and got in the river to
build a dam, which was later decorated by pebbles spelling out each of the
schools’ names and dates we spent there.
Football tournaments took place every afternoon between
the staff and students of each school and despite the hard work that was
done during the day the teams got very competitive and a lot of good skills
were revealed.
Thursday was another busy day, and an hour trek to a
further village on top of another hill proved to be quite a challenge in the
midday heat but was all worth it. There we were able to explore another
village and find out about the different projects happening around the area,
find out about the aims and objectives of these schemes and how they have
benefitted the local community.
After exploring the magnificent scenery, the afternoon
was spent making an irrigation system for the tea trees and furthermore each
student paired up with a Baan Maelid student to tie a white piece of string
around a tree as well as give each other one to symbolize the bonds between
our schools. In the afternoons, the children had the opportunity to learn to
make bracelets, which later became a symbol of friendship, as the local
students and staff gave them to the visitors from Regent’s on our last
morning there.
On Thursday evening the school had organized an amazing
farewell party for the Regent’s. They had prepared numerous dancing and
singing performances and explained what each meant. A few performances were
also put on by Baan Koh Phi Phi students, The Regent’s students and Gap
Staff.
The evening ended in a farewell disco where students from
both schools showed great dancing skills and students of all ages from each
school danced together, which showed the friendships that were made over the
week.
The next morning proved to be a sad one as goodbyes were
said with teary eyes and Regent’s and Baan Koh Phi Phi were sent off with a
lot of hugs and hi-fives from Baan Maelid Students.
On the way back to Chiang Mai we had a chance to visit
the Prostheses Foundation, where we donated all the ring pulls from drinks
cans and learnt about how the artificial legs are structured and functioned.
Back in Chiang Mai, a relaxing evening was spent by all
shopping at the Night Bazaar and an early night was had to get ready for the
next day. Starting early the next morning we went to visit the Elephant
Nature Park just north of Chiang Mai, which is a sanctuary for retired
working elephants, where they could enjoy each other’s company and not
having to do hard labour or tourist attractions. The students were able to
feed these elephants various fruits, find out about each elephant’s story
and speak to the founder, Khun Lek, about how the park was started and her
passion to rescue these amazing animals from being ill-treated. As a special
treat the Regent’s could bathe the elephants in the river and a few lucky
ones even received a special elephant kiss.
All in all the entire trip was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we are
looking forward to seeing the Baan Maelid students again very soon.
Supachayanont cuts the ribbon during the opening of the Kids Corner.
Family guests with children will have another reason to
be delighted when they stay at Dusit Thani Pattaya after the official launch
of the resort’s newest facility, the Kids Corner.
On Thursday, April 7, the hotel opened the Kids Corner
doors to children during the simple opening ceremony led by the resort’s
general manager, Chatchawal Supachayanont.
In his remarks, Chatchawal said that the new hotel
service is a most welcome treat for all visiting families, since their
children will have their own recreation and fun while playing with other
kids. He also welcomed the parents who came to the inauguration with their
little ones and expressed appreciation for their support.
Supachayanont then took the opportunity to invite family guests to come
and enjoy the new Kids Corner facility where the children can spend time in
creative activity in a safe and fun atmosphere. Babysitting services are
also offered with video and other games as well as a kids’ menu.
Chatchawal Supachayanont (center), general manager of Dusit Thani Pattaya
leads the hotel management in welcoming kids who graced the grand opening of
the resort’s new Kids Corner.
Andrew Chambers
The Regent’s School Pattaya has been hosting a
debating contest during the last week of term. Students from the
different houses have debated questions such as, “Is genetic engineering
a good thing?” and, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?” The
lunchtime activity was organised by a group of students from the Model
United Nations group, Martin Meerding, Batya and Brittany Tang. They
were inspired by their own experiences of debates, and so decided to
arrange their own.
The
Regent’s Students under pressure at their Inter-House Debates.
Teams of four students were expected to create an
opening argument, expand with their main points, give a rebuttal to the
opposing team and then field questions from the audience. The debate
took place on the Round House stage - in front of five judges and
onlooking classmates, so it was quite a daunting challenge.
Nevertheless, the students who took part really excelled - and showed
some great debating skills.
The final debate pitted yellow house against red
house - who between them had to decide whether cats or dogs made the
best companion. After some great arguments from both sides, yellow house
were pronounced the winners.
Kenny from yellow house said of the win, “We were confident at the
beginning, tried our best and came out on top.” That win meant that
there was an overall three way tie for first place between blue house,
green house and yellow house. Well done to everyone who took part!
