English Crazy Camp

ECC Training Camp 2011

2011-03-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

As our backpacks were loaded onto the large song-thaew outside the English department at Ubon Ratchathani University, I had no idea what to expect from the coming weekend at English Crazy Camp. I had some wonderful conversations with students as we drove down the road and watched the sun set. When we arrived, we were warmly greeted by the school staff with a beautiful meal ready for us (the first of many!!) and we all dug in. After dinner, we got straight to work learning the new songs and games. I was especially pleased to learn of the Thai rendition of "rock, paper, scissors" entitled "girl, ghost, monk." In our get-to-know you game, it was also interesting to learn that the older students are addressed as "Pee" and the younger students as "Nong" I hadn't known that! After lots of laughter and already many interesting conversations with the students, we were ready for bed. I hadn't been traveling with a sleeping bag, so luckily the school gave me a very warm and fluffy bright pink blanket and matching pillow to sleep on. I slept like a baby.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early. I was absolutely shocked to see children already arriving by bicycle at the school hours before we were scheduled to start, and on a weekend at that! It was really beautiful (and refreshing!) to see kids so eager and excited to learn!

The day was filled with lessons, games and songs. I helped out with the Nature group, mainly assisting with correct pronunciation of different items in nature and colours. The kids had to find the different objects we asked them for, like "pink flower" or "yellow leaf. and then later, they had to draw pictures of what we described and tell a story about it. Thanks to the translating skills of the students, I got to appreciate the kids' creativity in their storytelling.

That night we were up late again, but got to watch the great film, Pay It Forward. It was nice to hear the discussion that followed the movie about everyone's different conception of what "paying it forward" means: in the world, at English Crazy Camp, etc. A great discussion, but after a long day in the heat and mountains of beautiful Isaan food (I love Isaan food, by the way!), I was ready to sleep again.

The next morning we started early once again, and I think - if it's possible - the kids were there even earlier! They couldn't get enough! We started with a walk to the nearby temple. Netting taught me a lot about Buddhism in Thailand and a bit about the forest monastery tradition in Ubon. After some more games back at the school, and another HUGE lunch (I was feeling quite full at this point), there was a beautiful Isaan closing ceremony during which I had tens of little white bracelets put around my wrists for good luck. It was a very special experience: I kept those bracelets on for over a month!

The weekend ended with a walk around the children's villages, a game of dodgeball, and then the group of English Crazies left for a stop in Netting's village and a walk over the dam. We tried looking for monkeys but couldn't find any, unfortunately!! It was a nice relaxing end to a great, albeit exhausting, couple of days.

I was so pleased to have stumbled onto English Crazy Camp. I had lots of fun playing with the kids, and in the meantime learned so much about student life in Ubon, and about Thai & Isaan culture and politics from the other students, not to mention making many lasting friendships. I can't wait to come back to Thailand join the English Crazies again. Thank you for including me!!

Immersing in Peaceful and Sufficient Life in Laos

2010-10-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

by Atchara Simlee

Student Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University, Northeastern Thailand

I was extremely excited when I knew that I was one of 12 students from Ubon Ratchathani University that was selected to take part in the Southeast Asia Field School 2009. I prepared myself to stay in Southern Laos with 24 Australian friends from the University of Sydney and 12 Laotian friends from Pakse Southern Agricultural College.

After the van crossed the Thai border, everyone who was a part of this journey, myself included, felt excited because most of us would be visiting Laos for the first time. The van took me and my friend to meet the Laos and Australian authorities and the students at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in Champasak province. Here everyone welcomed me and my friends warmly. Laotian students dress modestly, and the girls wear their local skirts most of the time. I felt like I was still in Thailand because Laotian and E-sarn Language and cultures are similar.
So I got use to Laotian culture quickly and got along with the people there quite well.

After the warm greeting and the lecture from Laotian authorities, the group of a total of 24 students, was divided into two groups. The first group had to stay at Kaengpho village and the scond group had to stay at Khamyaad village. Every Thai student got two buddies, from Australia and one from Laos. The buddies had to take care of each other until their one week task was finished. It was there that everyone had their first friendship lunch and got to know each other more. After the lunch, we headed to the Sanachomboun district where the two villages were located. The two villages are situated along the Sedon River which flows into the Mekong River. I was in the first group and stayed at Kaengpho village. Every two students stayed in one house. My hosts were extremely nice. They feed my buddy and me very well with local fresh food. After I woke up early in the morning, the first thing I saw was food and a bucket of water for cleaning my hands after eating.

While other friends and I stayed there, we participated in many activities. There was interviewing the villagers about their life and the way they manage resources in the village. Our activities for the first day, were visiting a back swamp of the village, finding local food depending on students’ interest and building a brick pond for breeding fish. From the interview, which my buddies and I did, I found that the villager’s ways of living are sufficient and peaceful. They find food in the village and grow rice by themselves. They rarely buy food from anywhere else. The older people live in the village, while the younger villagers work in the city or other countries and send money back home to villages often.

The villagers’ management of the swamp is well organized. They make rules to preserve the swamp and birds which live around it, using only fishhooks and other small equipment to catch fish in the dry season. They do not catch birds, only a large number of fish when there are visitors arriving or there are annual ceremonies held in the villages. They also believe that there is a female spirit who protects the swamp. If any villagers break the rules, they must be punished by the spirit and also fined by the head of the village. However, this case is rarely found because the villagers trust each other. They also raise animals such as chickens, ducks, and pigs around the village which have never been stolen. Moreover, people make a fence to protect only the animals not the robbers.

An interesting activity that I did with the villagers was catching fish from the back swamp. We were riding a boat and collecting fish from the swamp at the same time. Although the weather was quite hot, I felt fresh because of the coolness of water that I touched and the nice wind that swept around the swamp.

We gathered enough fish to cook lunch, including food from another group, who collected red ant eggs. We then had another friendship lunch between students and the villagers. Because of my hunger and my exhaustion from finding food, I ate like a horse and felt like that meal was the most delicious meal in the world!!! After lunchtime, we went back to the swamp to construct a pond for breeding fish. Everyone worked hard and tried to finish building it before sunset. Before we went back to take a rest, we took some impressive photos with the almost complete pond.

The next day, before I left the villagers, they prepared blessing ceremony for my friends and me. Our friends from another group left Khamyaad and met us there. In the ceremony \, some of us drank a lot because we could not refuse when the villagers offered us a glass of whiskey. If we refused their offering, it would be considered to be impolite. We left the villagers with a big hug and smile, and stayed at a hotel in Pakse for two nights. During our stay, we visited Wat Pho and Tad Pha Suam waterfall. After that we spent one night at a village along Mun River. We again interviewed the villagers about how the contruction of the Pakmun dam has changed their lives. Here we had time to play with some lovely kids before we left.

Next we headed off to the Tai Ban Research Center to stay for the night. Afterwards, the Thai students left the Australian and Laotian friends and traveled back to Ubon. At that time, I felt sad and lonely having to go back and live my urban life in Ubon. I was envious of the Laos’s way of living, where things go at a slower pace. This made me think about Thai people and how their lives seem to depend on rushing through everyday life.

** this article was taken from Mekong Today, volume 5 issue 1, March 2009 (above photos were added later) Mekong sub-region social research center (MSSRC) at the faculty of liberal arts, ubon Ratchathani University.

The First English Crazy Camp at a Temple!!!

2010-08-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

Story by Atchara Simlee (Aom),

In the extremely hot month of March 2010, eight staff fully charged their energy to run a three-day English camp for seventy Matthayom 2 and 3 students of Choomchon Pueyhaudong School located in Lue Amnat, Amnat Charoen. The staff of this camp were Nok, Cherm or Roxy,Bird or Monica, Pat, Ann, Ton,Yok, and Aom, a camp coordinator.

It was the second time that English Crazy Club was invited by a kindly beautiful English teacher, Kroo Jiraporn to do the English Camp for her students. Last time, the camp took place at the school for two days. For this camp, the location was changed to another place from the school to a huge beautiful temple called Wat Pho Sila. At the same time, the school area was used for a so-called arts and music camp.

