Special points of in-
terest:
Loads of photos!
Articles on our stay!
Students explain!
Learn about
Thailand!
The International
Award
The IDEALS
Adventure 2
Challenge 3
Environment 4
Field Study 5
Internationalism 6
Service 7
Leadership 8
Inside this issue:
Renaissance International School Saigon in
Thailand.
The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
Spring 2011. Volume 1, Issue 1
The Maekok River Vil-
lage Project (MRVP)
has been in operation
for eleven years and
offers a range of activi-
ties for school trips in-
cluding subject specific
fieldwork, out door ed-
ucation and communi-
ty service projects. The
Year 10s were the first
students from RISS to
visit the MRVP and
their week long trip
was a huge success,
made possible by the
excellent service pro-
vided by the staff in
the resort and the
commitment and per-
severance of our stu-
dents. The best way to
find out more about
the trip is from the
students themselves
and I’m sure you will
enjoy reading about
their experiences in
the following articles.
Philip MacDonald-
Milner, Trip Leader
The Year 10 students
enjoy the first ever
international field
trip for RISS in Thai-
land
Adventure and Service: Learning
Archery and assisting at a local or-
phanage
The MRVR—Ban Thaton, Thailand.
The first team who shot the
balloon is becoming a winner.
I really enjoyed it and I really
want to do it again. It might
be the unforgettable memory
for me.
Kim Ji Yeon
On the fourth day of the IDE-
ALS school trip to Thailand, we
did archery as part of an activi-
ty. On that day, the weather
was terrible, we planned to do
rock climbing but we cancelled
because of the rain. Therefore,
we took to the gym after we fin-
ished mountain biking and
teamwork games.
It was my first time to do ar-
chery. When I saw it on TV, I
thought that I could do it well.
However, it was n’t easy, and I
could n’t do it well. It was hard
to shoot in the middle, or even
at the edge of the target.
However, I got better with prac-
tice and I had a very enjoyable
time, even if the weather was
really cold.
For the activity, we were sepa-
rated into 4 groups with 3 peo-
ple in each group. We tried 3
times (3 arrows) for each person
Trying Something New—Archery.
Page 2 The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
“ At first,
everyone
seemed not so
good at archery,
but, with
practice they
improved. “
The Maekok River Village Resort—Student
Centre
The Restaurant at the resort
At first, everyone seemed not so
good at archery, but, with prac-
tice they improved. Some stu-
dents shoot to the middle of the
circle and some students shoot to
near the middle of the circle. At
the end, we had a small competi-
tion which is shooting balloon.
On the third day of trip, we did
the confidence course. During
the trip to Thailand, all of the
students were looking forward
to this particular activity. The
confidence course was installed
in the MRVR which we stayed
for 5 days. There were 6 sec-
tions of obstacles.
Many of the students we re very
anxious about the course, but
others were fine with it. Before
we started, we learnt about
safety because it was the most
important part of the confidence
course. Many of the boys want-
ed go first as they were very
excited.
First, we had to check the safe-
ty rope. The safety rope was
joined with our body and the
top of the course obstacle. If we
made a false step, the rope will
support our body. After we
learnt about safety, finally we
could start. Of course the in-
structor showed us first how to
do it.
The first section was very easy
and all of the student passed
that easily and fast. It was
walking on the two stick and we
have to balance. However the
second was not so easy for some
students, I remember that one
of the student fall out his leg to
the small hole and he had diffi-
culty to get up. The third sec-
tion was also easy but when we
reach the fourth section, it was
tough to go through. The fifth
section was the hardest section
because when I walk, it swung
a lot and I couldn’t balance
well. The last two sections were
just crossing. One of the stu-
dents was tried but couldn’t go
through all the sections because
she was very scared. She
crossed the middle of the confi-
dence course which is the short-
est and easier way to complete.
All of the students enjoyed the
course and found it very excit-
ing.
