Genki English Camp and Teacher Training

Right after the youth leadership camp ended, Zack and I traveled to Khon Kaen where we were scheduled to have a Peace Corps consolidation drill for our entire region. One night in an air conditioned hotel (especially after a week of sleeping on the tile floor with all of the campers) was a much welcomed luxury. We were also so excited to be able to finally spend a little time with some of the new Peace Corps volunteers (group 126) in our area. After a morning of safety and security-related activities, Zack and I headed to the hospital to have his infection on his leg cleaned and dressed once again. He had undergone minor surgery to remove the entire infected area a couple of days prior, so it still needed regular attention. The doctors decided that he should have it cleaned and dressed one more time before heading back to Chaiyaphum, so we stayed in Khon Kaen one more night before heading back to site the next day.

 Upon arriving back at site, Zack and I had a major camp to finish preparing for. There was quite a bit to organize since we were using the English camp as an opportunity to train teachers in our community as well. Since arriving in Thailand, Zack and I have taken part in many-a-camp. The major factor that bothers us about most English camps is that there are very seldom any long-term skills learned at the camps, making them fairly unsustainable. We knew that we wanted to use Genki English as our method of instruction since it is the curriculum that I have used in my classroom with my co-teachers with great success. I had also been to a couple of Genki English camps at a fellow volunteer's site and they were some of the most fun and successful camps that I had experienced to-date.

Zack and I had been trying to brainstorm ways to improve the teaching methods of more teachers in our community for awhile, so we saw the camp as an opportunity to introduce Genki English to other teachers in the area who are responsible for teaching English at their schools. Genki English seemed like a good option because the Thai government purchased the software to be used in all Thai schools, making it somewhat easily available for all Thai teachers to use.

With the help and support of our education officer at the SAO (Zack's workplace), Zack and I developed the camp so that the first day was a half-day training devoted to the six Thai teachers who had agreed to come to the camp. Luckily, my co-teachers have been using Genki English for awhile now, so it was much easier to explain the benefits of using this method of teaching and to provide concrete examples. The training helped to clarify everyone's responsibilities and the structure of the camp. My co-teachers and I also demonstrated how to use the Genki materials and taught a sample lesson.

The basic premise of the camp was a "modeling" approach. For the first day of the actual camp, each Thai teacher worked collaboratively with one PCV. Each PCV was responsible for modeling and leading one Genki English lesson while each Thai teacher observed the structure and flow of the lesson and also acted in a support role. The next day, the Thai teachers were responsible for leading the same lesson they observed the first day while the PCVs took on a support role. All of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in our entire tambon (subdistrict/community) participated.The students rotated around so that they were able to participate in all six lessons. The basic structure worked really nicely and everyone did an outstanding job.

As part of his work plan for this next semester, Zack is aiming to work with the same teachers who participated in the camp. He will most likely offer support in the classroom and monitor their growth throughout the semester. Our goal is to be able to host another camp in the next six months that relies on these same teachers leading the lessons both days rather than bringing in so many other PCVs. We'll see what actually happens with this, but it's always nice to have goals to work towards!

Click HERE for the entire album.

This speaks for itself...

The Good Days

Isan Sunset

                In my previous post I explained all of the reasons that I have been away from site recently. Although it’s nice to get away sometimes, serving in Peace Corps Thailand can be jarring in that within a two hour bus ride I can be in a city (almost) just like one in America. The drastic difference between this environment and the environment of my tiny village in Isan is just that, jarring. It’s like moving between two distinctly different worlds. I know of some volunteers who make it a point to leave site as little as possible, their reasoning being that every time they leave site and return, it leads to dissatisfaction. I’ve been playing the “comparison game” ever since I arrived here, playing with the idea of what it would be like to be serving somewhere in Africa or Latin America. I’ve been following the blogs of volunteers in Thailand and around the world, making comparisons to my own experience. What I’ve discovered is that I need to stop doing this. Unlike most Peace Corps countries, Thailand provides pretty regular access to internet/WiFi, so it’s really easy to get lost in the Facebook pictures of all of the amazing things going on back home, or feel jealous when a fellow volunteer posts about all of the wonderful, meaningful work they are doing (while meanwhile, you feel like you haven’t accomplished anything…). Even though being connected is great, it comes at a price. It always makes the experience that you actually have seem “not good enough.”

                That being said, I think these last few days have been a turning point in my experience here. I don’t think that my circumstances have actually changed, but after a couple of weeks of feeling absolutely miserable (and entertaining the idea of how wonderful to would be to just go home) I think that my perspective has changed a little bit. I’ve made a few simple changes that cater to my own needs, have begun to connect more with my community and already feel a lot more content. To start with simple changes, I have begun implementing a REALLY fun English curriculum (Genki English) that I was introduced to last week at an English camp. Teaching has been a blast and my co-teachers absolutely love it! It also requires very little planning and allows me the freedom to go home after school rather than hanging around, hoping for the very slim chance of planning with my co-teachers. This has also given me more energy and motivation to spend time with kids in our community after school. My previous schedule was leaving me feeling absolutely drained by the time I got home. It made it feel like a burden when the neighborhood kids would show up two minutes after my arriving home, wanting “extra learning.” Having the energy to indulge them helps me be more open and ultimately is helping me feel like I am actually forming meaningful relationships outside of school.