At the first day we taught English through four crazy rotations; ‘Directions’ by Bird and Pat, ‘Shopping’ by Aom and Yok, ‘Fantastic Fruit’ by Nok and Ann and ‘Fancy Zoo’ Cherm and Ton. We all had to work a little bit harder to cheer up our campers continuously as they are teenagers and seemed to be shy to follow crazy activities provided by Crazy Staff. Anyway, to encourage the campers was just a piece of cake. They began to get used to our crazy songs and games from the very first hour.
The next day was more fun because in the afternoon we led our lovely campers to do walk rally. We run four bases filled with informative and fun games. The afternoon activities were full of laughers and smiles though the weather was so hot. Everyone played games, sang songs and danced crazily without any complaints because one of the bases had to do with throwing balloons contained water and we all totally got wet. What a fun time we had!

The last day, we played some games in the morning and let the campers enjoy a collaborative activity, newspaper game, in the afternoon. They were challenged by this game a lot. This game allowed them to create many fantastic items with only one piece of newspaper. At the end they came up with fantastic different items, based on staff’s instructions; a big mat that every member can stand on, an Eifel tower model, the biggest belly, the longest rope and the smallest ball.

In evening of each day, there was no night activity. We were free and had time to observe the art and music camp in the school. More than that Pat, one of the staff was asked to show her beautifully impressive voice by singing “Zombie” song. We must admit her talent and everyone in the hall gave her a big round of applause.

The camp ended. All staff and campers said goodbye. They might not see each other again, all good time they had during the camp will not fade from their minds though.

Reflections from the new members

2010-04-01T22:57:00.001-07:00

Name: Sirinthornthap Sainet (Hen)

Age: 18
Hometown: Ubon Ratchathani

1st year physics student, at the faculty of Science, Ubon Ratchathani University

''This is my first camp in my life and I hope I can learn how to run the camp from the experienced staff''

(The rest is coming soon)

Name: Pinthip Theerathanabodee (A)

Age: 18

Hometown: Roi-Et

1st year student of College of Medicine and Public Health, Ubon Ratchathani University

''If I can be a small help to the kids in rural areas, I'm more than willing to volunteer''

(More detail is coming soon)

Thung Sawang Camp, Srisaket

2010-03-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

How could nine staff deal with more than 150 fully energetic kids in the sweltering March days? The answer to this question is to be 'It's not easy', but it would never be too difficult for us to carry it off. Impressively, another bang-up job was archieved by the nine super staff in the Thong Sawang Camp on the 17 and 18 March.

Thung Sawang is a small school, hiden in a rural part of Sri Rattana district, Srisaket. To get into the village, a small pick-up truck carried us in the narrow dirt road through a huge paddy field. When we got to the school, before a warm greet from the school teachers, we met up with a shelter, attached to the buliding with many chairs, neatly arranged. Nobady told us that it was where we are going to have the 150 campers sing and dance, but we knew at once what it was for. After the school teacher's confirmation, we suddenly knew that we were not going to have the kids play "Deng Dung-Deng Darng" and "Dragons go through the cave" there.

When the morning came, the kids were sitting on those neatly arranged chairs with no-idea faces. Max, a Pratom 5 student, told us that it was his first time, participating in the English camp. That's why he was specially excited to meet up with the staff. After the introduction song-''Hello! How Do You Do'', the staff bombarded the kids with fun from the Crazy dances, songs and games. No matter how much songs and dances they did, the kids did not seem to run out of energy. Late at night, they were still actively dancing and singing and asking for more........while the staff were altogether fatigued.

Natchanicha Guerdpunya or Nong Cake told us that she was very excited knowing that she and her friends would learn English with the English Crazy staff. A 14 years old, who have already participated in the English camp for two times also made us smile when she shew us the distinctions between our Crazy activities and the other camps'. "I like this camp even more because it is more fun. It is more fun because I have danced and sung songs and played games. I like this kind of activities.

Though the Crazy games and songs with dances, we always hope to have campers inspired to love learning English more and we finally brought them around in our goal.

''Before coming to the English camp, I did not like English at all, but now I feel like I love English more than in the past'' said Cake.

''I would like friends who never join the English to try once because it is very helpful in learning English and in our daily life, too.

After the camp, none of the staff refused that we were totally worn out and none rejected that we had a lot of fun, friends, and a lot of unexplainable things from this camp, too. The party finally broke up at noon. All staff did not forget to give a very big thank to all Ajarns who took a very good care of us. The camp came to the end with impression and smiles (happy tears, too)

Till the time

Geng

Khum Kum Camp

2010-02-18T02:06:00.001-08:00

During the 13-14 February, 2010, the English Crazy Club had another mission to achieved. This time, it was taken place at Khumkumwittayakarn School, Don Mod Daeng, Ubon Ratchathani. Some of our new comers were inaugurated as young Crazies, meliculously escorted by the old and experienced staff, Bobbie (The co-ordinator), Aom (The co-ordinator consultant), Bird (The recreation staff), Cherm (One of the Fashion Rotation staff), Pat (A beautiful staff), Nok (On of the camp's Super Heroes), and last but not least Tae (The photographer).

-One of the Crazy trainees in this camp was Chompoo, (Pattira Sumalee) a first year English and Communication major student, going along with the team with a have-to-go feeling. Let's find out how her first camp was going.

How did you feel before the camp?

Chopoo: At first I wouldn't like to go to the English Crazy camp because I rather wanted to go shopping, watch TV and have a relaxing time at my room. But I finally went there with other friends.

It seems that you went to the camp with a kind of unwillingness.Did you find anything impressive at all? If yes, what are your impression at the camp?

Chopoo: When we arrived at the school, I was greeted by the school teachers. That's one of the impressive feelings I have found. The school teachers are very kind. They hosted us with a very warm welcome. From that moment on, they took a very good care for me and other volunteers.

The final preparation before the camp started in order not to miss any fun things.

How about the campers? How were their reactions to you?

Chompoo: We met the kids on the following day. The kids are very lovely, actually. They were very participative in our activities. They did whatever we taught them. They played games with us even if that day was a very hot and tiring day. But there was something I could not make it out. That is, before the camp started, the school teachers tipped us off with a warning. They said to us that their kids are quite stubborn and hard to deal with. But when I asked them to write their own super hero, they did with willingness. That impressive me immensely.

Campers having fun in a big group activity...

How about our old and experienced staff? Could you say something a little bit about them?

Chopoo: Yes! Together with my friends, I was lavished with another impression by the experienced staff. At the camp, everyone worked very hard. We stayed up late on both two nights in order to work for the kids. Yet as far as we had the P' staff as our facilitators, everything went well. If we did not have them, working coorperatively with other friends, it was just inconceivable for me how could we acheive it as beautifully as it really was. They are cheerful and helpful to us.

One of the crazy rotations, run by Aom and her fellow Nong Nongs....

'The Monkey' song can be fun everywhere.

It's 'Fashion Rotation' and P' Pat is teaching vocab to N' Nongs

Look at their happy smiles..................

Even if craziness is deeply ingrained in our staff, sometimes
our craziness stops working for only a while when it is to be so....55+

But suddenly after that, their craziness automatically run high

"Oh..! Yes we are the staff team and we are the best team...at the English camp............"

Let's say this is the last question. I would like you to tell us your feelings about the camp.

Chopoo: I had a very good time in this camp. The kids are very lovely and the experienced staff are very cheerful and helpful. And because of this, I got a lot of fun and made more new friends.

Running the English Crazy camp is somewhat very strenuous, were you tired at all?

Chopoo: It was fun. I am still happy to have met those lovely people. They are just friendly people. If asked me whether I felt tired or not. The answer will definitely be yes, especially because it was our first experience. Being tired but having a lot of fun is worthier my time rather than I merely staying at my room on the weekend, I think. If I had not gone to the camp with other staff, I would never have got to know and to make new friends with the campers, P' staff and lovely friends from other majors. My eyes would not have been worn with tears of happiness when we were about to leave the kids if I had not decided to go to this camp. Thank you very much for including me in the English Crazy Club.

-Geng

Living Together, Learning Together, Working Together, Eating Together!

