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High-end teacher training
seminar given at Asian U
A happy farewell after a most
intense teacher-training seminar weekend.
Ulrich Werner
Last weekend, Asian University welcomed a group of 19
Philippine, one Irish and 16 U.S. teachers and 5 Thai observers from the
Anuban Chonburi School for a teacher-training weekend. The teachers arrived
Saturday morning early and left Sunday late afternoon after a successful and
intense weekend with a variety of different lectures, workshops, and
seminars focusing on the ‘how’ of education, rather than the ‘what’.
At Anuban Chonburi School, 176 Thai and 36 foreign
teachers take care of 3,311 kindergarten and primary school students. Three
of the foreign teachers teach in Chinese language, the others in English.
The teachers started into the weekend with a review of
their dialectic skills, thus providing them with an individual starting
point for the workshops, lectures and seminars to follow.
On Sunday morning, David Goldsack, the Principal of
Rayong English Programme School (REPS) provided a guest lecture on the
current state of Thai education, followed by a workshop on Sunday afternoon
by a visiting delegation from Fontys University of Applied Science, The
Netherlands. John van Lare and John Scholtes facilitated a dynamic workshop
assisted by four teacher trainees, Annique, Lisanne, Dennis and Roy from the
Fontys Teacher Training Academy.
In this workshop, the participants evaluated a gallery of
instructional techniques and put them into a hierarchy after their retention
rate; i.e., how students remember what they learned in class. Research has
shown that instructional techniques should change in the classroom every 10
to 20 minutes, depending on the age of the students in order to keep their
attention and concentration on a high level.
This high-end education seminar was developed and led by
Freek Olaf de Groot, Programme Leader Master of Education programme in
TESOL, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Asian University, and observed by several
senior faculty of Asian University and by five Thai observers from Anuban
Chonburi School who all agreed with the participants on the high quality of
the seminar.
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ISC celebrates All Hallow’s Eve
Rebecca and Enzo running the
bake sale.
ISC was transformed into a wonderland of colourful
characters last week as the children celebrated Halloween with their
parents. They made their way through a variety of child friendly &
‘ghoulish’ activities. The highlight was trick or treating around the
school. Some bags just couldn’t fit all the lollies!
Waiting for the parade.
The EY3/Y1 class decided that it would be a kind idea to
share their lollies with children at Hand to Hand and the Fountain of Life.
So, on Tuesday the children happily delivered them to their Thai friends.
Halloween wasn’t just for having fun. The ISC community
very generously supported a clothing drive and bake sale, the proceeds of
which will be given to children and their families affected by the flooding
in Bangkok. The kindergarten children did a great job running the bake sale.
It was hard for parents not to buy from such cute staff.
Anastasia asks for a treat.
Helping out at such a time as this
General
Chainarong Jareonrak speaks about his appreciation to all who took part
in the giving.
Janette Oracion
Bagsic
Rayong English Programme School welcomed General
Chainarong Jareonrak, commander of the Sattahip Naval Base along with
the other senior military officers on November 8 to receive donations
given by REPS parents, teachers and students.
Mr. Prakong Chitrath, school director and Mr. David
Goldsack, school principal, handed out relief supplies as well as
plastic boats, all donated for the flood victims.
A total of 45,000 baht was raised. The school would
like to thank the parents and the teachers for their kindness and
generosity.
Mr. Prakong and Mr.
Goldsack handed out donations to the general.
Senior military officers
from Sattahip Naval Base arrive at REPS.
Some relief supplies and
plastic boats given to the flood victims.
Gold for Satit Udomseuksa dance team
Congratulations to Satit Udomseuksa School, Pattaya Traditional Thai
Dance Team for their exquisite performance at ‘The 61st Traditional Thai
Dancing District Finals’ on the 9th November, 2011.
The competition, Organized by the District 3
Education Department, was held at Wat Manolom School in Laem Chabang.
Teacher Ms. Chomnaphat Jaruphongphairoj led the dance
troupe of Jardena Franks, Sirimasa Rieger, Tananyaporn
Wongpacharatanapron, Kalyarak Sainapha, Ji Won Yang, and Punyisa
Kulwongvollachot to win the gold medal over 6 other teams.
Regent’s goes on Eco-Trip to Borneo
Regent’s students, staff
and parents tree planting in Borneo.
Christine Dewsnap
During the half-term break, a group of teachers,
parents and two students headed off to Borneo for an adventure that none
of us will ever forget.
