Sunday 28 September 2014

The return of Zen Dog

September has been a crazy month as we have been trying to complete project activities and tie up loose ends before the closure of the centres for mid-term break in October. In our regular visits to the centres we have been working with the teachers to reflect on the changes that have taken place as a result of the project, in preparation for the evaluation workshop.
On top of that, here are some of the other things we have been doing since my last catch-up post:

Tuesday 9th September: mini-workshop with the teachers at one of the centres to encourage more effective team-working

Wednesday 10th and Thursday 11th September: meetings with local area education chiefs to discuss evaluation workshop and final partnership review meeting

Monday 15th September: meeting with local ministry officials to discuss final details of capacity building project in local child care and development centres

Tuesday 16th September a.m: meeting with directors of two centres to work on developing an information leaflet for parents about Early Childhood developmental stages and appropriate teaching and support



Tuesday 16th September p.m: attended community meeting at local ministry office to discuss plans for a youth event for Thai and migrant children and young people later in the year



Wednesday 17th September: Part 2 of working with centre directors on the information leaflet for parents

Tuesday 23rd September: visits to the three additional centres that we have not been working with on a regular basis, but have attended our workshops and received books and resources

Wednesday 24th September: training session for World Education Master Trainers in basic Early Childhood Development principles and practice

Thursday 25th September: teacher observation visit for migrant learning centre teachers in collaboration with fellow VSO volunteer Alice




Saturday 27th September: Project evaluation workshop with teachers and directors




The end of the workshop turned into a photo-call reminiscent of a wedding, with photos of every conceivable combination of people. I'll just share  the final group photo!


In the middle of all that, I took it into my head to apply for a job I had seen advertised back in the UK, and I ended up having two interviews by Skype. I didn't get it in the end, and I am rather relieved - I think I have been saved from my own madness! It would have been crazy to leave here in such a hurry and try to launch myself straight into a new job without any breathing space in between. I'm coming to the conclusion that VSO probably have it right when they suggest volunteers should take time to adjust back to life at home before serious job hunting. Time to re-acquaint myself with Zen Dog:




Sunday 14 September 2014

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

I have decided to share with my loyal readers some of the wonderful musical sounds that I am entertained by, night after night. I mean, it seems selfish of me to keep such delights to myself when I can share them with a much wider audience.
Unfortunately the performers cannot actually be seen in the videos, but the view from my bedroom window proves that all these recordings were indeed made at dead of night.
Backing vocals throughout courtesy of The Cicadas.

The Lone Barker
with additional percussion by Rain on a Tin Roof


The Midnight Choir
performing their Top 10 hit:
"Howling at the Moon"
 
 
The Almighty Scrap
with appearances by
The Big Bad Bully and The Irritating Yapper
(Not sure why this one got inserted sideways)
 
 
Duet featuring The Cicadas and The Washing Machine
with the well-known classic "Wash your socks at five o'clock!"
 
 

Saturday 6 September 2014

Medicines, meetings and mountains of sticky-back plastic

The last few weeks seem to have been crazily busy (and the next few look just as packed), and I haven't managed to add anything to the blog for a while. So here is a quick round-up of some of what has happened:

Tuesday 19th August: Tried yoga for the first time. I am not doing aerobics at the moment. Alice is away and I will not walk to the class without her and her large stick with which she fends of the dogs! I have been meaning to try yoga for a long time but never got around to it. I am not quite convinced that I have the patience for it, but maybe it would do me some good to do something that really forces me to stop my mind for a bit occasionally!

Wednesday 20th August: Up to now we have not worked much with the teachers of the very youngest children, as they do not technically come under the remit of the project. However, having discovered the teacher of the under-twos at one of the centres attempting to teach them the alphabet, we held a special mini-workshop for the teachers of the youngest students, looking at developmentally appropriate teaching and learning for children of this age. Part of the problem is inappropriate parental expectations, so we are also going to work together with the directors and the local education department to create an information leaflet for parents about development in the early years and appropriate teaching and learning.


Friday 22nd August : The throat infection I had at the end of July triggered a major flare-up of my psoriasis, sufficiently bad to warrant making the 8 hour bus trip to Bangkok to see a skin specialist. I decided to make the most of it and make a couple of other appointments at the same time.

Saturday 23rd August: I spent most of the day at the luxurious BNH in Bangkok. First stop, the dermatology department, where the pre-appointment vital signs check revealed my weight as 48.8kg and my blood pressure at an all time low of 85/54 - I wondered how I was still vertical! The dermatologist was excellent, and I came away with a whole selection of lotions and potions to treat my skin. It just means starting my getting up and going to bed routines about half an hour earlier!


I also had appointments with the ENT department to have my ears cleaned out with their state-of-the-art suction machine - a surreal experience as you get to watch the whole procedure vastly magnified on a large flat screen TV above the bed - and in the breast health centre for a routine check up.

Sunday 24th August: I spent the day with fellow VSO-volunteer Jennel, who had made the 9-hour journey from Ranong to Bangkok, also for medical visits. Being a total of 17 hours apart, we have seen very little of each other during our placements, apart from the occasional VSO meeting in Bangkok and the study visits to each other's placements, so it was lovely to have the chance to catch up and spend a bit of time together.
We went to the famous Chatuchak market in the morning where, browsing through a bookstall that appeared to sell absolutely everything, I discovered my A Level chemistry text book (not my copy, obviously!) Later I also found the molecular cell biology textbook I used at university. No doubt all terribly out of date by now.


Monday 25th August: Travelled back to Mae Sot.

Tuesday 26th August: 2nd yoga class - some progress...

Friday 29th August: We held a meeting in Burmese for migrant parents at one of the centres, giving information about early childhood development and how they can support their children's development at home.




We also received the news that the centre that took part in the contest organised by the Ministry of Public Health won the final provincial level round! The teachers and school committee will all be heading down to Bangkok at some stage to receive the prize from the wife of the prince. Maybe our singing did impress after all!

Saturday 30th August: We held a 1-day resource-making session for the teachers. Attendance was voluntary, but most of them came, apart from a few who had been struck down by conjunctivitis, which seems to be rampaging through the centres. They worked incredibly hard making a range of visual resources and games, which I hope they will use! I spent most of the day covering things with sticky-backed plastic, which is surprisingly tiring; I was exhausted by the time I got home!




Friday 5th September: Repeated the parent meeting at another of the centres.



In the afternoon we delivered some toys we had ordered for the centres. It has taken the company such a long time to process and deliver the order that the teachers had forgotten we had ever ordered them, so it was an exciting surprise!

In between all this we have been continuing our usual rounds of visits to the centres. This month we are doing reflections with all the teachers on the changes since the start of the project, in preparation for the evaluation workshop we have scheduled for 27th September. We are also in the final stages of developing an ECD handbook for teachers, based on the key learning points from the training we have done with them, plus a few other activities we want to fit in before the mid-term October break. After that the project will be essentially finished, with only the final partnership review and report-writing left to do. I can hardly believe it is all coming to an end.