Teacher Training Workshop

Group 120 planned, organized and executed a teacher training workshop for 200 Thai teachers of English.


Brainstorming produces lots of ideas. Here we are capturing them on a large piece of paper.


Planning a workshop can be serious business. Can you tell?


Here is one of our most cheerful volunteers. We think she was born with a smile on her face -- and a sweet disposition to go with it.


This smile proves that planning a workshop can be an enjoyable experience!



In this photo you can see great minds at work. The two ladies had an idea of how to best illustrate to the teachers the in's and out's of playing the Hokey Pokey.


Would you believe this is a proposed teaching aid to illustrate how to play the Hokey Pokey.




The day has arrived and we are ready! This photo is from the start of the workshop. As you would expect - all involved had a great time.


Oh look, June has her camera out again - let's give her a big smile! They did and I caught it.


Here is one of our Masters of Ceremonies reminding us of our schedules and details. She, and the other Masters, did a great job.


We tried to give the English teachers ideas of new and fun ways to introduce vocabulary to their students. Here the idea is for participants to create a formation that represents the word in English that has been called out. These teachers are modeling "traffic light". Can you tell? Each formation requires a different number of people. This one takes three.


This formation is the result of calling out "flower". This one takes five people. The people on the outside, there are four, are the petals and the one in the center is the stamen/pistle.


Intersection is the name of this formation and it takes four people. Anyone who cannot be in the called out formation is then eliminated from the game.


Here is another one of our Masters of Ceremonies. She is explaining another game that teaches the names of fruits. It is somewhat similar to musical chairs but without the music. To help in the explanation our leader drew pictures of the fruits. You can see the apple she is holding. When the name of a fruit or a group of fruits is called out each person that is the fruit must change chairs.

Wonderful Flowers! Thailand!

Sorry to bore everyone but can't possibly go to Thailand and not show the wonderful flowers that seem to be everywhere. Orchids and orchids and orchids. In window boxes, in vases, tied to tree trunks, everywhere! Oddly though, the only ones we found that have a perfume were white jasmine. This is a closeup of white jasmine.

This is a white jasmine "bush". It stood about 3 ft tall and you could smell the perfume from quite a distance away. Heaven!

Week 8 - Panel in Bangkok (Gruntep)

A group of currently serving volunteers came into town to offer insights to Group 120. Here are some of them attentively listening and soaking in all of the information they can. (to see more detail on any of the photos please just double click and they will be shown in a larger format)



Although the discussion was heavy at times you can see that all were having a good time listening to shared stories and adventures!


This is kind of a closeup. Some of the youngsters quickly learned to watch when a camera was produced and would quickly smile for the photographer.


Later in the day a group of us decided to go out and eat. You have heard about 5 pounds of stuff in a 2 pound bag? Well here are a group of I am not certain how many trainees in a single small-size taxi. (Nothing like sharing the fare, huh?)


We really didn't plan our packing of the taxi very well. Somehow the tallest of all wound up in the front seat with his knees under his chin. But as with all of the young people we met in our group - the attitude was positive and the smiles were ever present!


What a great bunch of kids (from our perspective they were kids). But really it is more accurate to identify them as educated, motivated, wonderful young people.




Another shared meal and more of the beautiful young people we had the privilege to meet during training.

A Visit to the HIV/AIDS Wat

In a province nearby our training hub there was a Wat founded by a compassionate Abbot who saw the need for a safe, secure and loving place for HIV/AIDS patients. We visited one of two sites associated with this mission. These photos are taken from a brochure available to all visitors. An apology for the fuzziness but you get the idea. One campus offers three levels of care - first for those who are gravely ill and almost at the end of their illness. Next is an intermediate level for those taken by a predatory illness that they most likely can recover from. The third is the offer of a safe place to live and work if a person is living with the disease. Medications are given as well as respect and loving care to all three levels. We were impressed with the kindness of the staff.

This photo shows the cremated remains of former patients. Each container is labeled with the patient's name, date of birth and date of death. The remains are kept in the hopes that family will come and claim their loved one. Unfortunately, as you can see, there remain many unclaimed.

The second campus of this facility which we did not have the opportunity to visit - is for the children. Most are left orphaned. Some have the disease while others do not. They are loved, educated and cared for by staff and the monks. The Abbot who founded this revered and rightfully so.

To The States For Us

Hi, We do have many more photos to post and we will once we complete our trip back to the States.

