Khruu Khemtong Punyoyai,from Huay Sai School has been running an annual English Camp for several years now.
This years event was held at San Kampaeng Hot Springs on Saturday 19th december and Sunday 20th.
In total there were 53 students from Huay Sai school, who attended the weekend camp at a very reasonable cost of 100 baht each.
The weekend kicked off with us all meeting at Huay Sai School at 8.30 on Saturday morning. As well as myself, there were also 2 Dutch ladies, both living in Huay Sai and an English Lady from a village nearby to the school, all going along as volunteer English language trainers.
We squeezed as many of the students as we could into our bus to help with the transport and headed off to the venue.
San Kampaeng Hotsprings is such a good choice of venue; with camping at very economical prices; the ambience of the gardens and of course, the luxury of the Hot Springs.
First job of the day was for Khruu Khem tong to officially open the camp, assign groups to trainers and outline the first days activities.
The ethos of the weekend was that above all it should be fun. All students were told not to worry about making mistakes with the language and not to take it to seriously, but to enjoy the experience of the weekend and the opportunity to practise their English with English speakers.
Each trainer had 10 or 11 students and we had a very good workbook to follow, carefully compiled by Khruu Khemtong.The day was split into short work sessions; both sitting with the book and strolling around the grounds for survey and map drawing;and freetime for both children and trainers to relax.
As might be expected, all the trainers found the first day was quite difficult, with many students very shy about practising their English.However, with the groups being mixed ages, there tended to be at least one who understood more and was able to help translate to the rest of the group.
As well as the exercises in the workbook Khruu Khemtong regularly led all the children in singing simple English language songs.
The children had plenty of time inbetween the ‘work’ to enjoy the facilities at the Hot Springs, paddling in the man made Hot Spring ‘stream’, wandering around the site when the work day finished at 4pm, swimming in the big pool.

In the evening the whole group gathered to discuss their day with Khruu Khenmtong working hard to encourage the children to use their English to describe their activities.

There was more singing and after dinner it was Party Time. Whilst the 2 Dutch trainers went home to sleep, Sue and myself stayed and Sue really got into the spirit of the Party with an impromptu dance that got all the kids on their dancing toes to.
Just before the party started a large fire was lit as the evening went on the children cooked kaow lam and toasted crackers on the fire.

It was great to see the respect the kids had for the fire; with many rural families still using open fires to cook over , I guess they learn that lesson early.

All the children appeared to have a great time and were a very social crowd.

Every now and again one of the students would run up with either kaow lam or a cracker and politely offer it to one of us.
Karaoke singing was popular. although I was surprised to see the best singer hiding under a table whilst performing, clearly shy to perform infront of his friends.

This is most surprising as I recalled having seen this lad performing with the upmost confidence at Chiang Mai Sunday Market some months ago.
When the party wound down at around 9.30pm the children went off to their alotted tents and for the most part settled well and were all very well behaved.
I got the best sleep I’ve had in a long time, maybe i should buy a tent and put it in the garden.
It was lovely waking up to the peaceful surroundings and relaxing atmosphere of the Hot Springs gardens. Joining the children soaking our feet in the warm waters of the stream helped counter the chill of the early morning.
Sunday was much more of a free day and the first activity of the day was swimming in the pool. Although all the kids were there it was mostly the boys that got into the pool, the girls possibly too shy.
After breakfast and roll call and singing the camp song we split into our groups for a final ‘work’ session.

Later, all the trainers confirmed having a similar experience in that most of the children seemed transformed in confidence and willingness to use their English language.

At around 11.30 the school Director, Mr Hirun Chainu,came to officially close the camp and it was then time to leave.

I think Khruu Khemtong deserves much praise and congratulations for working so hard to produce an excellent confidence building experience for the students. I look forward to working closely with her on further plans for expanding on this experience and giving these students and others more opportunity to encounter situations where they can practise their English with English speakers.
If you are interested in volunteering, either as an English teacher or maybe even, planning ahead, you think you maybe interested in helping with next years English Camp then please contact me. Khruu Khemtong is keen on the possibility of being able to accommodate more students on the camp but obviously this means a need for more trainers to make this possible.
In the meantime we would also be happy to hear from anyone planning on coming soon who would be interested in teaching at a local village school. There are many that would welcome an English speaking volunteer. If you contact us here we can supply details of requirements for the correct visa and work permit, depending on your planned length of stay, and offer assistance in arranging these documents.

For all the photos from the weekend please visit our photo album here.