Mi Ran
Challenging Yourself—The Confidence Course.
Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 3
Beautiful Northern Thailand.
Learning About The Environment.
Page 4 The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
The International Award.
Initially , we took a flight to
Bangkok and after that a flight
to Chiang Rai (northern of Thai-
land). After that, we ate a lot,
but we tried not towaste any
food. Then we get to the resort
by car., it’s in the countryside of
Chiang Rai. On the way, I can
see many traffic in the street,
it’s a busy city. But the more
further to the countryside,
there’s less traffic, the environ-
ment is more fresh.
The day after, we had field work
on the Mae Ai river. It has clean
water, a variety of plants and
fresh air. We saw some of the
litter on the river surface, we
took it then and threw it into
the bin. There’s a little bit hu-
man activity so it does not af-
fect much on the environment.
The next day, we planned to
camp but it’ was raining so we
cancelled it. Instead of camp-
ing, we hiked on a mountain.
It’s a big mountain with fresh
environment. Moreover, its qui-
et and peaceful.
The next day we went mountain
biking through the countryside.
As you know, the villages are
very clean, the locals can keep
clean public environment.
Nabi and Truc
Hello, everyone! I am going to
interview two girls who had
unique experiences during the
IDEALS trip in Thailand. They
are Ah Young and Ye Rim who
are doing Duke of Edinburgh.
Let’s talk with them!!
Interviewer: Hello, girls. How
are you?
Ah young & Ye Rim: Hello, I
am fine. Thanks.
Interviewer: I heard that you
guys had very memorable expe-
rience in Thailand. What was
it?
Ah Young: We are doing inter-
national award which is also
know as the Duke of Edin-
burgh’s Award. In Thailand,
we had chance to complete the
adventure section by hiking
the mountain and sleeping in-
side the tent that we put up by
ourselves.
Ye Rim: Before we go, I and
Ah Young studied with teach-
ers how to use compass and
read a map. It was hard to un-
derstand at first because nowa-
days, reading map and using
compass to hike are not usual
activities.
Interviewer: I agree with you.
I also can not use compass and
map. What else did you do?
Ye Rim: We made our meal by
ourselves.
Interviewer: Meals? How in-
teresting! What did you make?
Ye Rim: For dinner, we made
spaghetti and in the morning
we ate Thai instant noodle.
Interviewer: Did you have
any special recipes to make
food?
Ah Young: Recipes? Ha Ha
We haven’t made food before
ourselves. We just got materi-
als for food.
Interviewer: How was it?
Was it delicious?
Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 5
Studying In The field (Or River!) During the Thailand trip, as
geography students, we had got
a great opportunity to approach
the Mae AI River which is par-
ticularly important for our Ge-
ography IGCSE final. Mr. Aus-
tin introduced to us some gen-
eral information about the field-
work. Unfortunately, the
weather was quite bad; the sky
was filled with dark clouds and
temperature was very low. The
truck that we used to move was
really unique. While we on the
road, we saw the phenomenal
Thai landscape in tht back of
the truck. Enjoying the fresh
air was fantastic. It was a real
experience for us.
To reach the river, the path was
quite dangerous and slippery
and a few students fell down
several times-site 1 was espe-
cially bad. When we reached to
the river, it was very beautiful.
The river flowed very rapidly
and the shape of the river was
very narrow. We started our
investigations. First, we meas-
ured the velocity with digital
flow meter. It was very easy to
get the flow velocity of the riv-
er. And then we observed and
recorded the bed loads (stones).
After that we measured the
width and depth of the river. It
was simpler than we thought.
After that, we moved to the site
2.
When we arrived at site 2, it
wasn’t like site 1 as the path
was quite wide, neither slippery
nor dangerous. When we got
there, we did the same meas-
urements that we did at site 1
in order to do the comparison.
