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Published: March 1st 2010
Schoolyard
they look discipined, don't they?Friday morning found me up and ready to roll at an unrealistic 7:30 AM when the resort GM, Nigel, loaded up four of us to go into the private school to teach English to youngsters. Chumpon Palm Resort sponsors a program to bring (mostly young European backpackers) in to stay at the resort for free and spend 20 hours per week as volunteer English teachers.
Nigel, the resort’s manager, does this pretty much for altruistic reasons. At first the school had hired him to provide the program and the compensation was only enough to pay for the gas to get to school and back every day. After a while, the school fell on hard times and now not even gas money is provided. The kids love him and the teachers he brings in.
Today, I was teamed with Jared, a northern California guy, who is also teaching only today and does not receive compensation. Also teaching other classes today are Tom and Fanny, a couple of Dutch young people, who found out about the program from another volunteer opportunity in Thailand where they met. They decided to make their way to Chumphon and agreed with Nigel to teach English
My fellow teachers
Tom (Dutch), Jared (California), Fanny(Dutch) and stay at the resort free if they will work 3 hours per day in the restaurant/bar. Another young volunteer, Philippe, from France has been ill with some strain of jungle fever and was unable to answer the opening bell today.
Nigel drove his 13 year-old daughter to her school and then dropped the four of us at the elementary school a half hour before school starts. With the time available, we walked about a block to a Thai coffee shop for a morning brew. While the coffee was being prepared, I found a street vendor a couple of blocks away for a rolled sweet delicacy made of mashed banana and filled with mango. Just in case it wasn’t sweet enough the bundle contained a fat packet of sugar laced with what I hoped was dark seeds and not mouse droppings.
We finished our coffee and arrived back at the schoolyard where the young teachers were mobbed by the kids who treated them like three Pied Pipers of Hamlin. When I waved and made friendly sounds, I became the fourth piper.
Once inside the schoolhouse we climbed to the second floor and were assigned to a classroom
1st Grade Classroom
good thing I took this picture early while they were still attentive filled with excited first graders. Jared introduced us both and then led them in their favorite song/game, “Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes” to their obvious delight.
Our assignment for the day was to teach the states of the USA to the kids. Who better to do that than a couple of Yanks? Since most of his volunteer teachers, and he himself, are Europeans, Nigel took advantage of a pair of Americans to teach Thai kids about the US states.
The first graders were a little difficult to keep interested and after about 10 minutes, we wrote the names of a few states that we had already covered with a line underneath for them to copy the name of the state. That worked for the first couple of contestants and then composure broke down again. We were back to “Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes” to regain their interest.
We were able to return to the map for a few minutes and they got bored and many of them pulled out coloring books to be able to do something productive.
By the time we got to our second classroom (2nd or 3rd graders) we changed our
Professor Hal
Here are the states of the USA approach. After introductions, Jared led them in “Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes” while I put a map on the chalkboard. He then made sure that they all had a notebook, or at least a sheet of paper and we had them repeat the name of the state three times and write it on their paper. This kept them a bit more interested for a while. With our second class we actually made it across the western states and onto the east side of the Mississippi River before running low on time and then we graded their papers for them on the spot.
We read their entries and then gave them a mark - Jared used a star and gave them a smiley face. They were soooooo pleased!
When we finished our second class, we were done for the day but still had an hour or so before Nigel would return with the truck to take us home. The Dutch kids (remember that in my parlance anyone under 40 is a “kid”) went off in one direction and Jared guided me to a grocery store in the other. After picking up a few necessities, Jared spotted a local
Grading Papers
they were so pleased! bus that would take him back to the resort for 30 Baht ($1) and peeled off in that direction. I opted to just wander the streets of Chumphon in search of adventure.
I stumbled onto a market that went back more than 200 meters (180 yards - almost two American football fields) from the street. There were meat stalls, flower stalls, vegetable stalls, electronic stalls, and just plain junk stalls. It was all very fascinating. When I asked one of the food vendor ladies if I could take her picture, she agreed but didn’t smile for the camera. Second time around, she smiled and as I showed her the photo on my small digital camera and told her she is beautiful, she blushed and said “no beautiful!” I’ll let you judge for yourself.
On the way back to the school to meet the Dutchmen and Nigel for the trip home, I got hungry and stopped by a local open air restaurant. They were most accommodating and even had a menu that is partially in English. I ordered Noodles with Pork and a large drink which came to the princely sum of 80 Baht ($2.40). The noodles were
Boxer in Waiting
he looks pretty ferocious to me delicious and I even recognized some of the meat as being sliced roast pork. There were a couple of other meat morsels that I couldn’t quite recognize (I’m sure one was pig intestines), but I ate them anyway and they were tasty.
The trip home was uneventful and lead to a much-deserved nap from about noon until who knows when, in our air conditioned Chalet.
Muay Thai (Thai Boxing) The evening lead to a night of Thai Boxing in town. The event was really more like a county fair and was a benefit for the local Buddhist temple. There were loads of stalls selling wares (we only bought water) and events that included dancing, an outdoor movie, carnival games and our main event Muay Thai.
I mentioned earlier that Chumphon Palm Resort has a gym and trains youngsters in Thai Boxing. I’ve wandered over to the gym a couple of time to observe the workouts and the youngsters are very determined. This is likely the national sport with football (soccer) coming in a distant second.
Nigel explained that many of the local kids have no where else to go and that he always sees to it
Fast Action
well, sorta fast that they get a meal and are well cared for. The first youngster to take the ring was a 6 year-old from their gym, an orphan, who is looked after by his 11 year-old brother. Both of them do Thai Boxing in order to get money to live on. Nigel gives them 200 Baht ($6) for participating, win or loose. If they win, the prize money is 2,000 Baht ($60). Nigel says the 200 Baht will feed them for over a month. Our boy didn’t win, but he put up a valiant effort.
We watched another half-dozen or so matches for a total of about 3 hours and then Nigel’s wife, Peace (not sure how to spell it) picked us up for the ride home. It was nearly midnight and I for one was exhausted.
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Shelly Conlin
non-member comment
They should have warned you
Hal - they should have warned you that 1st graders have an attention span of approximately 10 minutes. I tried coaching a group of 3rd graders in baseball last year. It was tough keeping them focused for an hour, and they were doing something active and fun! Enjoy your penthouse suite!