2010-01-17T22:34:00.000-08:00

Story and photos by Gai

This is what we shout out loudly before enjoying our meal together in Da Laa work camp and this will make us realize the point of our camp.

Da Laa, the International Volunteers Organization for Social Development is an interesting community I met in Songkla, a very big province in the south of Thailand. Two weeks that I spent for a short term camp with them was enough to develop a sustainable friendship between us.

Our camp worked on art projects around the community. We repainted and drew pictures on school walls, toilets, and academic buildings. There are ten people from five countries: Germany, Holland, America, Korea, and Thailand. After everybody was ready, we Da Laa short term camp people jumped on a truck heading to the exciting camp.

The first day was pretty hard for us to work, because we spent so much energy cleaning the dirty walls. Since I am a talkative person, I started speaking non-stop with all new friends. Also, I sang for them while we were working. “Guess what! I got the Talk-Too Much Award from the international friends.

The villagers and students came to help us out in the other day. We worked very fast when they joined us. It took a very short time to clean the walls, so we painted them together afterward. Everybody enjoyed drawing their pictures while talking to each other.

My favorite activity is cooking. In the camp, we do everything ourselves, cooking and cleaning. It’s very fun when we have to cook for ten people who are from the different parts of the world. Once, I cooked omelet soup for our lunch. One of my friends told me that I am very good at cooking, but he was eating rice with sauce instead of my soup.

During the camp, we stopped working for three days to join the 5 years anniversary of Da Laa in Sa Tun. I couldn’t sleep in the night before we travel to the area; I was so excited to see the Andaman Sea for the first time in my life. The anniversary took place in a fishing community, where we could have delicious fresh sea food every day. Also, we could walk to a beautiful beach to see the wonderful sunset in the evening. It was amazing swimming under the warm golden sky!

Since the villagers helped us to work, we finished working very fast. The walls and toilets are colorful and look so lively with our drawing; the class rooms are newer in pink color. The teachers, villagers and children made us a warm thank you party. We had dinner together, talking, and taking photos as it was our last time being together. The student provided us a special “Ram Nora”, which is a Southern Thai dancing. We ended up with singing karaoke until the new day came.

Before leaving the school, we went to see our pictures as the last time. I was wondering will the pictures still there when I come back, will the sun and rain fade the color away, and will I remember all of the drawers.

“Living together, Learning together, working together, eating together.” I remember what we say every day. Then I realized what the most important thing I gained from my experience, it is “friendship” between friends, community, society, and the world.

Isaan Youth Gathering Event for ‘the Common Rights’

2009-12-22T20:47:00.000-08:00

Young activists from different areas of the Isaan (Northeastern Thailand) were converging to Khon Kean University for the 2nd Human Rights Festival, held during 8-9 December, 2009.

After the inaugural Human Rights Festival in Ubon Ratchathani Province early this year, the second HRF followed successively, organised and led by groups of university students from Council of International Educational Exchange (CIEE) and Khon Kaen University. This regional event also brought together big groups of young Isaan students from Ubon Ratchathani, Khon Kean, Maha Sarakham, Surin, and other neighbouring provinces. Also, the villagers, who have suffered human rights violations throughout Isaan region, took actions in human rights issues. Kwansuda Hattakit (Kwan), an English and Communication major student from Ubon Ratchathani University, is one of the participants in this ‘Common Right’ forum, expressing her feeling after a four hour travelling directly from Ubon Ratchathani. “I am very excited and happy to be a small part of this big forum”. “After the news of this event was announced by P’ Aom, the club's co-ordinator, I was the first one who signed the name, making for this forum”, said the 21 year old active participant. Apart from being the participant, Kwan took part in this event as a representative from the English Crazy Club as a basic translator for the CIEE students with her 10 friends. “It is also our good opportunity to practise our English skill as well as learn new things about human rights”, Kwan added.

Pattra Worralak, Kra-Tai, the former co-ordinator for the first Human Rights Festival and a forth year Political Science student from Khon Kaen University, told that this forum is just like a stage for university students from all around Isaan region to gather themselves, meet up with new friends, bring some serious issues about human rights violations to share with those from other areas and find possible solutions. The 22 year old from Darw Din Club (Stars+Earth) also continued that she and other friends are now dealing with the violation issue in Baan Na Nong Bong, Loei Province. “People in that area have got devastating effects from the gold mining, the unorganised developmental projects” said Kra-Tai. “Besides our field study at Na Nong Bong, we are additionally teaching the youth in the village some knowledge about how to protect their rights and also training them some camp games and songs” elaborating Kratai.
This ‘Common Right’ does not only provide the opportunities for the university students to meet up with the intellectuals from the national human rights commission of Thailand but also the villagers, who brought their real experiences and took their actions with hopes to raise their voices and tell what they have been sustaining. Thurtpan Pongpetch (Peaw), a graduate from Maha Sarakham University, expressed his deep sympathy after the two day participation and exchange some villagers. “Even if we cannot do such a big deal as solving all the problems, at least, we can be their moral supporters”. The 22 year old from Tiang Na Prachakhom organisation was standing up for the aunts and uncles. “At least, you still have this group of university students who are willing to hear and ready to help you out”. “‘Do not yet feel hopeless”, cheering Peaw.

The second edition of Human Right Festival, under the name of 'The Common Rights', came to the end with the awe-inspiring mark left. The delegates have been marked with the deeper inspiration to work out for common rights in Isaan region. This is probably a hopeful sign of a strong network among Isaan youth in a near future.

Name: Andreu Neri
A friend from the Council of International Educational Exchange (CIEE), USA

"I hope it will get bigger and bigger each year. People get together and maybe become an international network."

Name: Thurtpan Pongpetch
Nickname: Peaw
A member of the Tieng Na Prachakhom organisation, Maha Sarakham

"I do not have much expectation on this festival, but if only we would organise this kind of activities all together again and I strongly believe that there will be the second, third and forth one consecutively."

Name: Pattra Worralak
Nickname: Kra-tai
A forth year Political Science student and a member of the Darw-Din group, Khon Kaen University

"I do not know whether it is too ambitious or not, but I really want to see the day when many groups of Isaan university students become a strong one and are able to help the villagers, who are facing problem issues in each area and hands in hands fight with them."

Even if this even is just the beginning movement of this Isaan Youth network, it is undeniable that a little change has been made in the matters of Isaan human rights. As long as these Isaan groups are still moving, connecting and co-working, they are getting closer to the communal goal.

As a Camper in Puen Wan Suk Camp

2009-12-15T04:40:00.000-08:00

By Nit (Noi)

During the vocation, I had a chance to participate in Hong Rian Hong Mai Gub Kroo Tai Ban Camp (roughly translated as “ A New Classroom with Local Teachers Camp) held by Puen Wan Sook Club.

The camp took place between 23 – 27 October , 2009 at Pha-Chan village , Phosai district, Ubon Ratchathani Province. The purpose of this camp was to learn about the villagers and local wisdom. We went there as campers and novice English teachers. Every day was a happy day. Pha- Chun village was very peaceful.

The villagers and other campers were very friendly. We did many activities together. For example, every very early and murky with fog morning we pick rubbish around the village. All the activities we did were beneficial to both villagers and campers. The villagers and campers were very happy with sharing their knowledge.

Inside the classroom
We were very happy with the kids in Pha- Chun village. All of them were enthusiastic learners. Also, they were extremely loveable. We enjoyed teaching them English through our crazy and funny songs and games. They sang the songs out load, and played the games with big smiles on their faces.

What is more, they were good remembering the vocabulary we taught them. This was a great moment. At this moment, we realized that giving is like a boomerang. We brought them the knowledge of English and happiness. And then they brought us back happiness as well. From this experience, I have learned that giving is something worth learning. Just learn to give and then you will know why giving is something worth learning. “Let’s learn to give”

Outside the classroom, we were good students of our loveable teachers.

