Tomato Village School opened in 2004 after the Charity Child's Dream worked with Ben to build and fund a classroom and toilets, to allow him to teach English.
To start with there were 70+ students. Since then a second classroom has been built, seating a max of 24 children, 20 comfortably. Lessons are held from 6pm-8pm with a half hour break.
A class is the most advanced group and they attend every day.
B class attend Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings.
C Class is the beginners class and they come on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Class B
Facts & Figures
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228 students have attended Tomato Village School since 2004.
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61 students are currently attending, aged 6 to 14 years.
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31 are girls and 30 are boys
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Between 2 classrooms the school has the capacity to hold 50 students each evening (30 and 20), so the max number of students the school could take is 70 ( A 30, B 20, C 20).
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Exams are held every three months and there is the opportunity for some students to move up to B or A class if their results and day to day progress is good enough.
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New students can join C class when space becomes available (there are currently children waiting to join).
Why English?
The question of Why teach English? has been asked. In reply, the answer is: English is now an international language and the second language for many people throughout the world. Visitors to Thailand will often speak basic English and hope to communicate using English. Tourism in Thailand offers employments to many people in Thailand. For those students living in the Mae Hong Son District, tourism is also one possible area for future employment. Working as a trekking guide, tour guide, in a bar or restaurant, running a guest house – all require some level of English to allow you to interact with customers. There are many NGOs working in the region too, most of whom are English speaking.
Jobs in the city, office work for example will require some level of English. In order for the children of Tomato Village to gain employment, English would be huge advantage to them. Recent reports in the Thai press (Bangkok Post July 2010) indicate that the Thai government is even looking at making English the official second language.
Why here?
The Tomato Village is quite remote, in that the nearest big town is 33km away. English lessons are available in Mae Hong Son, approx 150-200 Baht for 2 hours. Having the school in the village allows even the youngest children to attend, and being free makes it accessible to all, important as many families could not afford to pay for English classes.
Volunteering
The school also welcomes English speaking volunteers to come and teach. Over the years more than 40 volunteers have come to the school. Some return each year to teach. The volunteers are organised through Child's Dream and directly by Ben himself.
The benefits of having volunteers are:
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Native English speakers help with pronunciation and 'real' English
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They can teach about English/Western culture as well as language
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Volunteers bring fresh ideas and possibly funds to make improvements or buy equipment for the school
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Volunteers raise awareness of the work being done by Child's Dream and by Ben and Ten to help the children in Tomato Village learn English
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Fun for the students to meet people from other countries and hear different English accents (American, Australian, British etc) Good for Ten (and Ben) to learn more English from the volunteers that stay
The children are alway pleased to have volunteer teachers and they are great kids. You will quickly learn their personalities! The classes are fun and you can play games as well as using more traditional teaching methods. You are free to plan lessons and teach in your own style.
If you are interested in volunteer work and teaching English, please visit the Child's Dream website for more information and contact Child's Dream or Benjamin by email.
Food and accommodation are both available, allowing you to live in the village whilst you teach. Oh and you can go trekking at the weekend!
