Teaching
Each year we select a dynamic team to travel to Thailand to meet prospective funding recipients, visit projects in progress, and to teach English at Suksasongkroh School and Orphanage.
English lessons
English is a highly-valued skill in Thailand, as it has the potential to greatly increase job prospects. As well as teaching as much of the language as possible, we found that it was just as important to increase students’ motivation for learning English with exposure to our team members and their cultural backgrounds.
We ensure that our classes are interactive and entertaining, with activities ranging from games such as ‘Simon Says’ and ‘Chinese Whispers’, dancing to songs such as ‘The Nut Bush’ and ‘The Chicken Dance’, as well as role plays and treasure hunts. All classes, regardless of age, enjoyed the lessons as they were a pleasant departure from their usual rote-learning method.
We were encouraged to see immediate results, with many students using a wider vocabulary, others displaying new confidence when speaking English, and others voicing an interest the wider international community.
About Suksasongkroh Nang Rong School
Suksasongkroh Nang Rong School, located in the Buririam province of Thailand, is a government-supported boarding school. It provides education to disadvantaged students who are living with a mental or physical disability. They come from low-income families, are orphaned, are living with AIDS or have been affected by drugs or prostitution.
The school provides Ripple Effect teams with food and accommodation in exchange for English teaching.
Getting to know the students
During their stay Ripple Effect team members visit students in the orphanage dorms. They choose a different dorm each weeknight to get to know the students better, especially those not in the classes taught. We play games to help them overcome their shyness and to have some fun. Games that are a huge hit include ‘Wink Murderer’, ‘Pass the Parcel’, ‘Musical Statues’ and ‘Musical Boats’.
A cultural exchange
The schools organise other activities for the team, including cultural exchange activities such as Thai music, Thai art, Thai Ceramics, Thai sport, Thai Cooking and sightseeing.
Every afternoon the students visit the Ripple Effect team house. We use this opportunity to give the children exposure to some typical Australian games such as cricket, Aussie rules, and ‘Duck, duck, goose’.
