Changes

I have to apologise for not writing so long.... No excuse but we had a bit of a moving time. To make a long story short: To create some income I started to look for work and found a job as an English teacher. I started work a few weeks ago at a privet Taiwanese Buddhist school from Tzu Tsi foundation. It is the first school in Thailand but in Taiwan there are many schools and also hospitals build by this Taiwanese foundation. They are dedicated to help the poor and sick and help all over the world with aid relief.
My job is to work together with the English teachers and create some sort of remedial lesson plan. Eventhough I'm struggling myself with the English language, the school think I'm of great help and I have to tell them again and again that I'm not a native speaker! The English of the teachers in whole Thailand is really poor you have to know.
It is a school I never seen before,,, no breaks for the teachers (on my first day I asked when the teachers will have a coffee break so I can meet everyone,,, I was looked at really funny and was told I can bring my coffee from home and drink it at my desk!) , The 10 minute lunch for the teachers is eaten in silence and according strict rules. But even though the rules, the children are very out of control because all is reacted upon with Love and Peace and no consequences for bad behaviour . So copying homework and cheating is rather normal,,,, So I think the kids feel unfortunately with their new teacher who brings in some new rules...! It is just very different than in Australia or Holland what makes it a good experience I guess! My Taiwanese and Thai colleagues are really nice and slowly I manage to have a chat with them all.

I will keep you up to date with my adventures at school and of course as well with the project. Ben is now visiting the schools on his own but I will join him on Mondays when I have a day of work so I can assist the project. So for me a change in our life here but it hasn't made any difference anything for the project. I can work at Tzu Tsi and still help all the teachers from Free Schools so all is well.


At the school from Ban at the orange farm all is going great! The teenagers are still coming every day and that is something we didn't expect. These Tai Ai, or Shan people are really motivated to learn.
They are the newest migration group who have arrived in Thailand and have no rights at all. They escaped from the military junta and now live in Thailand but are not excepted as refugees. It is completely out of line with the human rights Geneva Convention from 1951 how these people are treated. But as long as there is no media covering these issues, nothing will change.


It was my birthday not long ago and Ben took me to a beautiful resort where we enjoyed the pool and the green tropical surroundings. It was not so hot so we stayed a bit too long in the sun not realizing we were getting fried! So for more than a week after that we were sore and sorry!







The beautiful surroundings in Mea Salong. This area has a rich history with the famous opium trade and was home to the Shan drugs lord Kung Sa. After our wedding in January we will have a tour to this area as it is only 1,5 hour from Fang.








Smaller but more touristic than Fang. 'I'm just looking' doesn't work here! You always end up buying something. Anyway I think that is fair enough.
This lady is a Akha hill tribe. In this area you can find many Akha villages.

Teacher Training

Early this month we have had the teacher training for all the Free Schools teachers. It was a great day and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves while having a full planned day with lessons and case studies.
I prepared together with Chai most of the content for the day. Besides all the good things we have observed in the last months we also came across some aspects which needed improvement. Chai the trainer did a good job and the teachers had a active 'school day'.
Because everything was in Thai we didn't know if the lessons came really across and would be taken back to to schools. We were more than pleasantly surprised!
As soon as the schools were visited the next week there were big changes already!!!!
Some teachers who before were mainly focusing on quietly writing, were now active and the students were having a great time at school. Also the numbers of students have increased in one school. This only because a few changes made by the teachers in their attitude, way of planning or a new way of looking to the needs of these kids!
Ben and I are very exited as well as the teachers! I am very proud of them because most of them have not received much education in their life and to see the changes in some schools....... AMAZING!


From left to right, top row first:
Surree, Aer, Bii (assistant of Ban), Suwannee, Jildou, Chai
Front row:
Kung, Dee, Niem, Pikun, Yohn, Ban

Montly report August

Free Schools World Literacy (Thailand)

Monthly Report August 2007

It is fair to say that August has been an eventful month for the project here in Thailand. During this time we have conducted the first teacher training culminating in the event that took place at Fang government school on Saturday 1st September. Also this month things have been set in motion to ensure that the Mirror Foundation will take over management of the project during the next few months.

We have been anticipating the idea of bringing all the teachers together for training since we first arrived here in March. It was clear that many of the teachers were lacking some basic skills and knowledge. So it was with great excitement that we appointed Mr Chai, a government teacher from neighbouring Mae Sai, to the role of Teacher Trainer. We had meet Chai several times at the English camps and found him to be a great teacher and communicator and importantly his English is excellent.

So the training process began during August when, over the course of 3 evenings, we brought Chai to each of the evening/village FreeSchools to meet the teachers and observe them in action in the classroom. From this Jildou and Chai then worked to create a plan of action for the training. For the purpose of offering background knowledge and for the benefit of future teacher trainings I have attached Jildou’s Programme outline and the Training schedule to the email which caries this report.

The training on Saturday was a great success. It was the first time that the teachers had ever been gathered together. We were missing only 2 teachers due to other learning commitments. Fortunately they were Chantana and Poy, - two very capable teachers. The teachers all enjoyed meeting each other and while the training programme was packed there was also some time for getting to know each other. We feel a lot was achieved through this coming together.

This week Chai will begin the follow up visits. These will be longer, more intensive sessions with the teachers during class to help them implement the classroom techniques that have been learned at the training. Finally we will conclude the programme in six weeks when in the middle of October we will again bring the teachers together for a wrap us session. This will focus more specifically on teaching Thai as a second language and we hope it will be an opportunity for the teachers to be introduced to representatives of the Mirror Foundation.


We were first introduced to the work of the Mirror Foundation (www.mirrorartgroup.org) through Brennan O’connor, a photo journalist who has been donating his professional services to both organisations in Thailand. The relationship developed when Sue Tennant visited their base near Chiang Rai and meet with Paul Garrioch, an Australian volunteer. The Mirror Foundation have been working with Hill Tribe people in this region for 10 years and are highly suitable to run and manage the local Free Schools project. The schools will be managed by a Thai national and Paul will be responsible for the relationship to the Canadian and Australian organisations. The hand over will begin in October, though Jildou and I will remain in the area for some months after that so we can expect a smooth and supportive transition.

Around the schools the only change is that teacher Boom is no longer with us. Boom was teaching at Huay Patchu which was another village that had 100% attendance at the local government school. It is also a school where numbers have been low for months despite meetings we had with the village Chief. Boom has a day job at a government school so this was not her only source of income and she is understanding of the reasons why this school is not continuing. We encouraged Boom to find another village or orange farm where many children do not attend school but she was unable to do so. In the meantime we will keep looking on her behalf.

This is indicative of the change here this year since the Thai government decreed education for all, with or without Thai I.D cards. It is harder to find whole villages where children do not go to school and the future direction of the project here may do better to focus on Government school scholarships for the severely disadvantaged than expanding the village classrooms.