They told us how about a big fish in Mae Khong River.
They taught us how to reap the rice in the fields.
They taught us how to plant soil bean.
They taught us how happy it is to give other people good things

I would like to say thank a bunch to English Crazy Club, the loveable kids at Pha-Chan village, friendly villagers, other campers of Hong Rian Hong Mai Gub Kroo Thai Ban Camp and my sweet and funny friends Aom, Nong Kwan, Nong Gingpai, and Nong Jule for sharing every single moment with me at this camp.

Montpelier to Thailand 5: English camp at Pha Chan

2009-07-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

On the 28th of February and 1st of March 2009, seventeen Montpelier High School students made the long journey from Vermont, U.S.A. to Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand with Montpelier to Thailand 5, a non-profit . One part of their trip included a homestay and English Crazy Camp in the village of Ban Pha Chan. On the third and fourth days that the students were in Thailand, they were joined by five English Crazy Club staff members (Ang, Ae, Geng, Gai , and Aom) and another volunteer from Vermont (Jill). These two days were spent learning the English Crazy Club songs, games, and talking about the activities that would be used for their upcoming English Crazy Camp in the village of Ban Pha Chan. For many of the Vermont students, this was their first time participating in an English Camp. They were very enthusiastic and excited, and even helped to create the rotations and introduced some new games to the English Crazy Club staff.

When the English Crazy Club staff arrived in Ban Pha Chan for the camp, the Montpelier to Thailand students had already been there for about a week and were having a really great time. The English Crazy Club Staff arrived ready to do more preparation for the upcoming camp. Almost three days of preparation and only two days of actual camp proves how much work it takes to run an English Camp! This was the third time that Montpelier to Thailand has held an English Camp in Ban Pha Chan, so the staff took that into consideration. They made the vocabulary more challenging and played new games as well as old games that are always entertaining.

On the first day of the camp, the campers were broken up into five different colored teams: pink, blue, red, yellow, and green. The campers were fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from Ban Pha Chan and nearby villages. Even some of the younger children from the village joined in during the rotations and group activities to learn English, because they wanted to be able to speak with their new Vermont friends! The first day of camp was packed full of activities: three rotations, International Hello, Crazy Races, Singing in the Rain, and many, many more games and songs. In the evening there was a talent competition, some of the teams danced to Molum songs, some performed skits, and one team danced to “Beautiful Girl.” “Beautiful Girl” was the most remembered performance because it was performed by all boys and they were so cute!

On the second day, there were two more rotations, and more fun games to be played. Once the rotations were finished, most of the Montpelier to Thailand staff was exhausted., but the English Crazy Club Staff did an amazing job of keeping their own energy high and making up for the loss of Montpelier to Thailand volunteers in the afternoon. For new travelers to Thailand, the afternoon heat can be almost unbearable! The highlight of the day was the Temple Fair that was held in the evening. All of the campers played carnival games and were able to win prizes and even some of the villagers joined in on the fun! By the end of the second day, both the staff and the campers were ready to go to bed, but there was one more very important task to do: the closing ceremony. At this closing ceremony, everyone was able to receive a parting gift because Linda Wheatley (director of Montpelier to Thailand) and the students from Vermont brought many gifts including: pencils, pens, notebooks, art supplies, and a lot of t-shirts, to be given away at the end of the camp. The closing ceremony took so long, but it was well worth it because all of the students went home with something to remember the camp by!

After the camp was finished, the entire staff sat down to have a meeting about the impressions of the camp. The Montpelier to Thailand students were so impressed by the amount of energy that the English Crazy Club staff has! They could not express their praise in words. Another successful English Camp was completed in Ban Pha Chan thanks to the Montpelier High School students and English Crazy Club Staff Members. Also, thank you to the community of Ban Pha Chan, who took very good care of all the staff members during our stay in Ban Pha Chan.

By Jill Rianne Lawrence, America

M2T5 English Camp/February 2009

2009-07-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

These two days were spent learning the English Crazy Club songs, games, and talking about the activities that would be used for their upcoming English Crazy Camp in the village of Ban Pha Chan. For many of the Vermont students, this was their first time participating in an English Camp. They were very enthusiastic and excited, and even helped to create the rotations and introduced some new games to the English Crazy Club staff.When the English Crazy Club staff arrived in Ban Pha Chan for the camp, the Montpelier to Thailand students had already been there for about a week and were having a really great time.

The English Crazy Club Staff arrived ready to do more preparation for the upcoming camp. Almost three days of preparation and only two days of actual camp proves how much work it takes to run an English Camp! This was the third time that Montpelier to Thailand has held an English Camp in Ban Pha Chan, so the staff took that into consideration. They made the vocabulary more challenging and played new games as well as old games that are always entertaining. On the first day of the camp, the campers were broken up into five different colored teams: pink, blue, red, yellow, and green. The campers were fourth, fifth, and sixth graders from Ban Pha Chan and nearby villages. Even some of the younger children from the village joined in during the rotations and group activities to learn English, because they wanted to be able to speak with their new Vermont friends!

The first day of camp was packed full of activities: three rotations, International Hello, Crazy Races, Singing in the Rain, and many, many more games and songs. In the evening there was a talent competition, some of the teams danced to Molum songs, some performed skits, and one team danced to “Beautiful Girl.” “Beautiful Girl” was the most remembered performance because it was performed by all boys and they were so cute! On the second day, there were two more rotations, and more fun games to be played. Once the rotations were finished, most of the Montpelier to Thailand staff was exhausted., but the English Crazy Club Staff did an amazing job of keeping their own energy high and making up for the loss of Montpelier to Thailand volunteers in the afternoon.

For new travelers to Thailand, the afternoon heat can be almost unbearable! The highlight of the day was the Temple Fair that was held in the evening. All of the campers played carnival games and were able to win prizes and even some of the villagers joined in on the fun! By the end of the second day, both the staff and the campers were ready to go to bed, but there was one more very important task to do: the closing ceremony. At this closing ceremony, everyone was able to receive a parting gift because Linda Wheatley (director of Montpelier to Thailand) and the students from Vermont brought many gifts including: pencils, pens, notebooks, art supplies, and a lot of t-shirts, to be given away at the end of the camp.

The closing ceremony took so long, but it was well worth it because all of the students went home with something to remember the camp by! After the camp was finished, the entire staff sat down to have a meeting about the impressions of the camp. The Montpelier to Thailand students were so impressed by the amount of energy that the English Crazy Club staff has! They could not express their praise in words. Another successful English Camp was completed in Ban Pha Chan thanks to the Montpelier High School students and English Crazy Club Staff Members. Also, thank you to the community of Ban Pha Chan, who took very good care of all the staff members during our stay in Ban Pha Chan.

Jill Rianne Lawrence
dynosorefreek@hotmail.com

English Crazy Camp at Boong Khiew School

2009-05-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

The teamwork of the English Crazy crews were making for Boong Khiaw School, Chanuman, Amnat Charoen for another Crazy camp. This crazy camp took place during 21-23 May, 2009, a week before the academic things come again. The craziness started by Jeab, Jan, Aom, Om-Goi, Ann, Gai, Ying, Eve In-On, a freshman of Law Ton, and our two lovely volunteers-Cindy and Anna.

Since all of the staff brought the campers a lot of energy and creativity, the two day camp was full of joy and, of course, craziness. Games and songs were therefore performed joyfully and crazily.

P' Aom and P' Cindy are doing their best in "The Fantastic Fruits Rotation".

In a big group entertainment, P' Om-Goi is trying to encourage her 'Yellow Team'.

Peel... Banana peel peel.. Banana.....Go !

'My name is........My name is......My name is.......... (A Crazy Introduction song)

It's a Crazy Couple game - a prince and a .......Princes on earth (a little bit next to the devil's den)

Some staff found overwieght after the camp since the Isaan food was unrefusable 555+

Ing-On or Ton, who is the real drummer?????? Double drummers ?????

P' Jeab and her Boong Khiew Super Models at 'Fashion Rotation'.

The most lovable monkeys the English Crazy Club ever has.

Did you see monkey? What did you see?
Four monkeys and a Thai Classical dancer.......-_-"

After the two days of joy and craziness, the crazies found the time flied really fast. When it was the vicinity of time, the English Crazy camp at Boong Khiew School finally came to the end. However, it is a very memorable end when the staff said 'good bye' to the kids and promised to come back for another English camp again. It was also called a spectacular end when the our host teachers took us to meet up with Chanuman district's fantastic scenery of Mekhong River and rapids.