The trip started in Kota Kinabalu on Tuesday where
the group met for a dinner and cultural evening before heading off early
the next morning to Sandakan. We were met by our expert guide, Kenneth
Tizon, who whisked us straight off to the Sepilok Orangutan Centre where
we learned all about the plight of the Orangutan in Borneo and had the
opportunity to observe some of the more recently released apes on the
feeding platforms. From there we had a short walk around the Rainforest
Discovery Centre where we learned more about the Bornean eco-system. A
long afternoon drive brought us to our homestay for the night. Great
food was provided by the homestay families and we were all treated to a
culture show in the evening.
Spectacular wild
orangutans.
Thursday morning saw us all boarding small boats and
speeding off to start the main part of our trip, tree planting. The
reforestation project here is unique as it’s the first project to
re-plant trees in the flood plain area. It seems like a massive project
to undertake and we were really pleased that we were able to contribute
approximately another 100 trees before a rainstorm brought an abrupt end
to our planting. It was hard work but we worked efficiently as a team
and found it immensely rewarding.
The rainy afternoon was whiled away with card games
and conversation until the rain eased enough that a few of us decided to
take a river wildlife cruise. Many bird species, two species of macaque,
proboscis monkey and langurs were all spotted. That night was spent at
an eco-camp, which afforded the opportunity to go on a night walk where
sleeping birds were spotted along with many large spiders, various sizes
of cricket and grasshopper and many, many fire ants were encountered.
Our final full day started with the boat ride back to
the homestay village where our mini buses met us and took us firstly to
some burial caves, where we had a chance to view some ancient coffins,
while trying not to interrupt the filming of a local TV programme!
Our next stop at the bat caves treated us to our
first spectacular view of Orangutan in the wild. A mother and two young.
We were all in complete awe; it made the entire trip worthwhile! After
another rain shower we were able to walk around the bat cave, trying our
best not to slip off the walkway into the mountains of guano on the cave
floor! The main function of the cave is as a nest sight for swiftlets.
Three times a year people are permitted to enter the caves to collect
the nests of the birds for use in bird’s nest soup and for various
medicinal purposes.
For our last night we stayed at a B&B right on the
river. We went for two last river wildlife cruises, which gave us some
of our best sightings yet, including another wild Orangutan, bearded
pigs, owls, crocodiles and hornbills. Our overall count of different
animals totalled over 50 in just three days!
Every one of us found it an extremely rewarding trip
and most of us are planning to go back as soon as we have the chance.
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Mamma Mia comes to town
Mark Beales
Students at Garden International School (GIS) are
busy rehearsing for their next big production - a version of the Abba
musical Mamma Mia.
This is the story of a bride-to-be trying to find her
real father, told using hit songs by the popular ’70s group ABBA,
including ‘Money, Money, Money’, ‘The Winner Takes It All’ and
‘Waterloo’.
The show will be staged on November 23, 24 and 25
from 7 p.m. each evening. GIS is based in Ban Chang, Rayong, a short
ride from Pattaya.
Tickets are 100 baht before November 18 and 140 baht
after. The show is likely to be a sell-out, so to reserve your seat
email [email protected].
Many thanks go to the companies who generously agreed
to sponsor the show.
The gold sponsors are Rosie O’Gradys pub and
restaurant in Pattaya, the Camel Pub and Restaurant in Ban Chang, the
Gunn Family and Usana Health Sciences.
The silver sponsors are U Smile, Indian by Nature,
Pala Lagoon Project Land & House, Praw Street Dance and Modelling
Studio, PM Valve and Viking Power Systems. And the bronze sponsors are
Eastern Star, the Lyubchevskaya Family and Khun May’s restaurant and
cafe.
For more on GIS, visit www.gardenrayong.com.
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There are no excuses now thanks to Pattaya Sports Club
Before…
The Child Protection Development Centre in Huay Yai
has progressed so much in the last 3 years. With financial assistance
coming from many organisations including Pattaya Sports Club, it has
changed from a baron, uneven area of land, to what you might describe as
a self contained village. Houses, dining room, computer centre, sports
areas and more have been erected for the children.
Managed by the Human Help Network, it is home to 50
former street children who have been sexually and physically abused or
abandoned on the streets of Pattaya. The Centre aims to provide the
children with protection, education, security and prospects for the
future. Toy, Ja and others work tirelessly to make sure this happens.
…After
One simple problem arose: where do the children wash
their clothes? As you can imagine with 50 children on site, there are
bundles of clothes to wash each and every day. The area that was being
used was not ideal - dangerous is the word that would describe it, as
the electricity box was open to the elements and a little unsteady
underfoot.
The answer was obvious: have a purpose built washing
and drying area.
Pattaya Sports Club provided sufficient funds to
build such a unit, next to 2 large water tanks and away from the hustle
and bustle of everyday activities. You can see how a waste area has been
transformed into something a little more suitable.
Now there are no excuses when clothes need cleaning.
Girls and boys have to do
their own washing.
HHN Director Radchada
Chomjinda and PSC.
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