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GIS enjoys memorable Loy Krathong celebration
Krathongs are floated in specially constructed pools.
Robert Grisdale, GIS
Head of Primary
Garden International School was very busy last Friday
celebrating the important and interesting festival of Loy Krathong. The day
was organized by the GIS Thai Department in liaison with many parents, and
what a day it turned out to be.
A great
opportunity for everyone to have a lot of fun and enjoy the activities
available.
In the morning, throughout the school the students, aged
2 to 18, made krathongs using a banana base decorated with flowers. The IB
students helped the younger classes and thereby gained a few CAS hours.
These krathongs were then floated in specially constructed pools as well as
taken home to celebrate the festival with parents.
The Primary Section of the school then held a ‘Temple
Fair’ - a tradition at Loy Krathong. Parents, teachers and students ran ten
different stalls ranging from ‘egg scoop’ to ceramic painting. This was
great opportunity for everyone to have a lot of fun and enjoy the activities
available.
Nutch (Bhunyanutch
Kanjananon) displays her bunch of roses for sale.
Loy Krathong is also celebrated with a beauty pageant and
we held our own version of this with 40 children, ranging in age from 2
years old to 13 years old, displaying an array of beautiful Thai costumes.
Every child in the pageant won a prize and there were prizes for the winners
in each category as well as the teacher with the best Thai costume, the
parent with the best Thai costume and the overall student with the best Thai
costume.
 Loy
Krathong is also celebrated with a beauty pageant and each child wins a
prize.
There were a number of musical items throughout the
afternoon. We were treated to haunting instrument playing as well as a
specially prepared dance by the Year 8 Thai class. The highlight of the
afternoon were two dances: one given by parents which was as well
orchestrated as any professional dance group and the other given by students
from years 3-6 which was beautifully choreographed.
The whole day was a massive success and everybody left
with a huge smile on their face. One parent sent this e-mail later - which
summarizes the day succinctly:
“… I haven’t spoken to any parent or child who didn’t
enjoy it fully. This morning my daughter came out with the comment, “today
is going to be a special day...” When we got home I asked her if it was, and
I got a huge smile, a laugh and a YES IT WAS! I hope it stays on the event
calendar every year.”
A
beautifully choreographed Thai dance.
Year 6
teacher James Watkins enjoys
demonstrating his own style of Thai dance.
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Regent’s youngsters visit deaf school
Ten
pupils in Year 1 and 2 from the Regent’s School went to visit the Sotpattana
Deaf School in Pattaya.
Written by KS1 pupils
On Thursday 11th November ten pupils in Year 1 and 2 from
the Regent’s School went to visit the Sotpattana Deaf School in Pattaya.
We went to learn how to use sign language in Jingle bells
for our upcoming Primary Recital. We had already started learning some sign
language but we only knew a few signs.
When we arrived we were shown to the classroom and met
our teacher Khun Anne and met some of the other teachers. The deaf children
came in and we started learning the signs. It was hard at first as there
were lots of signs to learn but we eventually got it. The deaf children
helped us with some of the harder signs to make sure we were doing them
correctly.
We are delighted that the deaf children will join us for
our performance at our concert and next week. Miss Karen is taking other
children in Y1 and 2 to the deaf school to learn the signs. On the bus on
the way home we were all singing Jingle bells and practicing our signs and
we cannot wait to meet the children from Sotpattana Deaf School again.
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An enlightening weekend of
drama at the Sanctuary of Truth
The
final performance did not disappoint
and all the students received a well-earned ovation.
Mike Thomas, Head
of Drama, The Regent’s School Pattaya
Recently a number of students studying IB Theatre and
GCSE Drama from both the Bangkok and Pattaya campuses of the Regent’s
School collaborated in an exciting and creative drama experience at the
spectacular teak structure of the Sanctuary of Truth situated at the
sea’s edge in Naklua. Each wing represents a strand of spiritual thought
found in the principal religious traditions in this part of the world.
