Two English teaching staff of the English Language Education Programme (PBI) of Sanata Dharma University (USD) Yogyakarta were assigned to teach English to 14 volunteers for two weeks (July 8 – 20, 2013) in Chiang Mai, Thailand. These 14 men and women are mostly from a mountain-based ethnic group called Karen. Traditionally, this group of people has lived in mountains, developed their civilizations, and had limited contacts with people in low-land areas. They were highly self-sufficient. Today, many young people of this group go to cities and live differently from their older generations. However, it is certainly not easy for them to enter a more modernized society among Thai people in general. They are not well-prepared to enter a highly competitive world of modernized Thai societies.
Chiang Mai map (thanks to Google)
English training participants interact in class
Doing group work ...
"This is my certificate," says a participant (left, in purple) after USD PBI English trainer V Triprihatmini hands over the certificate at the end of the programme held in Chiang Mai, Thailand
Trainees pose togther with their instructors
Fr. Vinai Boonlue, SJ., the only Jesuit priest from the Karen ethnic group, underscored the importance of this English training. He presented the rationale for the program as follows: "Let's do simple things first. Let's take small steps. We are not going to make a big leap without materializing these simple and small steps. English learning is the first very step for those who really have the heart to contribute and share the burden of helping each other. Two lecturers from Sanata Dharma University will help us. They have the Jesuit tradition, that I believe, will strengthen our establishment of our dream here. They have the best English education in the country. So, I believe we can learn a lot from them. Not only the English skills, but also the way to get there: improving ourselves from time to time. That's how the Jesuits view the world." (text and photos: Markus Budiraharjo EdD)
(bb)