'The more we get together, together, together......The more we get together, the crazier we will be......la la la la la'

English Crazy Crews at the Human Rights Festival

2009-05-25T23:29:00.001-07:00

1-3 April 2009

It was called “Human Rights Festival in Isaan Region #1. This event was to bring together Isaan universities students and American CIEE students for a strong network, co-working for better understanding and solutions of Human Rights in Isaan area. The place where the event took place sounds very familiar. It is where the English Crazy crews’ memorable time was once inscribed—Tai Baan Research Centre—since they worked as interpreters for Australian Sydney University students under the dam construction issue last year.

This time, Aom, A, Cherm, T, Jan, Ying, Namwan, Fah, Eve, Bobbie and Geng, were trying their best to complete this challenging mission. Specially, Jan Ikeda, a UBU’s Japanese teacher, was very interested and joined the first of the festival excitedly.

The first day began with our deeply long sigh. Our attempt to work as communication facilitators, conveying between Thai friends’ and CIEE friends’ ideas, thoughts, opinions, was going along with our struggles. It challengingly tested our abilities and gratefully gave us accumulative experiences at the same time. However, we shall call it “a great opportunity” of us to learn another field—Human Rights—and profoundly see miserable lives of Isaan people apart from our beloved Teaching English. More than that, it was another fun time of us.

It was not only our fat chance to learn, but also to exchange culture with the CIEE students. They have leant Morlum from Isaan villagers and we have learnt a very beautiful and wonderful dancing called “Contra Dance”. We will (prpbably) show you guys later at the camp.

Hey! Anywhere and anytime we can be crazy. There, we showed our “Crazy Grand Show crazily. Remember? It’s about a Yes No OK Thank you role-play. There, a star was found crazily shining. None dares to refuse that Eve can be E-Wueng in the grand show and she did it the best. We do not know whether she would call it a good or bad luck, but she already a chosen one.

English Crazy Club now has welcomed a new UBU's friend club, called " Puen Wan Suk" or Friends of happy day. It is a one-year old club, founded by Faculty of Laws' students. We believe that those of the two clubbers can hold hands and make a different thing in a small part of the big world altogether.

More than thank you to you guys

for your bang up job and

see you again next crazy event.

--Geng--

An Unforgettable Summer Volunteer

2009-05-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

In the summer, while many students chose to travel or take a rest at home, nine members of the English Crazy Club and one volunteer from America (Aom, Nit, Boom, Jan, Tay, Eve, Ying, Pe, Pom and Kathryn) headed for Phosai district, Ubon Ratchathani to spend ten days at ajann Pim’s house. Ajaan Pim teaches English at Maungyai School and is also as crazy about the English language as us. She has been known as the angle of the kids in the village. We stayed there to set up 3 English Summer Camps for the dirty-faced kids, travel and immerse ourselves in rural living with the villagers.

At night during our first day, we had a long meeting because most of the staff was new. As a result, everything had to be well-prepared to make sure that the following day’s camp at Muangyai School (Big Mangoes) would be perfect. This first camp succeeded because all of the staff did their best by dancing, singing, and teaching English crazily and energetically. Also, around 90 campers were participating in an English camp for the first time. They were excited but approached all activities with excellent motivation. Ajaan Pim surprised us by giving us a small party to celebrate our success. She brought us 5 dishes of Somtum, several kinds of food, and sweet drinks.

The first two-day camp was over and the second two-day camp was fastly approaching. We had a more relaxed meeting because the new staff was now used to running an English camp. Nevertheless, we still had daily reflection time to talk about the problems we encountered and what could be improved for the two remaining camps. Everything was great at the second camp, the 35 kids and 10 staff had lots of fun. The camp was set up under the big trees in Lardyao village. The second day of the camp we took the lovely kids to the forest to find cicadas, red ants’ eggs and chameleons for our dinner. Every group had to find at least a bowl of red ants’ eggs, five cicadas and three chameleons. Teams that found more than the expected numbers would get stickers as a prize. We learned a lot of tricks from the kids to help us to catch these kinds of animals. In addition, we taught them the names of the trees, plants, and animals we found in English.

While we were staying on the camp, some of us got a new name. Aom was called miss forgetful because she always forgot everything, especially her own bag! The staff would constantly hear Aom say “Do you see my bag? I don’t know where I left it”. Nit, a very proud and proper girl was called miss slow. She did everything slowly even when she ran the rotations. Her rotations always finished last!! Boom, Pom and Katryn were called the monkey gang. They did the best monkey impressions when we showed campers how to dance the monkey song. You can see their dancing at youtube.com Oops!!!!!!!!!!!! The last name was the Deung gang. Eve, Ying, and Tay got this name. They seemed to really enjoy playing the Deng Deung game (it is a kind of game we usually use it in the camp) with the kids in all three camps.

The two camps were over. Jan, Tay, Eve, Ying, Pe, and Pom had to leave and there were only four staff left; Aom, Nit, Boom, and Kathryn. We still had one more camp to organize for the next three days. While we were waiting for the last camp to start, there was a three-day temple fair in the village we were staying in. We visited the fair everyday to play the lottery, watch movies and attend the folk dancing concert. Our volunteer Kathryn was especially interested in folk dancing. She loves it and on the last day of this fair we dressed beautifully in the dancing dresses that Ajaan Pim kindly provided us. We danced continuously until a spokesman said goodbye to everyone which meant our dancing time was over.

For the last one day camp, we had to work very hard. This camp was in Nongpakwan School where some kids had to walk 7-10 kms from their house to school. Four staff and 32 campers were not as bad as we had feared. We all fell in love with them because they were lovely and really eager to learn English from us.

Our missions were complete. We were going to leave “Angle Pim”, her nice parents, relatives and some villagers blessed us with the white ropes. They all asked us to visit them again. We will definitely be back soon!!!

We would like to give a big thank you to ajaan Pim, who treated us very well, providing us with food and accommodation. She was our great advisor and like our mother while we were staying there. Thank you to the teachers from all three schools, Muangyai, Lardyao, and Nongpakwan School who gave us a chance to run English camps for their wonderful students. We really had a great time with them. Thank you to all ten crazy staff, you have made this small part of the world smile and have been a great inspiration for the kids to continue learning English and the world happily.

Our ten days had gone by quickly; our world of learning to give has been just opening widely and continually. We believe that this meaningful project has given us with beautiful memories in our university life and is already frozen in our mind and soul. Our journey of learning and giving has just begun.
We will never stop giving good things to the kids who have limited opportunities to get.

written by Atchara Simlee (Aom)

English Crazy Club Song

2009-01-21T02:23:00.000-08:00

Bo Collins, our potential volunteer and best friend has kindly composed this song for us.
Hope you all enjoyed it. Check out for more detail about this song as the link below.

http://englishcrazycamp.blogspot.com/2007/02/story-of-english-crazy-camp.html

English Crazy Club - Bo Collins

english crazy club
english crazy kon jai dee (good hearted people)
english crazy club
english crazy kon jai dee

giving opportunity
to the poor children of isaana
chance to change the world
one by one

english crazy club
english crazy kon jai dee
english crazy club
english crazy kon jai dee

like soda and whiskey
they mix together perfectly
just one big happy family
it's the english crazy, kon jai dee

and netting is our mom,
oh and i hope she likes this song
so won't you volunteer someday
and change a life along the way

english crazy club
english crazy kon jai dee

ECC Young Volunteer Wanted!!!

2008-12-12T07:14:00.001-08:00

A Story of Tangmo: A Successful English Crazy Student

2008-10-28T05:57:00.000-07:00

Tangmo is a highschool student in Si Muang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, NE Thailand. She is one of the potential campers of our English Crazy Camp, who has got infected with our English Crazy Syndromes two years ago at the camp in Khong Chiam district. Now she is getting more and more successful in her English learning. She won many English speaking competitions, she runs English radio program with her English native speaker teacher, DJ Superman, and she kindly teaches English to her younger neighbors. Let’s get to know her more now!

