Khruu Khemtong Punyoyai,from Huay Sai school has been running an annual English Camp for several years now.
This years event was held at San Kampaeng Hot Springs on Saturday 19th december and Sunday 20th.
In total there were 53 students from Huay Sai school who attended the weekend camp at a very reasonable cost of 100 baht each.
The weekend kicked off with us all meeting at Huay Sai School at 8.30 on Saturday morning.As well as myself there were also 2 Dutch ladies, both living in Huay Sai and an English Lady from a village nearby to the school,all going along as volunteer English language trainers.
We squeezed as many of the students as we could into our bus to help with the transport and headed off to the venue.
San Kampaeng Hotsprings is such a good choice of venue; with camping at very economical prices; the ambience of the gardens and of course, the luxury of the Hot Springs.
First job of the day was for Khruu Khem tong to officially open the camp, assign groups to trainers and outline the first days activities.
The ethos of the weekend was that above all it should be fun. All students were told not to worry about making mistakes with the language and not to take it to seriously, but to enjoy the experience of the weekend and the opportunity to practise their English with English speakers.
Each trainer had 10 or 11 students and we had a very good workbook to follow, carefully compiled by Khruu Khemtong.The day was split into short work sessions; both sitting with the book and strolling around the grounds for survey and map drawing;and freetime for both children and trainers to relax.
As might be expected, all the trainers found the first day was quite difficult, with many students very shy about practising their English.However, with the groups being mixed ages, there tended to be at least one who understood more and was able to help translate to the rest of the group.
As well as the exercises in the workbook Khruu Khemtong regularly led all the children in singing simple English language songs.
The children had plenty of time inbetween the ‘work’ to enjoy the facilities at the Hot Springs, paddling in the manmade Hot Spring ‘stream’, wandering around the site when the work day finished at 4pm, swimming in the big pool.
In the evening the whole group gathered to discuss their day with Khruu Khenmtong working hard to encourage the children to use their English to describe their activities.
There was more singing and after dinner it was Party Time. Whilst the 2 Dutch trainers went home to sleep, Sue and myself stayed and Sue really got into the spirit of the Party with an impromptu dance that got all the kids on their dancing toes to.
Just before the party started, a large fire was lit and as the evening went on the children cooked kaow lam and toasted crackers on the fire.
They clearly had a good time and were a very social crowd.
I was very impressed with how much respect the children gave to the fire. With many rural families still using open fires to cook over the children gain that valuable lesson early on.
Karaoke singing was popular.
Although I was surprised to see the best singer hiding under a table whilst performing, clearly shy to perform infront of his friends.
This is most surprising as I recalled having seen this lad performing with the upmost confidence at Chiang Mai Sunday Market some months ago.
When the party wound down at around 9.30pm the children went off to their alotted tents and for the most part settled well and were all very well behaved.
I got the best sleep I’ve had in a long time; maybe I should buy a tent and put it in the garden.
It was lovely waking up to the peaceful surroundings and relaxing atmosphere of the Hot Springs gardens.
Joining the children soaking our feet in the warm waters of the stream helped counter the chill of the early morning.
Sunday was much more of a free day and the first activity of the day was swimming in the pool.
Although all the kids were there it was mostly the boys that got into the pool, the girls possibly too shy.
After breakfast and roll call and singing the camp song we split into our groups for a final ‘work’ session.
Later, all the trainers confirmed having a similar experience in that most of the children seemed transformed in confidence and willingness to use their English language.
At around 11.30 the school Director, Mr Hirun Chainu,came to officially close the camp and to issue certificates to all children and trainers.
The children also presented the trainers with handmade pictorial cloth scrolls with thank you messages.
I think Khruu Khemtong deserves much thanks, praise and congratulations for working so hard to produce an excellent confidence building experience for the students.
And I would like my group for being such fun.
I look forward to working closely with her on further plans for expanding on this experience and giving these students, and others, more opportunity to encounter situations where they can practise their English with English speakers.
If you are interested in volunteering, either as an English teacher or maybe even, planning ahead, you think you maybe interested in helping with next years English Camp then please contact me. Khruu Khemtong is keen on the possibilty of being able to accomodate more students on the camp but obviously this means a need for more trainers to make this possible.
In the meantime we would also be happy to hear from anyone planning on coming soon, who would be interested in teaching at a local village school. There are many that would welcome an English speaking volunteer. If you contact us here we can supply details of requirements for the correct visa and work permit, depending on your planned length of stay, and offer assistance in arranging these documents.
For all of the photos from this weekend please visit our photo album here
As we needed to return to the motorbike market to complete the paperwork for the orange Wave we had agreed to meet Ally there at around 9am.
Taking the right hand turn towardds Ban Huaw Kaow, Ally first took us to what she called , ‘the alternative hot springs’. There is a Hot springs further up the main road, at Pong Nam Rorn, with a market and several food and drink outlets , which is used as a tour rest stop.
The water is, without a doubt, extremely hot , but is also disgustingly black in most of the pools and stinks to high heaven.
We were met enthusiastically by the owners golden labrador who refused to stop barking until we’d all said hello.
All caffeined up, on we went, wending our way through the hills working our way over to our main destination of Doi Khun Tan National Park. It was a long and beautiful ride. On the way we made a slight detour to our surprise lunch destination,(thanks again Ally), Tharntong Kitchen, at Tharntong Lodges. This wonderful place, nestled up in the mountain forests, with a mountain stream running through it, has been beautifully landscaped and has many wood cabins spotted around in which you can stay if you wish. With the cheapest room being 1,200 baht a night , its out of my usual budget; but for the stunning surroundings and excellent facilities, including top notch food, I’d say its worth it.
Treating myself to wild pig in red curry sauce, (120 baht..excellent quality and good portion),
e you’ll get to say hello to the resident cockatoo who is extremely friendly and poses well for the camera. He was most gentle when taking the fruit that Ally offered.
Another long, but very enjoyable ride, through more stunning scenery.
This relatively modest compound holds some beautiful Temple buildings.
What a beautiful spot, its like something out of The Railway Children, with palm trees. Lovingly landscaped and manicured, you feel you are waiting in somebodies garden rather than a station. We came across a group of farang who had been staying in lodges and had a little gripe about how long they had been waiting for the train to come. I could only remark about what a wonderful place to have to wait.
We stayed for coffee and saw their train arrive, exiting the tunnel from the mountain, that looks too small from the platform.
We had had a long ride through the day, so from here it was basically continuing on to meet the Highway 11 at Mae Ta, where we also visited the train station. Although not in quite such a stunning location, this station was equally well cared for and landscaped, where waiting for a train could only be a joy.
The road, on the whole, is very good and for the most part was quite empty.
The guest house had a very nice friendly feel to it, had a range of accommodation, from dorm beds to air con rooms. We settled on a double room with fan.
Having breakfast, I was joined by another guest, Martin, a German guy who had been living in America for 6 years. We discovered that we were heading in roughly the same direction and struck up a plan to travel together.Martin was a funny guy, after we convinced him to hire a motorcy, ( having never ridden one before), he then took an awfully long time tying his bags on, being somewhat overcautious. But each to his own:).
