Advertisement
Published: December 18th 2006
We were up early and ready to go to a substation quite a way from where we are staying where the Wildcats of Southeast Asia Teachers’ Workshop would be held. Kanda picked us up in the WildAid truck, a heavy duty truck with a carryboy on the back which was handy for hauling all of our materials for the workshop.
We were chatting about life in Thailand and learning more about the independence of many educated Thai women when we came to a bumping, grinding, bounce of a halt. Either we killed something or there was something seriously wrong with the truck. We hopped out to investigate and the front passenger side tire was in shreds - definitely the flattest of flat tires I’ve ever seen. Kanda darted down the road to a house and returned with a guy with a truck who agreed to drive us the rest of the way to the workshop in the back of his truck while Kanda remained behind to fix the tire. Everyone was surprised to see us bounce up in the back of a pickup truck with a guy we didn't know!
A full day of activities and feedback with the
Thai teachers and WildAid staff was very informative. This was the first guide designed for teachers they’d encountered, and we wanted their feedback so changes and improvements could be made before we printed the color version for widespread distribution. One teacher suggested the guide be adapted to be about gaurs instead of Clouded leopards, but most of the other suggestions were very helpful. In the translation that was completed, a word-for-word approach had been taken rather than a holistic approach, so some inaccurate words were used. For example, the cover basically said “Cats (as in kitty cats) of Southeast Asia” instead of using the word for “wildcat.”
The majority of teachers were men and they did not seem fully engaged in the process at the beginning, but they quickly warmed up when all of the teachers were asked to play the role of students as Karen and Wendy introduced them to four activities in the manual. They practiced a running game called “Oh, Deer” which demonstrates natural fluctuations in populations of wild animals depending on their access to basic needs; a food web game involving wearing animal name tags and tossing a ball of yarn to predators or prey
of the animal listed on the tag; and a role playing game where groups of teachers were assigned to stakeholder groups and asked to make a case for the preservation of a village within a park to the park officials. Seeing teachers playing poachers and talking about needing to poach because they have three kids in college and need the money for tuition was interesting. The teachers gave the workshop great reviews and many left excited to try some new activities with their students.
(See the next journal for photos and stories from the evening - the days are so full!)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.112s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 11; qc: 64; dbt: 0.0712s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Jason
non-member comment
Bug Eating and Fund Raising
Hi Brynn - I can't believe that there are no comments on your bug eating adventures. I think you have missed an opportunity to get your readers to pledge contributions to the causes you have identified based upon the number of spicy legged creatures consumed. I know that I, for one, would have bet a fair sum that you would not be willingly eating the creepy-crawly things that you were anxious about encountering before you left for your trip! Take care!