The weekend had the overall title of REISTA 4 as this
is the fourth time students have met for an intensive weekend of drama
based on the model of the International Theatre Association Festivals of
which the Regent’s School has been an active member for the last seven
years.
After arriving on the Friday evening, the students
were divided into ensemble groups and played ‘ice-breaker’ games. The
following morning was spent within the stimulating environment of the
Sanctuary of Truth which gave the students ample opportunity to absorb
the unique atmosphere of the structure and to concentrate hard on
interpreting the intricacies of the unique carvings which festoon the
walls. Notebooks were eagerly filled with observations aided by drama
exercises which allowed students to connect even more with their
surroundings.
The afternoon was spent with each ensemble beginning
to develop their observations into a coherent expression of drama. Part
of the time was also spent watching examples of devising theatre
companies on DVD. That evening allowed the students to relax and, at the
same time, develop their performance skills in a riotous two hours of
improvisation games called theatre sports. After all that activity the
students were more than ready for some rest.
The final day was spent with the respective ensembles
polishing their drama presentations for the final performance in front
of an audience of parents and friends in the Globe Theatre. One of the
innovations of the weekend was the lesser emphasis of formal; workshops
by teachers with greater responsibility given to students themselves in
terms of leadership and developing their own ideas. The final
performance did not disappoint and all the students received a
well-earned ovation which acknowledged their hard work and commitment
over the weekend.
Hopefully, the REISTA weekends will continue from
strength to strength. GCSE Drama student, Valerie de Saegher commented,
“I really enjoyed the weekend as I met lots of new students from the
Bangkok campus with the same passion. It was a really useful learning
experience and fun weekend and I am glad I was part of it.”
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An exciting journey studying ‘The Arts’ at St Andrews School
Kamola Khaitova -
Year 6
The Year 6 children of St. Andrews International
School, Green Valley, have recently been studying their unit ‘The Arts’.
It has been an exciting journey studying various numbers of famous
artists and different genres of art. To help the students in their
studies the Year 6 class teachers organised a trip to a small art
gallery, full to the brim with magnificent art, drawn or sculpted by
modern artists in the province, called Liam’s Art Gallery.
 Getting
up close.
While there the students witnessed different genres
of art, all in different styles, sizes and colours. The children learned
a lot of things about art with loads of friendly explanations from the
gallery manager and founder, Liam, and an artist. In the gallery the
children had to find two pictures that they most fancied and had to draw
a rough copy of it in their sketch books.
After a few hours of exploring and drawing everyone
settled down for lunch. On the bottom most floor you could hear the
children’s excited chatter over the artworks that they had just seen.
These children really knew a lot about art now!
Researching different art techniques at Liam’s Art Gallery.
When everyone had their fill of lunch the classes
started presenting and discussing the artworks that had caught their
attention. The Year 6 classes had certainly learned a lot. When it was
time to go the children gratefully thanked the staff and Liam for the
tour and returned to school.
Year
6 getting their art gallery ready.
Liam’s Art Gallery was such an influence on the
children that the teachers decided to allow the children to make their
very own gallery, presenting all the work that they had done using
famous masterpieces as models.
The children of Year 6 slowly and surely prepared for
the presentation of their very own art gallery, understanding all the
important concepts of a worthy tour guide. Letters were given out to the
children’s parents with invitations to the art gallery. The classes of
Year 8, Year 5, Year 3, Year 2 and Year 1 were also welcomed to
participate.
On the assigned date Year 6 was prepared. They
greeted the other classes with warm smiles and confident minds. Each
Year 6 student was sure of what to say and what to do. First off, the
other classes arrived, willingly taking time off their busy schedule to
listen to what information the Year 6 class had gathered. Then later at
1:30 came the parents, eager to listen to the children, discovering
things that they themselves did not know. At the very end of the day,
the exhausted Year 6 children still had enough strength to perform a
comedy sketch that they had, on their own, written and produced, to the
parents. The parents went away smiling and proud of their children. The
Year 6 children had accomplished their mission; they could all go home
and relax.
