Give 220 Disadvantaged Children a Brighter Future

Thankfully, this new school year, we are back to face-to-face learning in school as Phuket started to relax some of the COVID rules to allow students back to classes. Our teachers are once again able to provide English language education for disadvantaged primary school children aged 7 to 12 years old.

But it’s not plain sailing, especially for the youngest children we teach in Primary Year 1 which is made up of 30 little energetic and curious 7-year-olds. These children have missed 2 years of Kindy due to the pandemic, as the Kindergartens all over Thailand were closed to keep the little ones safe. This means that many of the children came to class at the start of the school year with very poor motor skills, let alone finely tuned ones. This was also the first time most of the students will have sat in a seat let alone been in a school setting. In the first weeks of school, the students tried hard to keep up with their new surroundings and long school hours. Classes run from 8:15 a.m. (students must be in school by 7:30 a.m.) and they are dismissed at 3:30 p.m. There is no nap time.

But, our teachers don’t let this stop the learning and the fun! This year in their first ever English classes, the 7-year-olds will learn so much: the alphabet, greetings, command words, singular and plural, feelings, self-introduction, weather, days of the week and school objects. The class is always buzzing with energy, and you will often find learning happening through songs and games. Meanwhile, in Science in English classes, the students will explore topics through experiments and experiential learning. Learning in a second language their topics require them to understand lots of new words about living things and non-living things, parts of a plant and different animals. In Mathematics in English, the students learn through games, quizzes, and competitions. They will be counting and writing numbers, comparing and ordering numbers, number bonds, and addition and subtraction.

Students of all ages always arrive in their Phuket Has Been Good To Us English classes with big smiles on their faces eager to learn (we only see this through their ‘smiling eyes’ as we still have to wear masks at all times whilst in school). Anyone seeing these huge smiles would not be able to stop themselves from smiling right back.

We are hugely thankful to still be here for the children after such difficult times. The children are always eager to learn and absorb everything we teach them.  Our teachers are so grateful to our donors from all around the world for giving them the opportunity to nurture the children, see them grow and watch their English progress.

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• Phuket Has Been Good To Us Facebook Page
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In March 2022 the second Thai school term came to an end and the disadvantaged children studying on the Phuket Has Been Good To Us English Integrated Studies programme took their end of school year exams. Their teachers were delighted with the students’ results, showing their resilience after yet another difficult school year learning so many of their lessons online due to COVID. After a well-earned break, the new school year started in May 2022 and, after over two years of online teaching due to this pandemic, at last with COVID numbers decreasing, we were able to return to in-class learning.

In their first meeting with the students, their Phuket Has Been Good To Us Teachers discussed “essential classroom agreements”.  The students were involved in planning what their learning would look like for the coming school year. The teachers didn’t give rules but created them with the students.  The children understand why these guidelines are necessary and why everyone’s voice matters. They know in our classrooms, they are in a safe place where they are seen and heard. We know that children thrive and learn in safe environments. We are also helping to teach them at an early age that their presence, their thoughts, and their point of view matters. We exercise their right to ‘vote’ on how they want to succeed together and discuss the possible consequences of their actions. We teach them to think as a class and be accountable for their actions. After we set our agreements in each class we cut out a huge red heart and signed in the “heart of the class”, with each of the students setting their goals for this term. Part of our classroom agreement discussion is knowing what other available learning resources they have in the class, where they are, when, and how to access them, such as how to properly keep the books they borrow from our book corner.

As their English and Maths & Science in English classes started for the 2022/2023 academic year the students were ecstatic to learn something new with their classmates around them again at last. In our English classes these less privileged children will learn not only the Thai curriculum but we will also develop their communication and teamwork skills over the coming year. We are excited for all the learning moments ahead and are hugely grateful to our supporters around the world for making all of this possible for disadvantaged children in Kamala School.