Hi Everyone! I’m Tangmo, or DJ Amazing Girl of Ban Si Muang Mai (as everyone knows this given name, Amazing Girl from the radio program in my village), Ubon Ratchathani in the Northeast of Thailand. I’m 16 years old girl, studying in Si Muang Wittayakhan School, who is CRAZY in English.

I wonder if you are crazy in English like me. I’m so crazy in English even sleeptalking in English. When I was young, I could not speak English very well, when I saw foreigners I had to run as far away from them.

I really want to be excellent in English. Sounds impossible? Maybe it is not, for a student from an upcountry school like me, where there is no English in our lives. But from now on I can stand on another step of success. Come to see how I have been overcoming such difficulties.

Many students in my school, who think that English is too hard for them.I always remind myself of a saying “There is a will, there is a way”.I try to make English apart of my daily life. Everyday I read an English newspaper or magazine to get new words, and use those words to speak with my teacher. It’s hard to practice English where everyone speaks Thai. I practice English with my friends, dogs, cats or even talk to myself!.

And I also run an English radio program at the community radio station in my village with my English teacher, and invite foreigners and other people from other place come to visit Si Muang Mai to interview them for my radio program. Besides, I spend my weekend teaching English to younger children in my village, taking pictures to make postcards and opening my world by surfing the Internet!

I hope for one day! I can be one of the best English speaking persons and get a chance to travel around the world. I have a dream.

Cheers!
Tangmo
Amazing girl
tangmo500@hotmail.com

English Crazy Camp #35 Betty Dumen School

2008-09-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

It was the 6th and 7th September, 2008. English Crazy crews were inspiring 120 high schools students in Betty Dumen School crazily.

English Crazy Camp #36 Matthayom Ponkor School

2008-09-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

It was English Crazy Camp again in the land of Dok Lum Duan, Sri sa ket province.

The happy time that we, English Crazy people, had been longing for eventually began when Ajan por or Somsak's van stopped in front of the Pink Palace. Hearing so our staff were eagerly bearing our crazy stuffs, heading to the white van even if it was dark and raining.

In the van five of our crazy crews, Ang, Aom, Kra Tai, Suki and, the Mr. staff popular vote of the camp, Gai who named himself P' Guy, said "Let's go" without P' Geng on the way to the school.

Even if it was raining catzzzzz and dogzzzzz and the sky was painted dark-blue outside, inside the van our energitic and crazy staffers painted their beautiful world by shouting to the microphon, singing karaoke along the way to the school exhiralately and crazily. Pumpuang Duang Jun's songs der si bork hai! (N' Aom's forever favourite singers.)

This time the most lucky school in the world was Matthayom Pon Kor School. It is a very lovely school surrounded by green rice fields. All crazy crew started inspiring 84 high schools students to love to learn English by some crazy games then four fantastic rotations

1) Shopping (Geng),

2) Story Telling (Aom and Kra Tai),

3) Back to Nature (Ang) and

4) Super Heroes (Suki and Guy).

Our crazy night activity, scavenger hunts, was more colourful when Ang said "Why don't we add Thai Super Models and Academy Fantasia (AF) in the scavenger hunts". Doing these, the night time went very great because the kids performed it incredibly well and everyone enjoyed it a lot, so every minute was added by joy.

On the last day of the camp, the rain was still raining hard. However, the six crazinest staff were working harder, filling last day with joy, excitement, happiness and craziness.

Till the time to say "Good Bye"

Oh my lovely campers, don't cry

You are our pride

coz you have been inspired

to love to learn English, and

your English craziness runs high-ly

Till we meet again

English Crazy Camp 2008
at Mathayom Phon kor School

Mueng, Srisaket

English Crazy Camp #34 Borai Wittayakom School, Trat

2008-06-08T23:47:00.000-07:00

English Crazy Rock You Again: This Time We Hit the Western Coast of Thailand

May 24-25 , 2008, Borai, Trat - No matter where we are, we still ROCK! It was another long trip for English Crazy Club. The university term was going to start soon, so some of us had just come back to Ubon from visiting our hometowns, travelling, and apprenticing, while some were still on the road travelling from place to place. After saying “Of course, I’m going” to the coordinator of this camp, we all knew our next destination right away. Trat!

Most of the staff team started their trip in Ubon travelling excitedly across province to province to meet the other three who were travelling from Bangkok at the same time. Before reaching Trat we, from different starts, met in Chanthaburi, and then together headed for the final stop, Trat.

We arrived at the school very late and everyone seemed really exhausted from the trip, but a warm welcome with a variety of fresh local fruits energised all of us. “If you guys get up early tomorrow morning, you can go to the plantation behind and pick as many rambutans as you want by yourself,” a teacher mistakenly gave us permission. We are not only English Crazy clubbers, but also eaters. We were not able to hide our excitement while picking the colourful fruits from the easily reachable branches.

There were only 41 students, but all of them were so welcoming. Some were so small especially compared to Isaan kids. The school is the most beautiful school I have seen in Thailand. They even have fruit plantations at the back. Our driver, Pee Aan, stole some for us. Oops!

All the kids had fun during the camp with the ten Thai staff and one volunteer from the Netherlands. One of the Thai staff was new. He is a friend of a staff member and his name is Nong. The kids called him “Pee Nong” and we called him “Nong Nong”. Confusing! As we all know, anyone from any corner of the world is welcome to our club. The only qualifications they need are craziness and a willing to help other people to make the world a better place to live.

Talking about the staff, one of us was such a lazy person. He did not join our night activity, but stayed in a special air-conditioned room alllllllllllllll night. The next day he still did not show up. That was “Geng” or “Pee Heng” for all the campers. However, nobody wished to be him, because nobody wished to be in hospital. Geng had to be sent to the hospital that night, because he had food poisoning. Bob, one of our staff, with the family of a teacher had to stay there with him. All the staff at the camp wished he would get well soon.

While Geng and Bob were at the hospital, all the activities were still going great led by Nit, Ang and Aom. The kids had fun from joining the four crazy rotations, even though they picked up some bruises as usual. Presenting their TV show programmes at night time, and playing a lot of crazy games in the morning of the last day made their smiles even wider. Once again, we did a great job! The smiles of the children, thanks from the teachers and laughter of everyone said so.

English Crazy Camps are in our blood, and Geng proved that by making it for the last moment of the camp. Everyone was happy having him back at the camp, even though it was the last short moment. We all smiled for the photos. One…Two…Three. Crazy! We will see you again and we will ROCK!...again.

P'Nit

English Crazy Camp #33 Nakae Local Authority, Nongbua Lumphu

2008-06-08T22:27:00.000-07:00

This Crazy camp took place in Nongbua Lumphu, sponsored by Nakae Local Authority

English Crazy Camp #32 Awe Maria School (2), Ubon Ratchathani

2008-06-08T22:26:00.000-07:00

Coming up next!

English Crazy Camp #31 Awe Maria School (1), Ubon Ratchathani

2008-06-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

Coming up next!

English Crazy Camp #30 Sompoi School, Si Sa Ket

2008-06-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

Coming soon!

English Crazy Camp #29 Mukdahan School, Mukdahan

2008-06-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

Coming soon!

English Crazy Camp #28 Khong Chiam NFE Centre, Ubon Ratchathani

2008-06-08T22:08:00.002-07:00

Coming soon!

English Crazy Camp #27 Suangluay School, Si Sa Ket

2008-06-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

Coming soon!

English Crazy Camp #26 Kaeng Ta Na National Park, Ubon Ratchathani

2008-06-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Coming soon!

English Crazy Camp #25 Songyae Wittaya School, Yasothon

2008-06-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

Coming up next!

English Crazy Camp #24 Saithran Wittaya School, Si Sa Ket

2008-05-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

Coming up next...

English Crazy Blood Activity 2007

2007-10-09T02:58:00.001-07:00

It was great that we had about 30 young crazy blood...for our new generation...

English Crazy Blood 2007

2007-09-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

English camp # 23 : Kapchaeng, Surin

2007-09-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

English Crazy Postcard Project 2007

2007-09-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

At the Candle Festival 2007

We were selling our street postcards...

