Description:
Welcome to GVI's blog on our English Teaching and Community Development projects where you can keep up to date with all the happenings and information from our volunteer work in Thailand
Contents:
Teaching Children in Ban Tham Suea
 Monday began GVI's first teaching project with the Ao Luk Community Based Tourism Network. The CBT Network, headed by Ao Luk's mayor, Mr. Prasit, is made up of 8 communities in Ao Luk setting up sustainable tourism opportunities run by the local people. Ban Tham Suea is one of the communities in this network. Within the village are caves in which ancient bones, fossils and pottery have been found as well as hot spring river where the community is developing a natural spa. The Ao Luk CBT Network and GVI will be partnering together to help meet the needs of the communities to learn English to run these sustainable tourist projects. This first project is a short 2 week English mini course for the village children, taught by volunteers on GVI's Volunteer with Children in Thailand project. 4 volunteers and 2 interns will be teaching about English language for tourism including food, directions and questions and answers.  For the opening ceremony, several members of the Ban Tham Suea and Ao Luk community came out to witness the event along with the mayor himself who gave his blessing for the partnership developing between GVI and Ao Luk's CBT Network.
Village Project- Sahakorn Nikom Ao Luk 2
 On Friday 14 TEFL volunteers visited Sahakorn Nikom Ao Luk 2 School, a rural primary school with over 260 students located in the Klong Ya sub district of Ao Luk. GVI's teaching team led English activities for 120 of the the 1st-3rd grade students about numbers, colors, food, animals and body parts as well as the  special GVI littering and recycling workshop led by Thai staff member Jack and our regular taxi driver, Noi!
The students had a great time and the GVI team is looking forward to returning to the school next Friday to lead activities for the 140 4th-6th graders!
Kayaking Trip!!!
This weekend a group of nine volunteers headed out to nearby Bor Thor to spend the morning kayaking through the mangroves. Volunteer Lindsay Maione, who's in Ao Luk completing her TEFL course, gives us her account of the day's events:
'Last Saturday, the newest batch of arrivals to Ao Luk braved the sun and sea (albeit, a tranquil one) for a morning of kayaking. Bor Thor, a coastal village on the nearby Phang Nga Bay, offered paddling perfection, and after getting acquainted with our friendly guides we were on our way.
Wrought with mazes of mangroves, sea caves and towering limestone crags, Bor Thor could not have provided a better backdrop as we weaved our way along the shore and through the gaping "hongs." With 3,000 year old cave paintings, rocky formations, and the occasional monkey, we had more than enough breathtaking scenery to distract us from our paddling, but come lunch time, there were aching arms all around.
Luckily, the floating restuarant's seafood delicacies awaited us and were eagerly swallowed up by our hungry crew. Fueled by our fried rice, we hit the local shops, then tired and content, piled back into Noi's familiar truck after a fun filled morning.'
Classes Start!
The 22nd term of GVI's free English classes for adults in the Ao Luk Community began today at the Ao Luk Non Formal Education Center. 65 adult students in the community came out to learn English. New TEFL volunteers observed their trainers teaching the evening classes before venturing in to team teach their first class on Tuesday. Newly Qualified teachers from the previous TEFL course began teaching their very own class at the Center.
Monday also marked the first day of teaching for our 2 newest Teaching Children Volunteers. They are part of a teaching team led by interns doing the practical portion of their 30 hour BTEC leadership certificate. 
New Arrivals
9 new volunteers landed in Ao Luk Today! 7 new volunteers will be gaining their TEFL qualification over the next 4 weeks while 2 others will be teaching English to children at the Ao Luk Schools. All will be spending the weekend learning about teaching techniques to use in the classroom on Monday! Good luck new volunteers!
GVI Truck Advertisement
This term GVI Thailand experimented with a new method of advertising for free English classes in the Ao Luk Community. The Thai community often uses moving billboards placed on the side of pick up trucks with loud speakers blaring the news of upcoming concerts, markets, festivals etc. The GVI team decided to get in on the action and organized a traveling advertisement for registration and the start of the new class term. A truck travelled around Ao Luk for 4 days blaring out the news. Volunteers and staff joined in on several occasions handing out fliers at local markets and community centers.
English Camp at Tung Talay Park
  From the 9th-11th of February, the Ao Luk and Plai Praya Non-Formal Education Centers hosted an English Camp for more than 100 students. 9 of GVI's TEFL volunteers and staff went along to lead English activities for the 3 day. The park was located just a hop, skip and a jump from a pristine beach across from Ko Lanta, one of Krabi's amazing islands. GVI's volunteers led a number of activities about clothes and fashion, directions, food, nature and prepositions of place. Evenings were filled with song, dance and music organized by the teachers of the Non-Formal Education Center.  It was a great time for everyone. TEFL volunteers enjoyed the opportunity of putting their new TEFL qualification to use in an informal setting.
