The third in a series of Thai-American Cultural Camps was held at Yonok University in Lampang on June 20-21, 2009. The “Get to Know Uncle Sam” two-day camp provided a rare opportunity for both students and teachers to engage in various interactive, educational activities aimed at promoting understanding of the English language, as well as U.S. society and culture. Staff from the Cultural Affairs Office and Information Resource Center (IRC) of the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok joined forces with English Language Fellow Fidelia “Fuang” Twenge-Jinings in guiding 30 students and teachers from six northern high schools through fun and informative English language exercises and activities, including an information search session provided by the talented IRC staff that had participants discovering how to search for reliable, accurate information about the United States on the Internet before presenting the information they found about U.S. states with hand-drawn pictures, in which some students showed incredible artistic and acting talents.
In addition, the campers learned to sing the U.S. national anthem and enjoyed a screening of the documentary “Spellbound,” followed by a round of interesting and active discussion on the film topped off with a hard-fought “Spelling Bee” competition, in which the students amazed the trainers with their exceptional spelling talent.
Ace! Intern, AFS alumnus, and Wesleyan freshman Aunchisa “Aom” Tapanakornvut talks about her life as an international student in the U.S.
Participants also gained insight into study in the United States and student exchange programs through an informative briefing by Ace! Intern, former AFS exchange student, and Wesleyan University freshman Aunchisa “Aom” Tapanakornvut (Freeman Asian Scholar) and EducationUSA specialist Preeyawan Sakornyen. EducationUSA Counselor Sutthichok 'Gao' Linprasert briefed the campers on educational advising services available at Ace!
In the evening, excited participants also learned how to cook (and eat!) true American BBQ, with chips and watermelon, and a longstanding American camp tradition, s’Mores! Rounding out the fun was a scavenger hunt in which the students combined the tradition of Easter egg hunting with Earth Day activities by searching for recyclable materials 0n the expansive camp lawn. A great time was had by all!
Full article on the website of the U.S. Embassy, Bangkok
More pix
*** Ace! is a member of the EducationUSA global educational advising network affiliated with the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State. We provide free EducationUSA counseling services to students in the northern provinces of Thailand; our faculty of U.S.-trained Test Prep Experts can help you with cost-effective result-driven training programs for SAT-1, SAT-2, TOEFL, GRE, GMAT, GED, IELTS etc ***