We also sold our English Crazy T-Shirts...

If you are intersted in our postcards, you can visit www.englishcrazy-i-postcard.blogspot.com

English Crazy Camp # 22 Sangkha Wittayakhom, Sangkha, Surin

2007-07-20T03:43:00.000-07:00

7-8 JULY 2007, SANGKHA - It’s again 'English Camp'!!! All members said the same word, but English crazy staffs didn’t give up. We all did English Camp by our crazy blood. This time we went to Surin by train, because it is the safer than getting a bus way to get there. Our mother, Netting, was afraid about the safety of all staffs, because Uncle Aidan unfurtunately just got a motorcycle accident last Sunday and he couldn’t go with us. However, we had a new volunteer named Emily. She is very nice and beautiful:-). She is a volunteer teacher from Project Trust in England. Emily, we hope that you will join our English Camp again.

The camp went really well even though we all felt unconfident, because we went there without Aidan- our captain and MC. We all missed you, Uncle Aidan. The first day Nit and Join had to be MCs. They were very nervous, because they hadn’t done this position for a long time. Finally, they could do well and it was a successful job!!!! The children were very great. They were 100 representatives from Pathum 4-6. They were hyper active, talkative and crazy. They did very well even the rain couldn’t stop their craziness. In the afternoon of Saturday, it was raining cats and dogs, but the campers ran through the rain to rotate the rotation.

The happiness of the day hadn’t finished, because we had temple fair in the evening. The campers were very fun and excited buying some food and playing games. They really liked temple fair, because it was fun and they could get a lot of prices. The staff were also happy to give them fun even we were very exhausted. The last activity of today was Scavenger Hunt and the position as MCs of Nit and Join would be over tonight.

The last day of English Camp came again. It was the turn of Geng and Ang to be MCs!!!! At the end of English Camp we got a lot of fun. Two days camp could help them speaking English well, but it could inspire them to love English…All staff were impressed, because food was delicious, students were crazy and teachers were nice. We hoped that English Camp could inspire the campers to practice English and love English as the staff do.

Finally, our English crazy blood is still alert even we are exhausted….

We love English Crazy Club………

Join

English Crazy Camp # 21 Tansum Patthana School, Tansum, Ubon

2007-07-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

30 June - 1 July 2007

English Crazy Camp # 20 Sri Koon Wittayabanlang, Amnatcharoen

2007-07-05T00:08:00.000-07:00

30 June - 1 July 2007

English Crazy Camp #19, Si Muang Wittayakhan School

2007-06-25T00:12:00.000-07:00

23-24 June 2007, Si Muang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani - Well, the English Crazy Club just finished another successful camp. This time, one of our regular members, Nit, couldn't be with us as she was in Bangkok, but though we all missed her, the camp went off without a hitch.

We were joined by 3 farangs, Scott from America who is a teacher at Si Muang Wittayakhan, Andrew from Scotland, a volunteer in Det Udom and Allen from England who is also volunteering in Det Udom. Along with our Uncle Aidan from Ireland, these guys made a full compliment of farangs. They were all native speakers but no two sounded the same. It was a great challenge for the campers to understand all of the various accents. Not only campers but also staff had another great opportunity to practise their listening skills and meet people their own age from around the world.

The campers were from 9 different schools and it seemed to take them a little longer than usual to warm up to the activities but by the end of day one, they were are happy and exhausted. As this was the second camp in a row for the crazy crew, a few ot tham were feeling a little tired too but that didnt stop the guys from having a little liquid refreshment before bed.

On the second dayof the camp, the enery of the kids was amazing. After being awoken at 5am for morning exercise, we followed with the crazy treasure hunt. It was held in the blistering heat but did not lessen the motivation and energy of the students. With some more games in the afternoon, we clsed the camp at 4pm.

All three of the new guys were full of praise for the professionalism and organisation of the camp and also the level of English displayed by the staff. There were also rumours spreading about a possible night out together in Ubon sponsored by J.W. Red.

Once again, it seems that our craziness is spreading happiness throughout Isaan.

Long live the English Crazy Club.

English Crazy Camp # 18 Sangkha School, Surin

2007-06-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

Sangkha, 16-17 June, After being concentrated on the serious matters in classes for a week, it was time of English Crazy Club to fulfill the student’s hope and increasing our craziness by organizing English Crazy Camp. English Crazy Crew were jumping to the Surin train station at 6.30 pm. This bogies went to Sangkha district which was our next goal establishing at Sangkha school. Although we took a long time on the train, we still had a craziness and enjoyment because it was in our blood already. This is the first camp after Bo or we called Ling Bo(The volunteer form America) has gone. We had only farang in our team who is the most energetic, loudly and craziest guy from Ireland. Surely that is Aiden….

Of course our team led by Mom or Netting(One of the founder in English Crazy Club), Aidan, Nit, Join, Geng, Snooker, Knot(I’m not), Ang(Dancing girl), Ae, Suki and Amme. Instead of being the students in the university, we played in role as a crazy teacher in English Crazy Camp.This camp took on June 16-17,2007. The campers were from M.4-6 at Sangkha school which estimate 100 kids. All campers are in a secondary school.

On the first day, the campers were full with a high motivation, inspiration and a lot of energy. They were already to join our Crazy activities. Before run following four rotation, we let them get to know each other by playing Crazy International Greeting, Collecting coins, Basket and fish games. Campers enjoyed and participated well in our activities. At the end of the day, the campers did a very good job in the role-plays and they all came up with their own ridiculous ideas.

Although it was late at night on yesterday, capers were still alert. They enjoyed with a Treasure hunt which have to gain a lot of energy from campers and staffs also. No matter how exhausted they were, campers were very happy until the last minutes. How was the farewell like? All staffs said Good bye and gave a valuable suggestion to campers. At last, teachers at Sangkha school gave us the memorable gifts but it was not valuable as a good relationship from student. The most important massage from English Crazy Club hope that campers will realize how important English is…and love learning English is the way to be successful in the future…

- Amme *-*

Bye-Bye Traveling Man: See You Until We Meet!

2007-06-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

Bo's farewell party and sending off at the train station.....

English Crazy Camp # 17 Patumratchawongsa, Amnatcharoen

2007-06-12T22:58:00.000-07:00

May 26-28, 2007, Pratumratchawongsa - This camp was the first camp we did not have NETTING, one of the English Crazy Club founders, in our team. There was no little girl in a Gilligan hat and pretty skirt, who is always busy around with her digital camera, in the rule of the professional photographer of the club. We were missing you, Mom.

Another historical enjoyment has been recorded again under the name of “English Crazy Camp 2007” by the English Crazy Club. Before the busy days of the university life would return again for a week, the university students from UBU (Ubon Ratchathani University), URRU (Ubon Ratchathani Rajchabhat University) and the our big brother, Aidan from Ban Khu Mumang school had another mission to build up confidence in using English for the 40 kids who were the representatives from each secondary school in Pratumratchawongsa and Senangkhanikom district, at Anuban Pratumratchawongsa School. The camp was held from 26-28 of May.

The whole three days and two nights camp was fulfilled by sensational events until the last minutes. When the entire days were ended up, the campers finally got back with the awareness of the importance of learning English and a big memory gap of the English Crazy Camp’s exiting atmospheres.

- Geng

English Crazy Camp # 16 Ban Dan School, Ubon

2007-06-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

The camp was in May the 12-14.... more stories and photos to come...-netting

The New Guesthouse: English Crazy Home

2007-06-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Its our new home...where is it?...-netting

English Crazy Homecoming Tour 2007

2007-06-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

Isaan Crusine

The Heat's Up: English Crazy Club on the road

2007-06-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

On the top of Thailand!

English Crazy Guesthouse 'CLOSED DOWN'

2007-06-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

Well, after a couple of years and guests from, USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, Finland, Germany, Greece and many other countries, the English Crazy Guesthouse finally closed down on the 1st April 2007.

Netting and Tuan, co-managers of the busiest dorm in Ubon(probably the world) have left us and moved on. They are both now in the "real world" of holding down a full-time job and we wish them well in their careers.