Peace Corps has a rigerous application process. Those who make it through the process and are lucky enough to receive an invitation are not yet a "volunteer." In our case there was 10 weeks of intensive training. It is the end of week 9 and we are on our way home. Not all trainees are fortunate enough to be sworn in as volunteers. The schedule is intense and so is the pressure. Many handle it well but not all.

However, our time in Thailand was magical. Our Thai family will be in our hearts forever. We would not change a single minute of time spent. We are sorry that the photos will have to end at 9 weeks. But each volunteer is about to be dispersed to their various sites and the photos would have become those of only our assignment.

Good luck to all of the Group 120ers. We will think of you often and fondly.

Back from our site visit

We have all returned from visiting our various assigned sites. An apology to those of you who enjoy our photos. Although we have many we do not have the capability to upload them right now. But we do promise to put them in the blog as soon as we can.

Once we were all back we got together to share our adventures with each other. We all seem to have had a "great adventure" in various ways. Buying tickets in Thai, a tonal language, can be challenging. If you say, for example, I would like a ticket to Philadelphia in a rising tone but really wanted to go to the Philadelphia that is in a low tone you can wind up not only in the wrong town but also in a completely different part of the country - like instead of Pennsylvania you wind up in Montana!

Some of our volunteers returned knowing exactly where they will be living for the next 2 years - a specific house. Others of us have not as yet decided on a house as of yet. So we will return to our site and stay with a host family while we continue to look for just the right spot.

Our volunteers are going to live EVERYWHERE in Thailand! From the very north, to the very south, as far east as you can imagine as well as as far west as the eye can see and still be in Thailand -- in addition there will be some of us sprinkled about the inner areas too.

We still have some time to learn more (stuff) before we go. But once we go our separate ways we will definitely miss each other.

This past Saturday the teaching component of PC held a teacher training camp. There were 200 Thai teachers of English in attendance as well as all teaching volunteers. We had a really good time and the Thai teachers seemed to enjoy themselves too. Now they have some new ideas they can use in the classroom if they wish.

Visiting a Current Volunteer Couple

This is Tomi. She is serving in the CBOD role (the same program as John's-CBOD). John went to the office with her today and was able to see her in action. One of the nice things about being a couple is that you can help each other on projects or making teaching materials or maybe an English camp. Visiting current volunteers is a great way to have a window into our future.

Here is one great teacher! Got to visit his school this morning and watch him in action with a 6th grade group. They respect him, like him, and have learned bunches in the process. Boy I hope I can do half as good a job.


Here is a good example of a product from an English camp. Derrick whitewashed the wall the day before and then had Tomi and some fellow volunteers free hand an outline of each continent. The students painted in each continent. You can't see it but on either side of the map there are handprints of each student who participated. They made their handprint using the color paint they used to paint on the map. Below each handprint is the student's name.
For each volunteer assigned to a school there is a Thai co-teacher. Derrick's co-teacher has saved the results of each project from past day camps. They are all displayed on the walls of the classrooms where Derrick teaches. I have taken copious notes in the hopes that I may be able to duplicate some of his successful ideas during my assignment.

This is a conversation board. The words can be put up out of order or just straight. Students can take parts or possibly a full sentence. And while they are doing it they are also having fun. This approach seems to help them remember the material better.

Where Are We Going - Tell us again.

On the floor an outline of Thailand has been taped. The pieces of paper indicate locations of assignments. We had to stand outside of the country line until our name was called and our location revealed.


Anticipation was half of the fun waiting for the announcements. The faces are eager.


These faces show happy anticipation. Each of us was happy for the other.

First absorb as much information as you can as fast as you can and then . . .


Sharing the information with each other is part of the fun. We quickly became a large extended family.



These sweethearts were offering free hugs to any and all - can you read the sign on their shirts?


Can you tell that the young lady in the center with her hands raised in the air was happy with her assignment? She also let out a loud Whoopie!


Someone got a hold of my camera and snapped this of John and me. The pink folder in my lap held details of our assignment.

Here is our safety and security officer. He may be smiling but he takes our safety VERY SERIOUSLY.


And this is Sean. He is our guide on cultural issues.

More cultural insights. Every little bit helps!

Bill is sharing some insights from his practice teaching work. We all share and learn from each other. Each person is having a unique experience. It is fun to hear from everybody else.


Got a cultural question? No problem. Just drop it in the basket.

This map shows the north and northeastern part of the country and where some of us will be living.