Ministry of Education visits T2T Computer Center

T2T Computer Center in Phon Phisai made a huge impression on the Thai Government representative who visited our classes last week.

The visitors were very impressed by the advancement of the classes and the work of our volunteers, David, Alejandro and Jonathan. However it was the advancement of Gary's Photoshop class that had the most impact on the visitors.

To believe that the students had advanced from not recognizing a mouse or understanding how it related to the arrow on the screen, to replicating, the picture (see below) in a mere 6 weeks! Cut outs, layers, and special effects, all demonstrate the students' excellent grasp of basic Photoshop skills.

Our students are people that left school at an early age to help farm the rice fields. They are so eager to learn that we constantly keep doing extra classes and supervising extra hours on the computer. The majority of them also stay on to participate in our English classes which are held at the end of the day.

The Thai Government Director of Adult Learning Centers insisted that this was a unique and encouraging endeavor and something she would like to see replicated throughout the country. Such was the interest that we had to sit the whole afternoon explaining how we had gone about this, what our pedagogical ideas were and what our plans for the future entail.

Unfortunately the driving force behind this center, Nat, was unable to take part in the presentations since he was away in London for a friends wedding.
But a great thanks to him and the volunteers who made this project a success. After all what are seven computers without skilled, ambitious and interested teachers!

October Camp in Nongkhai

Our October Camp in Nongkhai this year will be different.

We will be working together with a small school, Michai school, just outside of town.

The school is very poor and basically falling apart form lack of funding and the children are from underpriviledged families.

We will renovate the school, together with Thai students, while encouraging them to practice their English. Teaching one or two hours in the morning, building, painting, repairing parts of a school, a basketball court and a football pitch in the afternoon. Also meaning that the day may easily end with a game of either sport! We will also build a simple recycling station and thus have the chance to transmit some environmental awareness in the process.

October Camp Mini Gallery

T2T Around the World Parties:!!!

A 7 pm start in The Netherlands meant a long night for the Thailand volunteers.

Events kicked off at 7 pm (Thai time) with a Mittapap organization social event. The Mittapap or friendly organisation is a Thai project based in Nongkhai. The founders hope to promote intercultural awareness throughout the region and spent the evening chatting with Travel to Teach volunteers.

After that it was out to watch the local band before returning to the T2T office for the live link to Utrecht. A group of twenty former volunteers had gathered in the town to catch up with old friends and as well as making new ones. A big screen broadcasting the web link enabled the two parties to chat until dawn.

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