Description:
Welcome to GVI's blog on our English Teaching and Community Development projects where you can keep up to date with all the happenings and information from our volunteer work in Thailand
Contents:
Opening Ceremony at the NFE Center
 On November 15 the Ao Luk Non-Formal Education Center, GVI's local project partners, held  an opening ceremony to celebrate the opening of a new Ao Luk Thai sub district NFE Center Office. The office is located in the main building GVI utilizes to teach English classes in the community. The NFE Center requested GVI's volunteer teacher's assistance to help at the ceremony. On request GVI held English activities on the second floor of the building for visitors to enjoy and take part in. Going with the theme of holidays and festivals, GVI's teachers hosted Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving and Halloween activities. Activities included songs, games and crafts.  Outside the building was a mass of activity with performances by the local community singing, dancing and even demonstrating Taekwondo. Local foods were available for sale and local crafts people came out to demonstrate glass blowing and traditional leather crafts. A number of people came out to join in the festivities. And to kick off the event there was a ribbon cutting ceremony in which the mayor of Ao Luk himself did the honors.  It was yet another great opportunity for GVI Thailand's team to get involved with the local community.
Dinner in Laem Sak
 On Wednesday the GVI Team was invited to dinner at Pee Rin's new house! Charin Klaewtanong (who we call Pee Rin) is the Director of the Ao Luk Non-Formal Education Center, one of GVI Thailand's main project partners. Pee Rin just completed a beautiful bungalow on a hilltop in Laem Sak to use as a weekend getaway or a holiday rental. The house overlooks the Laem Sak sea, home to local fishing villages. The dinner was all locally caught seafood cooked on the BBQ. Fresh fish, shrimp, squid and mussels were slowly grilled to perfection. Delicious!  It was a great opportunity for volunteers to mingle with the community and some of the guys even got an extensive Thai lesson from one of our regular taxi drivers! It was a nice evening and everyone enjoyed the change of scenery.
A Week at the Schools
 This week Teaching Children volunteers and TEFL volunteers all spent their weeks in local primary and secondary schools. All together volunteers worked in 12 different schools throughout Ao Luk providing English lessons for local youth.  Many of the schools were training for a district wide English competition the following week and some volunteers had the opportunity to coach students in speech, spelling, role plays and crosswords (Thailand's version of Scrabble). After 4 weeks of TEFL training and teaching adults in the community TEFL volunteers, experienced a new classroom challenge. Teaching children was a whole different game. In the beginning it was exhausting and challenging but by the end of the week everyone had a great time. The schools, their teachers and students were warm and welcoming and made the volunteers feel like an important part of their learning community.
Project Week for TEFL volunteers- to the schools!
For the first week of the 2 week break between GVI's class terms, the TEFL volunteers will be working with rural schools who have MOUs with GVI to provide teachers for special activities through the 2009 Ao Luk Village Project. 10 volunteers will be working with 6 different schools located in rural locations throughout Ao Luk. In teams of 2 volunteers will be utilizing their new teaching skills to provide 4 days of English lessons for some of Ao Luk's primary and secondary aged youth.
Stay tuned for pictures and stories from these project days!
Loy Kratong
GVI volunteers had the opportunity to enjoy one of Thailand's amazing festivals. Every year, the full moon in November marks the Loy Kratong festival. This festival honors the water in rivers, canals and the sea by creating ornate floating devices called "kratongs" from banana trunks and leaves and colorful flowers. In the evening of the full moon families, friends and individuals head to their local water way with their kratongs. They light the incense and candle in the middle of the kratong and float it in the water. Tradition has it that if the candle stays lit as the kratong travels out of eyesight, your wish will come true.  The GVI team had the honor of learning to make their very own kratongs, taught by the local librarians and teachers at the Ao Luk Non-Formal Education Center,  GVI's local partner organization. In the evening they all went to the temple together where they joined the community in releasing their kratongs in the river. It was a great opportunity to experience local Thai culture. 
Emma's Volunteer Story
Thailand volunteers have all sorts of opportunities to get involved with the local community. Below, Emma Reinhalter, one of GVI's TEFL volunteers, describes a Sunday with one of her students.
 This morning a level 2 student of mine, Dusit, invited all his teachers to his palm
tree, fruit and crab farm. He introduced his 92 (!!!!) year old father to us
who was still committed to weeding around the palm trees. Dusit explained that
he has five employees who cut the palm fruit, which weigh 50 kilos each. He then
asked them to demonstrate. They used a long pole, which could be adjusted in
size and had a sharp sickle attached to the end.
 Dusit then showed us his crab farm, located smack in the center of his palm tree
fields. He let us poke at and tease some of the crabs and then cooked up some great fresh crab. We all tasted the delicious crab and agreed that it was some of the best and freshest we had ever had.
New Teaching Children Volunteers
After the October break, Thai students are back to school for another term. GVI's Teaching Children in Thailand project is also back in session bringing us 3 new volunteers from Canada and the US. These volunteers will be working together to teach English to pre-school through 6th grade at 6 Ao Luk Schools. Monday through Wednesday they will be rotating around 4 schools located close to the GVI base in Ao Luk. On Thursday and Friday they will have the opportunity to venture out to Kuwan-Oh and Ban Tham Suea, 2 rural schools that GVI has been working with recently.
Good luck volunteers!
Tiger Temple!
'Last Saturday, our latest group of volunteers set out on a hot, blue-sky morning to conquer the fabled Tiger Temple. The 1237 steps seemed a little daunting in the heat but all were excited to take on the challenge. Armed with bottles of water, sports-trainers and determination the volunteers set off up the steps and didn’t look back. Although a few cheeky monkeys attempted to stall the group’s progress along the way, the volunteers pushed on up the steps and soon reached the top.
Emma bounded up the mountain in a gut-busting 20 minutes, but was soon followed by the rest of the volunteers. While catching their breath at the top the group congratulated each other on the climb and agreed that it was certainly worth the spectacular 360-degree views of the surrounding landscape and offshore islands they were witnessing from the summit.
After the climb everybody headed into Krabi town for a delicious and well-deserved lunch. Some volunteers then chose to kick back and relax over a couple cold drinks while others hit the local market with a new wave of energy and searched out some great bargains. It was a great day out, enjoyed by all!'
-Becca Winter
Village Project: Tung Sung Community Forest
For this week's village project the group headed out to the nearby sub-district of Khao Yai, to the village of Tung Sung, which is part of Aoluk's Community-Based Tourism Network. The village has protected a large portion of their land and designated it as a community forest. The area is home to a multitude of creatures including a rare species of frog. GVI staff and volunteers made our way to the beautiful forest early Friday morning and enjoyed a three kilometer stroll while taking the time to clear the paths of debris. It was a lovely morning spent out in nature and we were happy to support our neighbors in Tung Sung!
Trash Pick Up at the Center!
GVI volunteers and staff gathered together with students to spruce up the center. The group convened in the evening, after the heat had subsided, to pick up trash in and around our classrooms. It was well-timed as that same evening the municipality was holding the women's day celebration just down the street.
The annual celebration is held to honor the women of Aoluk. Women from each sub-district come prepared to showcase some skill or craft and all enjoy a delicious meal together. After classes finished all the teachers wandered down to check out the festivities and some were even pulled in to a dance! |
