GIS Opens New Foundation Centre

Garden International School celebrated the successful completion of its Foundation Centre on Friday, 7th September. Parents, past and present, were welcomed to the centre and given a tour of the new facilities.

The centre now houses Early Years (2-3 years), Foundation 1 (3 and 4 years) and Reception (4 and 5 years). Early Years hours are 8 a.m. to 12 p.m., while Foundation 1 and Reception are 8 a.m. to 1.15 p.m. A ‘Mums and Toddlers’ group makes use of the Foundation Centre facilities every Thursday from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. A warm welcome is extended to any mums who would like to meet and interact with other mums and toddlers.

Parents, staff and children at the ribbon cutting ceremony

Ruth Grant, Head of Primary, was first to cut the ribbon on the Early Years gate, declaring it well and truly open. The Reception doors were officially opened by GIS Principal Ken Sly. The parents were then invited to a buffet lunch and a discussion with their child’s teacher regarding the British Foundation Stage.

Jo Steel, Head of Foundation said, “Parents are very aware these days that the Foundation Stage is a time when their child begins their journey through learning. How that occurs, and with whom is so important. The Foundation Stage curriculum is a wonderful document to work with because it understands how children develop in all aspects of their lives.”

Retno Cheah, Jo Steel, and Oanh Nguyen - staff of Garden Foundation Centre

The Garden Foundation Centre (GFC) offers a curriculum incorporating: personal, social and emotional development, communication, literacy and language development, mathematical development, creative development, physical development, and understanding of the world.

The Foundation Centre believes in working in partnership with parents, as they acknowledge that parents are their child’s ‘first educators’ and that learning is not limited to the confines of a school.

The teaching staff at the GFC welcomes visitors at any time and look forward to seeing you in the near future.

“If you can give the children a love of learning at this vital stage, then they have a love of learning for life.”

Garden International School is located at 188/24 Moo 4 Pala-Ban Chang Road, Tambol Pala, Amphur Ban Chang, Rayong, 21130, tel. (038) 880 360, fax (038) 630 735, email: [email protected], website: www.gisthailand.net

by Helle Rants้n – welfare coordinator of Rayong Ladies Circle

In May this year I wrote an article about the Camillian Center, which was published in Pattaya Mail. It was to inform the population in Pattaya and Rayong that the welfare team from the Rayong Ladies Circle had arranged an open day at the Camillian Center with the purpose of finding sponsors for the HIV-positive children’s medicine.

When we started the sponsor project the price of medicine per child per month was 15,000 baht. For lots of reasons, like being able to buy the medicine cheaper in India, the price for medicine per child per month is now 6,000 baht.

The response to our plea to find medicine sponsors has been fantastic. 10-12 members of the Rayong Ladies Circle have said yes to sponsor with the result being 5 children now have their medicine sponsored.

But it is not only about collecting money. Some of the women choose to hand over their sponsor money themselves and at the same time visit their sponsor child. It gives them a chance to witness the great change in their child’s life after it has received the medicine.

When the child arrives at the Camillian Center it cannot run, play, or eat and has all sorts of medical problems, like hair loss and skin diseases, just to mention a few. But after some months taking the medicine, having regular meals and receiving love and care from the staff working at the Camillian Center their lives begin to charge. They can run, play, eat and be just like ordinary children.

The Camillian Center, with currently 24 children in their care, still needs medicine sponsors. If any of the readers of the Pattaya Mail are interested in sponsoring a child’s medicine or want more information, please contact me: Helle Rants้n – welfare coordinator of Rayong Ladies Circle, 038 - 88 07 65 or email [email protected]

Pattaya Lions Club president, Somchai Manothaworn, who is also the chairman of the Pattaya-Naklua Gold Shop Committee, along with Phratumnak Lions Club member Somsak Nakson and Juvenile and Family Court Associate Judge Sopin Thappajug, donated B35,000 worth of food supplies to Surakij Angkunrat, the director of the Chonburi Juvenile Correction Facility. The delegation also visited with the youth and gave moral support. Currently, 303 young people are residing at the facility.

As global communication increases, more Thai people are starting to recognize the need for English. Very few Thai English speakers have developed their proficiency to a pre-intermediate/intermediate conversational level without going abroad.

English language training within schools needs to be improved. The best method would include native speakers who could conduct exercises, activities, & games with groups of students in English which would complement the Thai-English teachers’ grammar lessons.

Thai children’s first year of schooling should focus upon learning how to read and write the language that they have been exposed to since birth. The Thai language uses 44 letters which have distinctive sounds. English uses only 26 letters but incorporates over 40 phonetically different sounds, and it also uses capital letters which can add confusion. Thai children would have a better chance of learning English if they were given more time to learn and appreciate their own language before starting to learn another language.

For many teachers and students, it is not clear as to when the Thai grammar is recognized and taught. The lack of unified structure for teaching the home language makes it difficult to introduce a second language.

The majority of English books that are currently used within schools are European based in format and not always easily appreciated by Thai children, or taught by Thai teachers because of their different cultural aspects. The majority of Asians who use English do so with fellow Asians. English can be taught in such a way as to mediate cultural differences.

Charts have been compiled with over 750 Thai words that are used and taught at elementary level and with English translations. Furthermore, a listening course is being created which focuses upon all the sounds used in English - not just the 26 letters of the alphabet. This book will be at least 80 pages in length and include further translations as well as over 200 illustrations. Native English speaking children are helping with the cassette recording and a lot of the exercises distinguish sound differences as well as models for practicing pronunciation. The majority of the grammar used throughout the exercises has been limited to an elementary level. Chants and songs have also been included.

The English words on the charts and in the books are hyphenated so as to show syllables, and the stressed syllables are underlined. In both languages all the nouns are in black, verbs-red, adjectives-blue, prepositions-turquoise, determiners-light green, adverbs-pink, personal pronouns-crimson, and question words-dark green.

Putting these charts upon the walls of classrooms will greatly assist both teachers and students. In the 1st grade they will assist the Thai teacher with the Thai language, and give the children passive exposure to English. Introducing English properly (beginning with the alphabet and numbers) in the 2nd grade will mean that children have a comparative base to work from and therefore enable more productive learning.

Training guidelines have also been developed for teachers and will definitely benefit those who need to change traditional teaching styles in order to properly facilitate teaching a second language. There is strong emphasis on frequent interaction and conversation. A lot of the games and activities in the guidelines can be used with 1st grade students with their own language.

A grammar supplement complements this book in which all examples use the same colour coordination as the charts, and it will definitely be a strong support for teachers. Training will also be made available for teachers if they are interested.

It is hoped that someone who recognizes the need for improvement in language teaching within Elementary schools will provide assistance. Thai people are required to ensure that the materials that have been prepared are accurate.

I need your help to make this project successful. Interested parties who would like to contribute and assist can contact: Steve Martin, [email protected]