                In addition to starting a new curriculum that my co-teachers are enthusiastic about, I have also started a new second and third goal project that I’m really excited about. Students in my community are helping me participate in the Coverdell World Wise Schools program. I set up a separate blog so that we can communicate with my mom’s kindergarten class in Anchorage, Alaska electronically. The kids here are really excited to answer questions and I’m really excited for the cultural exchange.

Making chocolate chip cookies for the
school staff definitely helps with integration!

 A run-down of some really good days:
            
                While I was in Chiang Rai at the English camp, Zack bought a convection oven! I've already been putting it to good use. On Thursday, I made chocolate chip cookies for the teachers at my school. They are still talking about how "aroy" (delicious) they were! I think next week I'll try brownies. On Friday, Zack and I had “date night,” the first in a REALLY long time. He was gone for a few days at the Project Development Management conference, an optional training offered by Peace Corps, so it was wonderful to be reunited. On Saturday, Nam Peung and Sa, a couple of the girls who live nearby came over to check things out. I asked them if they were interested in helping me answer a question about wats (Thai temples) that the Alaskan students had asked. The girls eagerly and enthusiastically offered their assistance. We planned to meet on Sunday morning to go over to the wat. The rest of the day, Zack worked hard on preparing a garden while I did laundry and worked on organizing the new English curriculum. Everyone who passed by our house wanted to know what Zack was doing. Once they learned he was making a garden, they almost all exlaimed “dee maak maak!” (Really good!) Our neighbor across the street spent a good twenty minutes telling us what each and every plant within our property was and all of the benefits associated with it. He was speaking Isan (the regional dialect) and was really difficult to understand, but we’re pretty sure we got the gist of it!

Nam Peung

Sa

Come Sunday morning (after the luxury of slowly drinking some real Laos coffee), Nam Peung and Sa were on my doorstep, ready to go! Even though the question about the wat was asked by students in Alaska, I got my fill of answers too. Such a good learning opportunity for all parties involved! Later that afternoon, they brought me some vegetables, some plants in some hand-crafted water bottle planters and little minnow-like fish to put in a big water basin outside our house. These fish help control mosquito populations by eating the eggs that are laid in the stagnant water. That evening, we cooked chocolate chip cookies together (more cultural exchange!) before going to the weekly dtalat nat (scheduled market). We bought our produce for the week (eggplant, carrots, onion, greens, tomato, cilantro, basil, lettuce, cucumber, mangosteen, peppers, etc.) for about 100 baht total, which is the equivalent of about three American dollars. The market also had our favorite kanom (snack), a sort of-tortilla made with rice flour. After the market, we biked to our host family’s house and gave them the remainder of the chocolate chip cookies. It was good to see them and spend some time just sitting and chatting with one another. They sent us on our way loaded down with dragon fruit, soymilk, more eggplant and a pumpkin! I went to bed that night completely content, and come Monday was excited to go to school and just have fun in the classroom.

                These past few days I have been feeling grateful to be in my community and to be serving in the Peace Corp, in Thailand, with my wonderful husband, surrounded by kind people. I’m embracing the fact that everyone’s Peace Corp experience is unique and am realizing (for real!) how big of an impact perspective has and will continue to have throughout this journey.

A typical weekday evening at the Jones residence...

Let's get caught up!!

Main street through Lonely Beach area of Ko Chang

Lonely Beach

                Directly following our Reconnect Conference, Zack and I headed down to Ko Chang in the province of Trat for a couple of days and stayed at the BEAUTIFUL Oasis Guesthouse. We had really expensive (in relation to our Peace Corps monthly allowance) western food, special drinks and some amazing volunteers as company. It was kind of tricky to get to (a five hour van ride from Bangkok, followed by an hour-long ferry then a forty-five minute song taeo ride plus a small trek up the mountain to our bungalow), but completely worth it!

Check out the album HERE.

                After returning to our site in Chaiyaphum Zack and I were involved in a whirlwind of English camps. The first was in Nong Khai province. The camp was wonderfully organized, and since it took place on a Thursday and Friday, we were able to spend the weekend at another great guesthouse, Mut Mee, along the Maekong River in the town of Nong Khai. The highlights of our visit were "story time" with Julian, the owner of Mut Mee Guesthouse and our trip to the sculpture park, Salakaewkoo. 

A little "Rock, Paper, Scissors Evolution" 

to get camp started! (Led by Nolan)

Check out the entire album HERE.

My friend and fellow PCV, Christine, posted an awesome video of the "Wheel of Life" at the sculpture park. Check it out HERE.

                The next camp we helped with was in Kalasin. It was another Thursday/Friday camp, so we were able to spend the remainder of the weekend in Khon Kaen. We discovered an AMAZING restaurant called Didines that carried CRAFT BEER!! This is virtually unheard of in Thailand, so it was REALLY exciting for us to say the least! 

                This past week I traveled to Chiang Rai to help with a Genki English Camp. (Traveling alone on the twelve-and-a-half hour night bus to get there was an experience in and of itself!) The camp was so much fun, and it inspired me to start the planning process for implementing Genki English at my school next term. In Thailand, every first grader receives a tablet with Genki English (among many other programs) already installed on it, so I'm excited to hopefully start putting those tablets and the Genki program to good use!!

Genki = FUN!!

For the rest of the album, click HERE.

                Traveling so much over the past couple of months has been draining, but it's also been a really great opportunity to check out other sites, learn about what other volunteers are doing, and broaden my perspective on Thailand and Peace Corps service in general. It's an adventure, that's for sure!!