English Camp - Hua Hin

Josh and I were asked to chaperone a 3 day English Camp. This camp is very different from the day camp we chaperoned in December, as we quickly found out. It would be us two, along with four other foreign teachers, planning the learning activities, preparing the camp handbook. and designing a camp banner. We've been working on these items for 2-3 weeks prior to camp.

We departed Sunday morning and would return Tuesday afternoon (bit of a schedule problem with Jake arriving Sunday night, but more on that later). All 80 students, 5 Thai teachers, and 5 foreign teachers loaded onto the buses and started the 3 hour journey to Hua Hin, a town on a beach. This day was filled with site seeing and tours of famous landmarks near and in Hua Hin before going to our hotel.

The first site was Marukathayawan Palace. This palace was built using teak wood in 1923 for King Rama VI. This massive Thai style palace was built right on the beach. Hallways between rooms are all open air. It is a huge compound with lots of beach! It is a beautiful palace and a great place to see the extravagance of the Thai Royal Family.

Back on the bus for our next site. Because of some chaos at the first site, we sat all the students down and explained in detail what they needed to do at each site - huge improvement! Crazy how much better things go when all parties involved are prepared. Next was Huai Mongkol Temple. This is a huge statue of a monk who lived over 400 years ago, he was made famous because he performed many miracles. We met with our teams of students and completed tasks, then had free time to walk around. This is one of the biggest statues I've seen, and with such detail too, it was quite the site!

Back to the bus for our last site of the day - Sam Phan Nam Floating Market. Again we met and completed tasks with our teams then were free to explore. This market, designed around a lake, was neat to walk around.

Josh working with his team

Next we went to the beautiful hotel right on the beach. We had an opening ceremony, where the speeches we wrote were spoken. Then off to bed for another full day the next day.

Up early for breakfast then back on the bus to Pranburi Forest Park. The five foreign teachers went into the forest to set up for an "amazing race" type activity, then the teams of students came in one by one to complete each task. We really enjoyed this activity and park.

Back to the hotel for our afternoon English activities. Each one of the foreign teachers designed an activity geared towards a specific English skill. Josh's focus was speaking and Beth's was listening. After this rotation activity we met with our teams to create a presentation based on a site toured during camp. Later that night each team presented their project. The kids also received some free-time to swim and play after they finished their projects.

Josh - Team Presentation

Beth - Team Presentation

On Wednesday night, after the students had gone to bed, a few of the foreign teachers ventured out into the sea for a night swim. It was low tide so we had to walk a long way to find water. The water was crazy because some patches had glow-in-the-dark algae! Whenever you moved in the water it looked like glitter - pretty! There were also small crabs (dime-sized) on top of the sand under the water. Whenever we would put our feet down on the ground, we could feel them digging into the sand to escape.

Tuesday morning, after breakfast, we had closing ceremonies and awards were given out. Then back to Bangkok.

The Five Foreign Teachers

All the Teachers on the Trip

Wow, we sure learned a lot about taking school trips in Thailand! You must be patient - things do not always get done in the most sensible way or on time. You must be kind - even if you think a task could be done more efficiently or practical.  You must have an open mind - culture is very different here and things are done differently. You must be able to adjust - a schedule is not designed to be accurate, you must be willing to change and bend. Overall, it was a very delightful camp, we enjoyed getting to know the English Program students and our colleagues better, and seeing Thai cultural, historical, and natural sites.