Final Report

Presented by Thein Lwin, Project Coordinator

27 June 2003

Background of the Project

RWCT Northern Thailand Project is designed for Burmese teachers working in Refugee camps and at migrant schools along the Thai-Burma border. Maureen Aung Thwin of Open Society Institute (OSI) initiated the idea of RWCT programs for Burmese teachers. As suggested by Maureen, Thein Lwin went to Romania to attend the 5^th International Conference on RWCT in June 2001. Unfortunately his entry to Romania was denied and he could not attend the conference. However, Jill Bettenhausen of International Reading Association and Prof. Karin Dahl of Ohio State University visited Chiang Mai, Thailand and joined the education seminar on teacher education in November 2001 organized by the Education Team of National Health and Education Committee formed by ethnic and some exiled political groups of Burma. Jill and Karin introduced the RWCT international programs and it methodologies. Then the RWCT Northern Thailand Project was launched in June 2002.

Workshop Details

Three 5-day workshops and one 4-day training trainer workshop were conducted in the Year I program. All workshops were held at the Roong Aroon Resort outside Chiang Mai, Thailand.

First workshop: 10-14 June 2002

Second workshop: 28 October – 1 November 2002

Third workshop: 4-9 January 2003

Training trainer: 24-27 March 2003

Monthly meetings were also held in three regions: Karenni refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province, Mae Sarieng and Mae Sot.

Participants

Target area of the RWCT Northern Thailand Project was Thai-Burma border (Eastern part of Burma). The reason was that RWCT volunteer(s) could observe the teaching of the participants in their classrooms during their visit in Thailand. The selection of participants was based on ethnic, gender and geographical balance. The primary invitees were 5 Shans, 5 Karennis, 5 Karens, 5 Mons, 5 migrant-school teachers, and 5 teachers from schools run by other exiled political groups. However, only Shan teacher joined the first workshop and he did not come again. There are no proper schools in Shan State near Thai border. Displaced Shan people are not allowed to stay in Thailand as refugees while Karenni and Karen displaced people can stay in refugee camps and open schools. Mon teachers also did not join the workshops. The coordinator had invited Mon teachers via Mon Education Department. It was not clear why they did not join the workshops. Teachers from Western, Northern and Central parts of Burma were not invited to attend the Year I workshops hoping that there might be RWCT programs for them in future.

Four teachers from OSI schools in camps joined the workshops as observers. But later they became the full participants because there were vacancies. Three teacher trainers from the six-month teacher training in Chiang Mai also joined the workshops as observers. The table below shows the list of participants and their attendances.

List of Participants and their Attendances

No.	Name	Region	WS I	WS II	WS III	TOT
1	Paw Ray	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
2	Thazin Htay Naing	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
3	Lily Aung	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
4	Yi Yi	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	r	r
5	Eh Kha	Mae Sot – Migrant	ü	ü	ü	ü
6	Phyu Phyu Aung	Mae Sot – Muslim group	ü	ü	ü	ü
7	Clamay	Mae La camp – OSI	ü	ü	ü	ü
8	Baby	Umpyum camp – OSI	ü	r	r	r
9	K’Pru Htoo	Mae La camp – OSI	r	ü	ü	ü
10	Htoo May	Mae La camp – Karen	r	ü	ü	r
11	Ler Htoo	Mae Khong Kha camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
12	Diamond	Mae Khong Kha camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
13	Dweh Gay	Mae La Mu camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
14	Po Kaw	Mae La Mu camp – Karen	ü	ü	ü	ü
15	Hla Htay	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	r	r	r
16	Khin Shwe Hlaing	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	ü	ü	ü
17	Soe Shwe	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	ü	ü	ü
18	Zaw Min	Mae Khong Kha – Student group	ü	ü	ü	ü
19	Shwe Htoon	Karenni camp – OSI	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
20	Ray Htoo	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
21	Jimmy	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
22	Tar Malar Htoo	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
23	Khu Oo Reh	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	ü (TL)	ü	ü
24	Martina	Karenni camp – Karenni	ü	r	r	r
25	Tar Oo	Karenni camp – Karenni	r	r	ü	ü
26	Sai Yaw	Shan school – Shan	ü	r	r	r
27	Nan Lung	Chiang Mai – Teacher Training	ü	r	r	r
28	Thaung Nyunt	Chiang Mai – Teacher Training	ü (TL&KL)	ü	ü	ü
29	Dwel Ling	Chiang Mai – Teacher Training	ü (TL&KL)	ü	ü	ü

Note:

WS = Workshop; TOT = Training Trainers

ü = attend the workshop; r = not attend the workshop

TL = Thein Lwin visited Karenni camp and re-introduced the Workshop II since these participants could not come to Chiang Mai due to car accident.

