- Two Cake Sales
- A Christmas Quiz
- Busking carols around Cheltenham
- Non-school uniform day
- Valentine's Roses and Sweets delivery
- Spring concert ticket money at school
- Spring concert raffle at school
There's been quite a considerable radio silence as regards fundraising over the past few months. Here are some of the things I've been doing/organising to raise money:
After months of waiting, we have finally been given our specific projects!
It wasn't January as I first thought, it was actually May, which is when all selection courses have finished. I think some people can actually still get selected in April to go away this year - scary.
May came around, no news. The days passed by, still no news. We weren't sure if they were coming by post or by email either... then I checked my email....!
And so without further ado, let me tell you about my project.
Next year I will be volunteering as a full member of a secondary school English department in Uthai Thani, Thailand.
Uthai Thani is a small provincial town, so it will be a bit of a mix between the city proper, which is close by, and the more rural area in which I will actually be living. My partner and I will share a house in the grounds of the school where we will be working, which has been described to me as a "lovely wooden affair", which sounds wonderful!
Our actual job at the school is to teach classes of around forty (!) and make English learning more fun for the students. I have heard, a bit earlier on in the process, that truants are not cracked down on so much in Thailand as they are here, so if you're lesson isn't interesting, the students won't attend it! Pile on the pressure to make sure I'm a good teacher!
I'm really excited about the culture of the country as well; there are so many different things to see and do from here! I'm particularly interested in the language, which I know is going to be hard. I really want to learn it properly though, language is something that really interests me. I've got a couple of books lined up to give me a basic understanding of the language which I can then build on, once my exams are finished.
Speaking of books, I was also given the National Geographic's Guide to Thailand for Christmas by my parents, and have since bought "Culture Shock!Thailand".
I now have all trains and accomodation booked for Training this summer. That's going to be hard as well. Lets just assume, from now on, that everything I talk about is going to be difficult, unless I expressly say so! That's not to say it won't be incredibly worthwhile or extremely enjoyable. After all, it's our first tangible stepinto the abyss on the journey to Thailand.
It wasn't January as I first thought, it was actually May, which is when all selection courses have finished. I think some people can actually still get selected in April to go away this year - scary.
May came around, no news. The days passed by, still no news. We weren't sure if they were coming by post or by email either... then I checked my email....!
And so without further ado, let me tell you about my project.
Next year I will be volunteering as a full member of a secondary school English department in Uthai Thani, Thailand.
Uthai Thani is a small provincial town, so it will be a bit of a mix between the city proper, which is close by, and the more rural area in which I will actually be living. My partner and I will share a house in the grounds of the school where we will be working, which has been described to me as a "lovely wooden affair", which sounds wonderful!
Our actual job at the school is to teach classes of around forty (!) and make English learning more fun for the students. I have heard, a bit earlier on in the process, that truants are not cracked down on so much in Thailand as they are here, so if you're lesson isn't interesting, the students won't attend it! Pile on the pressure to make sure I'm a good teacher!
I'm really excited about the culture of the country as well; there are so many different things to see and do from here! I'm particularly interested in the language, which I know is going to be hard. I really want to learn it properly though, language is something that really interests me. I've got a couple of books lined up to give me a basic understanding of the language which I can then build on, once my exams are finished.
Speaking of books, I was also given the National Geographic's Guide to Thailand for Christmas by my parents, and have since bought "Culture Shock!Thailand".
I now have all trains and accomodation booked for Training this summer. That's going to be hard as well. Lets just assume, from now on, that everything I talk about is going to be difficult, unless I expressly say so! That's not to say it won't be incredibly worthwhile or extremely enjoyable. After all, it's our first tangible step
So the letter did eventually come, a day later that expected though –
everyone on facebook was discussing the most likely scenarios in which
the progress had been halted by the ferries, or the weather or something
– but on the Saturday it did come.
And I was selected!
Next year when I leave school, I will be going to Thailand to teach English for a whole 12 months!!
People keep asking me where exactly I will be going and what I will be doing, but we don’t get our final projects until January, well after all selection courses have finished. The general specification for Thailand, though, is to work in a largish secondary school in a towny-ish area. You also get a fair amount of holidays, so there are good travelling opportunities to be taken advantage of.
Until it gets closer though, I should really focus on my fundraising to be able to go, which is a massive £5600.
But it’s all part of the journey, and half of the challenge!
And I was selected!
Next year when I leave school, I will be going to Thailand to teach English for a whole 12 months!!
People keep asking me where exactly I will be going and what I will be doing, but we don’t get our final projects until January, well after all selection courses have finished. The general specification for Thailand, though, is to work in a largish secondary school in a towny-ish area. You also get a fair amount of holidays, so there are good travelling opportunities to be taken advantage of.
