ORGANIC FARMING

 

  

On Dec. 5 we had a unique opportunity to visit an organic farm project outside of the city limits.  It was set up by an organization called NEED Network for Education and Economic Development.  They came to our school on Friday evening and talked to our students about their idea of agriculture and what it means to them.  After some interactive activities and discussion we were prepared to go to visit their farm the next day.
Saturday started early at 8am where we all met up to go to the farm which was about 30 minutes outside of town.  You could feel the excitement as we all crammed into a tour van for the trip.  When we arrived we were handed big floppy hats to shield us from the sun, gloves to protect us from blisters and armed with cameras to document our day.  We started with a lesson on basic ecology and how to make compost and EM, then we went out in the field to get our hands dirty.  We made compost, EM and learned how to extract seeds from various plants, then planted seedlings to take back to the school and a tomato, chilli or eggplant seedling for each student to take home in a pot.  We returned to Thai Freedom House in the evening, tired and full of stories from our day which also included a wonderful homemade, vegetarian lunch, a traditional song exchange and a wild run through the dry rice fields.  We will return to visit the farm again and see how our plants are growing in February.

Homemade Books

Last week we made some books with the students:

After a few lessons about food, playing games with words and making worksheets, we thought: let's do something else! So we made a food-book with the students. The students looked in magazines and cut out food-pictures. They had to stick it on the right page: drinks on drinks page; beef on the meat page and a salad on the fruit and vegetables page. S, one of the students, even said "barbeque", when he looked at a picture of a meatstick on a grill, while we hadn't mentioned the word "barbeque" in class!  Making the food-book was a big success. The students like to read and look in their self-made book.

Last week we made another book, this one was about action words. We started reading a book about a Wizard who was kneeling, twisting and twirling and disappeared in the end. When we asked the students if they liked to make a book like that with their own pictures, they were very enthusiastic. They became even more enthusiastic when we started to take pictures. We asked "Who can dance?" and they all started to dance. We choose three girls and made a nice picture.  We also did it with jumping, squatting, singing, running, making a handstand. It didn't take long for them to take the initiative and introduce some actions we didn't think about when we were making the lesson plan. That was great! We had a lot of fun... and made a lot of noise. Hopefully we didn't disturb the other classes. But... you have to speak when you are learning a language! So I think it's a good sign when English class is a bit noisy.

After developing the pictures we made a nice book. Every page has a picture with a different move and the sentences are written in English, Thai and Shan. We made a copy for all of the students, so they can bring their books home. It's nice for them to have some pictures, but it's even more a good language exercise: they will read the book again and show other people, therefore reinforcing their learning and teaching someone else in their house.  Most of our students don't have books or written material in any language in their house so we were happy to create something tri-lingual that they could take home and keep.

Making books with students is a great way to learn (and teach) English. You can make a book in almost every subject. The students use the words a lot while making a book. They enjoy doing it, and are even more proud when they see the result at the end. They made their own book and it looks great!

-Dorien and Judith

Baby Sunday

This is Apyou and his son Atit (Sunday).  His wife died a couple of months ago and since then he has not had anyone to watch the baby while he goes to work so he lost his room and was living in a plastic makeshift tent when I saw him selling flowers in a bar at night.  I wondered where the mother was because I remember her selling flowers when she was pregnant and he told me that she had died of a heart problem in the hospital but he didn't know anymore details than that.  He doesn't have any family to help him because he ran away from the Burmese army when he was 10 and they took him to be a soldier, he hasn't been back since.  His wife's family is far away and he does not know how to contact them.
He also has a 9 year old son in a missionary school in Chiang Dao and he is trying to save up enough money to go and tell him that his mother is dead.
Currently he is living in the store room at Thai Freedom House  and we are supplying him with food and formula for the baby but he desperately wants to work, he can garden and do construction; if you know anyone who might have a job for him please let me know.  Also, we need help supporting him until he is on his feet again, if you or someone you know would like to help with formula expenses or has anything for a 4 mo. old baby boy you can drop it off at the school on Moon Muang, Soi 7, Chiang Mai, across from Wat Lam Chang.
You may also make a donation on our website www.thaifreedomhouse.org

Thank you