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.

A Week at the Schools

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!

Project Week for TEFL volunteers- to the schools!

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.

Loy Kratong

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.

Emma's Volunteer Story

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!

New Teaching Children 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

Tiger Temple!

Kayaking in Bor Thor!

'Our first side trip for the expedition was kayaking at Bor Thor. I was lucky enough to be the staff member on duty that day. I teamed up with Maria for the day, thinking we’d have a few hours to chat and do some bonding. Little did I know Maria is an avid kayaker! No rest for me – we were full steam ahead the whole time.

Man, our local tour guide and longtime GVI friend, showed us around - in and out of caves and through the lush mangroves.

Everyone was basking in the sunshine, a nice relaxing way to end the busy week. After exploring for two hours, we headed back to the restaurant to enjoy our buffet lunch. Sweet and sour fried fish and chicken with cashews are just two of the many delights we gorged ourselves on.

The popular vote makes this the tastiest food since arriving in Thailand for all the GVI crew.'

-Kristy McCulloch

Kayaking in Bor Thor!