As most of you know, the famous "guesthouse" was a non-stop hive of English Crazy activity. There was always somebody there, with a welcoming smile and a "Gin kao lu yaang?"

Many nights have been spent making name-tags, materials, helping younger students, chatting, eating. smiling, laughing and even listening to "Westlife" eeugh! It was even sometimes laughingly compared to a sweatshop workhouse because of some of the times "guests" were forced to make name-tags until the small hours of the morning.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and the ECC guesthouse was no exception. We said goodbye to our friends but know that we will see them again and that the craziness that they created lives on..............

Goodbye English Crazy Guesthouse!!!!!!!

-Aidan

English Crazy Camp # 15 - Ban Thalong, Ubon

2007-03-20T05:42:00.000-07:00

March 10-11, 2007, BAN THALONG, KHONG CHIAM - In a typical English Crazy Camp, the kids who attend the camp are the most important part. But this weekend, the English Crazy Club held a camp without kids! Ban Thalong, a village on the eastern border of Thailand, hosted this weekend’s camp for Non-formal Education Students. These campers were adults from 18-40 years old, though some of them brought children of their own along to learn too!

The staff taught using the songs and games normally used for children’s camps, modified slightly for more mature students.

It may be surprising that so many adults would be really eager to dress up in clothes and model them while learning vocabulary about fashion,

or that they would be so energetic about tug-of-war, or races, or that they would sing “Hello, How Do You Do?” so enthusiastically,

but the campers and staff were all excited to participate, learn, and teach. In the “International Hello” game, 40-year-old participants were literally rubbing noses with each-other and with staff!

After a hot day of singing in English, learning, and English games, English Crazy Club staff and children from Thalong village took a sunset swim in the waters dividing Thailand and Laos- the beautiful Mekong River. When one can easily swim across physical international boundaries it is a reminder of how arbitrary these human-made borders are. Even locals couldn’t say at what point the Mekong’s waters belonged to Laos!

In the evening, students and staff danced, and performed “Crazy TV Shows’ around a blazing campfire. Some students advertised products and new inventions, others performed interviews with guitar players and Miss Universe contestants, and others informed the other campers about local weather conditions.

This weekend was spent learning English, and going CRAZY getting in touch with all of our inner-children!

English Crazy Camp #14 - Ban Phachan, Ubon Ratchathani

2007-03-08T03:34:00.000-08:00

4-5 March 2007, Ban Phachan, Pho Sai District, Ubon Ratchathani - Here we did it again, turning rural children's dream into reality with the English Crazy Camp, 10 Thai staff and Vermonter staff. A BIG thank you goes to the Montpelier to Thailand 3 (M2T3) who kindly sponsored this project!

I had an awesome time working with you guys! This camp was amazing and tons of fun. Pink team rocked and so did everyone else but pink was the best. This is an incredible program and such a great group of people. The kids loved the camp. I hoe I can see you all again soon. Stay CRAZY!!!
Love,
Alex
From Vermont, USA

English Crazy Camp Team,
The camp was a lot of fun. ‘Hello, how do you do’ will forever be the theme song of my nightmares for now on. The activities were organized, informative for the kids, exciting, and certainly…CRAZY.
Keep on keepin’ on,
TYLER

ENGLISH CRAZY CAMP COUNSELORS,
Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your camp. I had a lot of fun and learned things too. Your program is SO helpful—the kids definitely learned while having fun! I wish we had the same type of thing for other languages in the USA. Thanks again!

Arie

English Crazy Camp,
I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep my energy “crazy” for two whole days, but the camp was very fun, and I had a really good time. Thanks for letting us help, and keep up the good work. Good luck in your futures.

<3 Kelsey P. Munge
Vermont, USA

Dear English Crazy team,
THANK YOU for including us in your camp! I had a lot of fun and I enjoyed being all your craziness! I was amazed by all the work you guys put into the camp…your enthusiasm was truly awesome! I hope you keep the English camps going, as I think the kids really enjoyed it! Good luck!
<3 Elena

English Crazy Camp,
It was nice to participate in the camp. I wasn’t sure If I could keep up the “crazy’ but I found that being with the kids helped me keep up my energy. I had a lot of fun. My rotation (shopping) was very entertaining. Thank you! And good luck!
Cassandra (Dada)

Dear English (Halta) Crazy Camp,
This has been an awesome experience that I will never forget! Thank you so much for running such an amazing program. The staff and kids alike were all ridiculously crazy. The things you do and accomplish are unbeatable. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to hang out with you guys and learn so much. Even though all the teams were cool, blue was the best! J I work at a camp over the summer in America and even though those kids speak English, I’m sure to bring back all the fun songs, games, and memories you have shared with me. Remember to always keep sexy, cool, and crazy.
Love,
Julia (Gulia)

Dear English Crazy Club,
You all are AMAZING, the energy and the gift of enthusiasm you bring via your teaching is beautiful. It really works. I was astounded at just how much English the kids learned in only 2 days.
Thanks for joining us on the long hike; it was magical.
I look forward to the Thai Crazy Club in Montpelier, Vermont.
-Ruth

Dear E.C.C.
The level of craziness that you bring to the camp is really astounding. At first I was a little doubtful of your methods, but by the end of the second day the kids were really into it, it was amazing. It seems like for quite a few of the kids the E.C.C. was really where the inspiration to learn English began.
I wish you all the bet of luck in your efforts to make Thai children English Crazy.
-Nate

ENGLISH CRAZY CAMP!
What can I say? It was crazy! But it was fueled by the knowledge and passion and fun that was so contagious. It was b-e-a-utiful. Thanks so much for letting us be a part of it.
-EM-ISO

English Crazy Camp, March 2007, Baan Phachan
You truly inspire your campers- including your Montpelier, Vermont assistants. The energy and enthusiasm for learning and teaching is contagious! Thank you for including us and sharing your love for English. (Let’s start a Thai Crazy Camp!)
-Linda Wheatley

English Camp is Crazy!!
Gee Wiz Thank you for knowing how to turn great ideas into reality. What a gift to children! It was a blast to be a part of. Thank you for sharing it with all of us!!
Maybe again sometime,
Alexcisissisis

English Crazy Camp,
Thank you so much for your energy. It was a great experience for us and for the children. The cap was so much fun and it was a great learning experience!
-Jill

The English Crazy Camp was CRAZY!!!
I would do it again anytime. Not only do the kids learn stuff, I feel like I have learned a lot from them.
Xoxoxo Nipa (Nipaaaah)
Dear English Crazy Camp,
Thank you for a wonderful experience. You have all made something wonderful; I envy your energy and enthusiasm at all hours of the day. You are all truly a blessing to these kids- don’t stop.
Chris

Dear English Crazy Camp Crew,
Thanks for showing me the joy in peeling & shaking bananas, relocating poo to corresponding toilets, and keeping the kids cool & sexy. You guys are doing great things and making a difference while having fun the whole time! Thanks for making me a part of the craziness!
XO, Sophie

English Crazy Camp #13 - Ban Janaew School, Si Sa Ket

2007-02-28T19:24:00.000-08:00

Our camp for Ban Janaew School was on the 10-11 Febuary. It was another success!

The Story of English Crazy Camp!

2007-02-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

ON FRIDAY EVENING, a team of ‘English Crazy Camp’ staff, packed with 10 Thai staff and farang staff, are heading off to a rural school in the dusty Isaan area. The staff are ready with their fully-charged batteries for their 2 –day crazy mission running an English camp for 100-150 lovely students. All activities are filled with both fun and academic knowledge that help students to gain a love for English.

The main activities are based on ‘crazy’ themes in order to make students feel relaxed enough to expose themselves to the language. Those crazy activities include: Crazy Couples, Crazy Races, My Crazy School and English Crazy Syndrome Show. At the first day of the camp, the students are nervous when they first see us, because we all speak English to them.

Hours later, they feel more relaxed because of the crazy games and songs that bring them so much fun and they are more confident to try and communicate with us for stickers. At the end of the camp nobody wants to go home, but we must leave and they are left with the inspiration to learn more English!