TL&KL = Thein Lwin and Kha Lum re-introduced the Workshop I at the teacher training.

Volunteer Trainers

Karin Dahl, Ohio State University

Terry McEachen, Texas A&M University

Kurt Meredith, University of Northern Iowa

Jeannie Steele, University of Northern Iowa

Summary of the Workshops

First Workshop (June 2002)

Karin Dahl and Terry McEachen led the workshop. The contents of the workshop were ‘A Framework for Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum’ (Guidebook I), ‘Methods for Promoting Critical Thinking’ (Guidebook II), and ‘Reading, Writing and Discussion in Every Discipline’ (Guidebook III). Twenty-four participants joined the workshop (see the list of participants above).

Second Workshop (October 2002)

Jeannie Steele and Kurt Meredith led the workshop. The contents of the workshops were ‘Cooperative Learning’ (Guidebook V), ‘Lesson Planning and Assessment’ (Guidebook VI), ‘Writing Workshop: From Self-Expression to Written Arguments’ (Guidebook VII) and ‘Emergent Literacy’. Eighteen participants joined the workshop in Chiang Mai and five joined the workshop led by Thein Lwin at the Karenni refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province (see the list of participants and their attendances above).

Third Workshop (January 2003)

Karin Dahl and Terry McEachen led the workshop. The contents of the workshop were ‘Further Strategies for Promoting Critical Thinking’ (Guidebook IV), and ‘Creating Thoughtful Readers’ (Guidebook VIII). Twenty-three participants joined the workshop (see the list of participants above).

Training Trainer Workshop (March 2003)

Kurt Meredith led the workshop. It was a training of trainers and the contents were ‘Working with Adults: Planning for Effective In-Service’ (Steel and Meredith), ‘Basic Law of Adult Learning’, ‘Presenters Possible Roles, Behaviors, Effects, and Situation’ and ‘Problem Solving Rubric’. A discussion was made for the Year II programs. The discussion included the role of Year I participants in Year II programs, and lesson planning for Year II first workshop.

Monthly Meetings

The participants held monthly meetings in three different regions. Ray Htoo, Jimmy, Tar Malar Htoo, Oo Reh, Shwe Htoon and Tar Oo joined the monthly meetings at the Karenni refugee camp where they teach. Ler Htoo, Diamond, Dweh Gay, Po Kaw, Khin Shwe Hlaing, Soe Shwe and Zaw Min joined the monthly meetings in Mae Sarieng. Paw Reh, Thazin Htay Naing, Lily Aung, Phyu Phyu, Yi Yi, Eh Kha, Clamay, K’Pru Htoo and Htoo May joined the monthly meetings in Mae Sot. Coordinator Thein Lwin and some of his staff attended these monthly meetings.

The Success of the Program

It is a dramatic change in learning styles from the rote learning to critical thinking. Schools in Burma usually focus on teacher-centered methodologies and encourage rote learning whereby students participate passively in the classrooms. Since Burma is emerging and reaching towards democracy, young people need to know how to participate as active citizens in an open society. The RWCT project helps teachers to empower students to become active learners and to develop critical thinking skills.

Obstacles

Organizing workshops and training in a neighboring country is always difficult for Burmese exiles. It is difficult for people to cross the border to come to Thailand to attend the workshops. It is also difficult for people living in refugee camps to go out from camps to attend the workshop in Chiang Mai. It is possible to negotiate with local authorities for the traveling of the participants (as we did in Year I programs) but it proves too costly. Communication is also difficult to contact with the participants because there are no telephone lines to the camps. The coordinator needs to go to the camps to inform or discuss with them.

Suggestions

RWCT programs should continue for Burmese teachers to disseminate the RWCT methods to all schools in Burma.
The RWCT workshops for teachers working in Northern (Kachin, Shan, Plaung), Southern (Mon, Tavoy), Western (Chin, Rakhine) and Central (Burman) parts of Burma should be considered.
Funds should be secure to organize the workshops.
The program should also consider the convenient of the international volunteer trainers. (At the time of writing this report, the RWCT Northern Thailand Project Year II, First Workshops were conducted successfully in three locations: Karenni refugee camp in Mae Hong Son Province, Mae Khong Kha Karen refugee camp near Mae Sarieng, a Thai border town and Mae Sot, another Thai border town. The roads to camps cross over mountains and in forests. The roads are muddy and slipping especially in this raining season in Thailand. Burma border is also a malarial region.)

End.