Photo By Sgt. Leah Agler | Students, teachers and U.S. Marines pose for a group photo after an English class was...... read more read more
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PHITSANULOK, Thailand - Students sit restless on the floor, shifting and murmuring quietly among themselves. Suddenly, a cheer erupts as two Marines enter the room and greet the children. For the next hour they are the instructors, encouraging and rewarding students as they participate.
Marines with Team 1, civil affairs detachment, taught an English and math class to students at the To Ban Trabaek Ngam School Jan. 29 in Phitsanulok, Kingdom of Thailand, as part of a humanitarian and civic assistance engagement.
The event took place during the opening days of Cobra Gold 2014, a multinational exercise which highlights regional security and cooperation through a command post exercise, senior leader knowledge exchanges, field exercises and HCA engagements.
The Marines with civil affairs interact with key leaders in an effort to better understand a particular region’s key infrastructure and disaster response capabilities while building positive relationships with community members.
This particular event provided an opportunity to interact with the children and show them how U.S. schools are taught, according to Sgt. Johnathan Salas a civil affairs noncommissioned officer with the detachment.
“We taught the students basic English and math as well,” said Salas. “We try to be creative and teach the kids while showing them how we do things in (U.S.) schools.”
The Marines were welcomed by the school’s teachers and felt at home with the students, according to Salas.
“It is absolutely overwhelming hospitality,” said Salas. “From the day we got here they let us stay in their community center and they (hosted) a dinner for us.”
The teachers of the school were grateful to have the Marines bring their language skills to the students, according to Suwarin a teacher at the school.
“The kids love it,” said Suwarin. “They are able to (enhance) their English language skills. The U.S. Marines are very friendly and helpful.”
The civil affairs Marines were impressed by the children’s knowledge levels and were excited to have the opportunity to work with them, according to Lance Cpl. Kylie Curtis, a civil affairs Marine with the detachment.
“They’re pretty smart already,” said Curtis. “Being away from home and having a lot of siblings, it’s nice to interact with (the students). It brings you back home.”
Overall, the event provided a unique opportunity for the children to learn and the Marines to step outside of their comfort zone, according to Curtis.
“I just taught a class today, that never would have happened (in the U.S.),” said Curtis. “It’s nice to be around kids. Especially being in the military, they look up to you.”
| Date Taken: | 01.29.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 02.02.2014 07:54 |
| Story ID: | 119996 |
| Location: | PHITSANULOK, TH |
| Web Views: | 242 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Thai children receive class from U.S. Marines, by 1LT Luke Kuper, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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