Showing off the art work to parents.
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Special festival thrills youngsters
Karolina and her mother make their krathong.
Mark Beales
Youngsters had a Loy Krathong to remember as they
danced with their parents and learned about this traditional Thai
festival.
Palki proudly shows off her hand-made krathong.
Children from the Pattaya-based International School
of Chonburi (ISC) made their own krathongs, which they then floated in a
play pool. Parents also joined with their children to dance the
‘ramwong’ to mark the occasion.
The early years’ school made sure children, who come
from various backgrounds, understand the importance of their local
culture.
The school is in Banglamung, near the Sukhumvit
turn-off to Rayong. For more information visit www.isc.ac.th.
Please give to
SOS Rice Appeal 2010
These youngsters need your help.
Please donate to the SOS Rice Appeal 2010.
Derek Franklin
It takes a huge amount of rice to feed all the
children and students at the Father Ray Foundation. This staple food is
served to 850 underprivileged children and students with disabilities
three times a day, seven days a week, and to feed this amount of people
the Father Ray Foundation purchases more than 75,000 kilograms of rice
each year.
With the worldwide financial crisis, together with a
strong baht, affecting the amount of support the Foundation receives
from outside of Thailand, the SOS Rive Appeal 2010 will be taking place
over the weekend of the 3rd to the 6th December in commemoration of the
birthday of His Majesty the King.
The Father Ray Foundation appeals to the people of
Pattaya to help it feed the 850 children and students who rely on the
assistance they receive.
Local supermarkets have agreed to help the Father Ray
Foundation by allowing volunteers to collect rice from its customers
over these four days, and we ask that you show your support by donating
a bag of rice.
Supermarkets taking part in the SOS Rice Appeal 2010
are local branches of Big C (North & South Pattaya), Carrefour, Central
Food Halls, Foodland, Friendship, Makro, Villa Market, Tesco Lotus
(North & South Pattaya), Tesco Express and TOPS (Central Pattaya & Tuk
Com).
Please help the Father Ray Foundation to continue to
provide the nutritious meals that the children and students need.
More information on the Father Ray Foundation can be found at
www.fr-ray.org or email [email protected]
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Toyota drives 300 Father Ray Foundation kids to the movies
Youngsters are ushered into the theatre to watch Cats & Dogs:
The Revenge of Kitty Galore.
Phasakorn Channgam
About 300 children from Father Ray Foundation schools
and shelters enjoyed a trip to the cinema and designed their dream cars
in a day of activities sponsored by Toyota Motors Thailand.
The “Toyota Movie for Kids” campaign made its latest
stop Nov. 20 at Pattaya’s Major Cineplex where the Father Ray Foundation
kids enjoyed a free showing of “Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty
Galore,” took photos with famous actors and created paper car models.
The Pattaya activity follows similar Toyota events in
Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and will stop next in Nakhon Ratchasima.
The day started with the children taking photos with
some of their favorite actors. They then sat down to create one of two
car models, the “Toyota Milky Way” or “Toyota Hansa.” They also made
krathongs from natural materials for the next day’s Loy Krathong
festival.
Finally, it was time for movies and popcorn with the
kids laughing it up to the latest live-action family pet adventure
starring Nick Nolte and Christina Applegate.
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Singsamut students make merit, donate flood-relief supplies
Singsamut students give alms to Buddhist monks at Sattahip Temple before
presenting relief goods for flood victims to the Royal Thai Navy.
Patcharapol Panrak
Students at Sattahip’s Singsamut School gave rice and
dried goods to help flood victims in the South as a part of their ethics
and merit-making program.
The students gave alms to Buddhist monks at Sattahip
Temple to raise their awareness of volunteerism and generosity. They
then presented the relief goods to the Royal Thai Navy at Sattahip Naval
base.
Principal Prasit Luang-orn said this year marked the
third annual merit-making and donation by fifth-grade students at the
school.
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