Unluckily, the digital flow me-
ter failed and we had to meas-
ure the river speed using an
orange. It is quite simple meth-
od. We put an orange in the riv-
er and measured the time until
it reached the finish point. Eve-
ryone was focused on the or-
ange whilst it surfed the river!
After finishing site 2, the heavy
rain came, so we couldn’t inves-
tigate site 3. Unfortunately,
most of the students didn’t have
their own umbrella at that
time, so they got wet. It was
quite interesting experience for
us and learnt a lot of geogra-
phy!
Seong Jae and Eddie
Geography students all undertook ele-
ments of fieldwork upon the trip which in-
cluded some rather wet river studies
“Unfortunately, the
weather was quite bad; the
sky was filled with dark
clouds and temperature
was very low. “
Demonstrating International Mindedness.
Being Adventurous
Through Mountain
Biking.
Page 6 The RISS Annual IDEALS Journal.
We met each other at Tan Son
Nhat airport and Mr. Charlie
gave us the IDEALS booklets.
Then we took the morning
flight to Chiang Rai Interna-
tional Airport (CEI). Later, we
went on the vans to our resort.
We were very tired but the at-
mosphere at the Maekok Ai
River resort impressed us. Liv-
ing there was fantastic because
we had a chance to meet not
only Western people but also
Thai people. We got on well
and shared everything with
them. We realized that they
were so friendly and helpful.
We studied some Thai words,
for examples:” Sawadee Kaa”
(hello) and “Kob Kun Man”
(thank you). Thai food was very
tasty, and somewhat similar
to Vietnamese food. However,
some of them are more spicy
and salty. We mostly ate rice,
curry, soup like Vietnamese
food.
During the trip, we met the
resort staff who are from vari-
ous nationalities and we joined
the activities with them like
stick games, Olympic games
and basketball. Also, the Bam-
boo club where we bought ice
creams and beverages was im-
pressive with its decoration.
The days at the resort were
unforgettable.
The last day of the trip, we vis-
ited the temples. Thai temples
are very luxurious and beauti-
ful. The buildings were elabo-
rately constructed. We spent a
wonderful time there to learn
more about Thai civilians’ be-
liefs in their religion and enjoy
the clear atmosphere. We also
took lots of photos with our
friends and teachers.
Lisa and Uyen
We arrived at the meeting
place to decide which group go
biking or enjoy team work ac-
tivities because there are not
enough bikes for all of us.
Luckily I’m in the first group
which went for mountain bik-
ing. The instructors let us
choose our bikes and we were
ready to rock!. Because of the
bad weather we had to wear
rain coat and many shirts.
They rent a taxi which guided
us during the trip.. I really
enjoy the sightseeing on the
road and understand more
about the life of the local peo-
ple. It is really cold and mud-
dy so not everyone could easi-
ly pass through.
The further we went into the
countryside the more mud on
road cause of heavy rain.
It had many potholes on the
road so it hurt us when we
went over it. The instructors
wanted us to be safe so they
made us go in one line in a
constant speed. I and my
friend had a race that was re-
ally fun and there were many
trucks so we aren’t going fast
as much as we could. We are
arrived back at the same time
in the resort.
I learnt loads of things
through the activity; we learnt
how to overcome the challeng-
es and teamwork.
Khoa
Through team building ac-
tivities, students bonded
with others from different
cultures and backgrounds.
Providing Service and Developing
Compassion.
The Environment—How Healthy Is It?
Volume 1, Issue 1 Page 7
We had some field work for both
Biology and Geography classes.
We had to go to the three loca-
tions. At the first location, we had
to clam up the mountain because
it’s the top, where the river start-
ed and we were looking for crea-
tures which live in the fresh wa-
ter. Then, we continued going to
the second location which was
further down the river’s course
and we stopped to have our
lunch. We also found some crea-
tures which were found at this
location, because the water here
still quite clean. After that, we
went towards the third location.
Here, it was very dirty and
smelly. We went back to the
camp and had a shower because
we were all got wet (it rained all
day long). We had dinner and
congregated at the gym for
games to finish the day.
