Grade 6 English Language and Literature students have been inquiring into the notion that “Our Intended Audience Determines How and What we Communicate.”  We used the ‘Day Out’ last week to experiment with this idea, by communicating this experience to different audiences, using different types of texts. Students wrote news articles, formal letters, informal letters and scripted conversations. They will follow up by analysing how their language and content changed according to the audience they wrote to. Here are some samples of their work:

News article (for the Rolling News):

Having Fun Outside The Classroom

Air house students making Krathongs

Yesterday, the Prem middle school students had a great Day Out, where we did activities outside the classroom. The main idea of the day out was to learn about team building. We rotated between four activities that we did around the school. During the course of the day, we worked in our houses. The four activities we did were: Krathong making, cooking, the lemon protector game and the low ropes course. All the middle school students got to try each activity during the time at school. We ended the day by floating the krathongs we made in the lake.

What we did

We did many fun things during each activity. In the krathong making activity, the VSP staff taught the middle school students how to make Thai krathongs for Loi Krathong day. For Lemon Protector, the students had to make a protective case for lemons. Once the building phase was done they took turns trying to destroy the box the lemon was in. Some of the lemons were destroyed at the end of the game and some survived. The low ropes course was hard. It took a lot of teamwork to complete. We had to pass different obstacles including, rope walking, rope swing, tire swing and board walking.  Our last activity was Thai cooking, where we learned how to make som-tum (Thai Papaya Salad) and Fried Spring rolls. Both dishes were equally delicious, one being spicy and the other being salty.  We had a fun time during the day out and learned a lot outside of the classroom.

By Aksel & Gavin

Formal letter:

Prem Tinsulanonda International School

3 Tambon San Pong San Pong Amphoe

Mae Rim

Chang Wat

Chiang Mai

50180

Wednesday, 16 November 2016

Dear K. Nae and K. Maprang,

We are writing to you to thank you for teaching us how to cook delicious Thai food, as well as getting the ingredients for us to cook with. We loved the menu that you created, especially the spring rolls; on the outside they were crispy and golden brown. As well as the somtam, (papaya salad), the taste of it was incredible; sweet, salty, sour, and a bit spicy. It was perfect. We both enjoyed it a lot.

During cooking together we have learned that cabbage prevents spicy food from burning in your stomach. We’re both got surprised when you told us this interesting information.

We hope we get to cook with you again next year. Please teach us how to make tomyam goong (shrimp soup) next time. Thank you for having us at the cooking school. Our friends all enjoyed being able to cook delicious Thai food there.

Best regards,

Opale and Vicky

Grade 6

Informal letter:

Wednesday 16th October 2016

Dear Grandpa,

How are you? I hope you are well. I know it is very hot and humid there so keep yourself healthy.

I really wanted to tell you that yesterday we had a Day Out. It is basically a day where we do different activities such as cooking, put a lemon in a box, making krathong and going through an obstacle course. I was waiting for this day to come because I was very excited about this event.

For cooking, we made spring rolls and Som Tum (Thai Papaya Salad). For the protecting a lemon, we had to put a lemon in a box and tried to make it survive from people jumping on it, stepping on it and smashing it with a bamboo stick. The krathong making was fun because after we had made our krathong we could play with the Thai traditional toys. The most exciting part was the rope course because that activity included teamwork and being a risk taker. At the end of the day, we floated the krathongs in the school river!

When are you going to come to Thailand ?

Hope to see you soon!

Haxe Up

Jay & Felix

Scripted conversation:

English Script, Day Out To Mom –

Jasmine: (happily) Mom! We’re home!

Jasmine and Fukue both enter the home.

Fukue: Guess what we did today mom!

Mom looks up from her laptop.

Mom: (Calmly) What did you do today on your day out?

Both Jasmine and Fukue take off their bags and lay them on the floor.

Jasmine: (excitedly) We did all sorts of things: obstacle courses, cooking, making krathongs, and we also played lemon protector!

Fukue: And at the end of all those activities, we floated the krathongs in the river!

Jasmine walks towards the table to sit next to mom.

Jasmine: But I and Fukue were in different teams so we hardly ever saw each other today because of how we switched from one activity to another.

Fukue starts scavenging through the fridge for a snack.

Fukue: (Loudly) It was really fun, though! My favorite activity was lemon protector!

Jasmine: My favorite activity was the obstacle course. It was really fun. There were many different groups and there were 4 people in my group: me, Yunseo, Andy, and Zsombor.

Mom: That sounds like a lot of activities in one day!

Jasmine: It was tiring but it was worth it!

Mom: Well I’m glad you both are happy with today!

Fukue comes to join Jasmine and Mom with her snack.

Fukue: I wish we had pictures for you to see, but anyways it was really fun!

Jasmine & Fukue