Until it gets closer though, I should really focus on my fundraising to be able to go, which is a massive £5600.
But it’s all part of the journey, and half of the challenge!
A week after the selection course, all the candidates are due to
recieve a letter that will tell them whether or not they have been
accepted onto a Project Trust year out.
If you’re not selected you go and cry a bit, before sorting yourself out and thinking more thoroughly about what’s actually best for you to do. I'm fully prepared for this, despite not wanting it to happen at all!
If you are selected, you get a list of three countries. The first is the one you start fundraising for, but if it is a pooled country (i.e. a very popular one), then it might turn out that you don’t get it.
The letter is due on Friday – I wish it would come now!
If you’re not selected you go and cry a bit, before sorting yourself out and thinking more thoroughly about what’s actually best for you to do. I'm fully prepared for this, despite not wanting it to happen at all!
If you are selected, you get a list of three countries. The first is the one you start fundraising for, but if it is a pooled country (i.e. a very popular one), then it might turn out that you don’t get it.
The letter is due on Friday – I wish it would come now!
It’s not even nine o’clock on Saturday morning and already I’m on my way to the hebridean islands. First, this train drops me off at Glasgow Central station, after which I must change to Queen Street station to take the 12:21 train to Oban. Two nights in Oban, then at 8:00 Monday morning the Ferry (the Ferry which I must be on) departs for Coll.
This is where the selection course takes place, and my journey starts.
Well, the journey’s already started hasn’t it? After all, I did spend nigh on five hours driving to Northwich yesterday (yes, I did actually drive there myself, I only passed my test the other Wednesday – mum was with me though; I’d never driver on the motorway before), and I will spend another 10 hours or more travelling there, but it’s the figurative journey I’m talking about. You know the one.
To put it more clearly, the gap year I hope to go on volunteering to teach somewhere abroad with the charity Project Trust. Project Trust is a charity that has been sending school leavers (17-19 year olds) abroad to volunteer for 12 months for over forty years, so they know what they’re doing. It’s an opportunity to share your skills with others, challenge yourself and encourage worldwide understanding.
But before I can start all that understanding and sharing and stuff, there’s the small matter of raising £5600 and even before that, the first challenge starts in two days time, when I’m must prove my worth on selection in order to even be chosen (or ‘selected’) to go on one of these trips. Though it’s not all hard work on selection; I’ve heard that we learn how to dance a ‘ceilidh’ for the party on the last night, and staying with host families overnight sounds fun, I get the feeling that it’s not a jolly, there are things to be done and discussed in serious terms – because after all it is not something to be taken lightly at all.
But one of the main reasons that I want to go is that it won’t be easy, because my aim in life is to challenge myself and do something amazing, that I may understand the things and the people that make up the world. But I must reconcile my desire to see everything in the world with this particular opportunity, where I would be in one place completely different to my own home for a whole year. It will require boundless energy, enthusiasm, creativity, willingness to learn, determination, self motivation and who knows what else! I’ll find out for myself, providing I do get selected.
This is where the selection course takes place, and my journey starts.
Well, the journey’s already started hasn’t it? After all, I did spend nigh on five hours driving to Northwich yesterday (yes, I did actually drive there myself, I only passed my test the other Wednesday – mum was with me though; I’d never driver on the motorway before), and I will spend another 10 hours or more travelling there, but it’s the figurative journey I’m talking about. You know the one.
To put it more clearly, the gap year I hope to go on volunteering to teach somewhere abroad with the charity Project Trust. Project Trust is a charity that has been sending school leavers (17-19 year olds) abroad to volunteer for 12 months for over forty years, so they know what they’re doing. It’s an opportunity to share your skills with others, challenge yourself and encourage worldwide understanding.
But before I can start all that understanding and sharing and stuff, there’s the small matter of raising £5600 and even before that, the first challenge starts in two days time, when I’m must prove my worth on selection in order to even be chosen (or ‘selected’) to go on one of these trips. Though it’s not all hard work on selection; I’ve heard that we learn how to dance a ‘ceilidh’ for the party on the last night, and staying with host families overnight sounds fun, I get the feeling that it’s not a jolly, there are things to be done and discussed in serious terms – because after all it is not something to be taken lightly at all.
But one of the main reasons that I want to go is that it won’t be easy, because my aim in life is to challenge myself and do something amazing, that I may understand the things and the people that make up the world. But I must reconcile my desire to see everything in the world with this particular opportunity, where I would be in one place completely different to my own home for a whole year. It will require boundless energy, enthusiasm, creativity, willingness to learn, determination, self motivation and who knows what else! I’ll find out for myself, providing I do get selected.
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