End of Term Party!
The GVI base hosted yet another end of term party marking the end of the first term of free English classes for the Ao Luk Community in 2010! Because of its proximity to the festival of love the party was Valentine's Day themed. The base was decorated in pink and red with hearts a Cupid images. The GVI team and their guests were invited to wear pink, red and white.
12 TEFL volunteers received their 100 hour TEFL certificate and celebrated with their students. GVI's volunteers teaching in the schools invited some of their favorite teachers and even some of the primary school schools students that love to learn English came along with their teacher as VIP guests. Our very own GVI groupies!
With lots of tasty treats provided by students on top of music and karaoke, a great time was had by all.
As usual, these festive occasions have a sad side as we also bid farewell to volunteers and staff that are heading on their way. A big goodbye and thank you to departing volunteers and a special thanks to Maria Deevoy, a past TEFL volunteer who returned to help teach classes in the community!
Village Project at Khao Gaew School
 On Friday GVI's TEFL volunteers paid a visit to Khao Gaew School, a small primary school deep in the Klong Ya sub district of Ao Luk. With only 56 students in grades 1-6 and a handful of pre-schoolers, Khao Gaew is one of the smallest schools in Ao Luk. They began the morning with a round of the "Banana Song" which is always a hit amongst Thai students. Splitting into 5 teams, students spent the morning learning about animals, body parts, numbers, colors and shapes, and litter and recycling along with some fun games and activities.  After 5 exhausting rotations and a round of group photos everyone settled down for lunch. It was a great outing for the GVI volunteers and a much enjoyed visit by Khao Gaew's students and teachers.
Volunteer Story- Teaching Children
Jules Burwood and Shae Simpson, 2 good friends from Australia spent 2 weeks volunteering on GVI's project teaching children at Chumchom Ao Luk Nuea, one of Ao Luk's local primary schools. Read what Jules has to say about her experience:
It sounds cliched but I can genuinely say that these 2 weeks at GVI
Thailand on the teaching children program has been one of the best and most
rewarding experiences I've ever had! Everyday at school provided so much
fun, learning and entertainment. The schools are so welcoming and accept
you straight away as part of their community and families.
A huge thank you to the GVI Thailand team and other volunteers who all
made this experience so amazing, full and fun. 2 weeks just isn't
enough! I hope to be back and do more!!
Jules xx
Tiger Temple
On Saturday 8 volunteers headed out from base early to miss the crowds at the Tiger Temple. They returned after a long day with aching muscles and very satisfied that they had all reached the top. Here is what Lindsey Koro, a volunteer on the new teaching Teaching Children/Leadership Certificate Program had to say about the day:
 "On Saturday a group of us visited the Tiger Temple 5km from Krabi Town. We climbed the infamous 1,237 steps to get to the top of the limestone mountain...each step being the size of my calves and the width of my foot. It was quite the experience holding onto the railing to pull myself up each "step". Luckily there are landings at each flight of about 50 stairs to take a quick breather every so often.Once at the top, dripping in sweat and nearly out of breathe, I remember thinking that I had never felt so genuinely rewarded. A massive golden Buddha sits in the middle of a huge platform, along with a pagoda and several other beautiful Buddha statues. We had intentionally arrived at the temple extra early to avoid the intense heat and hundreds of tourists, so we were the only ones at the top. I stood there in amazement circling around the big Buddha and taking in the 360 view of Krabi, the surrounding areas, and the sea. It was the most perfect combination of spirituality and nature, and I loved that we had to work hard to have the chance to see it.
 
After making our way down (which was much harder than you'd think), we sat amongst all the scary looking monkeys that live around the temple area. I had been anticipating my first encounter with wild monkeys for months...maybe even years. My vision of cuddling with a cute little monkey did not quite match my experience with the dozens and dozens of crazy monkeys jumping around at the Tiger Temple. They were everywhere, and they were vicious! They jump and swing around grabbing anything in sight...which unfortunately included my reusable water bottle! I stood up for a second to take a picture when this sneaky monkey jumps along and snatches it away from me. He was very infatuated with it, cuddling it, tossing it around, and eventually untwisting the cap, so I decided to let him keep it (ha ha). Thank god he didn't decide to go for my camera!"
Village Project at Wat Rat Rangsan
The local nearby Buddhist Temple (Wat Rat Rangsan) recently received a huge donation of trees from a nursery in Phuket in order to beautify the temple grounds. The monks and community requested the assistance of GVI volunteers to help plant the trees. GVI's
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