Phuong and Vu
Recording biodiversity in
different river locations.
On the last day, we visited a local
Thai school nearby the centre.
It’s a orphanage school. Before we
went to the orphanage, we decid-
ed what will we do with them. We
were able to use materials such
as hoops, balls , etc inside the
centre. We had about 5 or 4
groups of 3 to 4 people. The su-
pervisors helped us communicate
with them since we don’t speak
Thai and they were very friendly.
Some of us played basketball,
some decided to play Kore-
an/Vietnamese traditional games.
Even though it was hard to trans-
late from English to Thai (there
were only two translators) we
were happy to play games with
them. Also, we were proud of our-
selves by helping young people
who need love and care from the
others. We learnt about the need
of these services which is about
looking after the weak and poor.
We believe that this experience
was the most fun activity of the
school trip. We hope that we have
a chance to meet them again
soon.
Ye Lim and Sony
Service for others exemplified through our orphanage visit is an
area where the school is looking to progress.
“We believe that this
experience was the
most fun activity of
the school trip. “
Also, there were three beds in
each side but because only four
students stayed in a room, two
beds were left. Every night dur-
ing the Thailand trip, we came
together at the room and chat-
ted into the night. It was really
interesting and we could be-
came more friendly with each
other. Accordingly, we could
share our room with Vietnam-
ese and Korean students and it
was really interesting and made
us more internationally aware.
Many boys were playing the
basketball at night. There was
a gym in the resort. Also there
were lots of things what we
could play such as archery and
playing basketball. There
was a confidence course and
one night during the Thai-
land trip, we did it. Before
The resort which we stayed was
the Maekok river Village resort
in Thailand. At first, since it
was too rural, we did not expect
a lot. But when we arrived at
there, we were pleased . The
restaurant was separated with
the resort and it was also good
and the food was delicious. We
stayed four nights at the resort
.There was a room which we
heard about biology and geogra-
phy activities, and a table ten-
nis room which we could play
the tennis table whenever we
wanted to do. So Every night,
we went to the table tennis
room and played.
Where I and my mates slept
and took a rest were comforta-
ble and nice rooms. There were
two bathrooms so we could use
them without inconvenience.
doing that, we were scared
about it, However, after doing
that, we gained confidence. And
we gathered at the gym before
going somewhere and listened
about the activity. When we
could not do anything due to
the weather, we played in the
gym. There was a swimming
pool in front of the gym. Alt-
hough we could not play at
there, we could always see it
while we were passing it.
There was a net in the swim-
ming pool. I think that was for
some games which could play in
the water.
Jeong Eon
What Is It Like On A Residential?
Leadership And Responding To Pressure. We think the trekking was the
most difficult but most memo-
rable part of our trip. Even
though I’ve hiked several
mountains, it was not compa-
rable to the one we’ve experi-
enced before. The weather
when we were trekking was
extremely bad as it rained all
day. The trekking route was
very challenging. The pathway
was so narrow and rocky that
just one person could go pass
and the road was slippery and
muddy because of the rain. We
saw several people slipping
down including me during the
trek. Our trainers got so wet
and our hands were shaking
due to rainy and cold condition.
We were glad that we wore wa-
terproof rain coats and trou-
sers. At the end of the trek, we
were glad that there has some-
where warming warm to go
and we didn’t freeze like ani-
mals during the ice age! While
we were trekking we was just
thinking about the finishing
point and anything to keep us
warm. The finishing point
made us very happy!
Won Hyuk and Jung Hoon
“We think the trekking was
the most difficult but most
memorable part of our trip.”
From Mr. Charlie…. I would finally like to say how pleased I was to attend this
trip and work with everyone involved. This is a premier trip
and a fantastic experience for all the students involved to de-
velop the IDEALS. Long may this trip continue on an annual
basis for all future Year 10s.