Saturday Volunteer Work (part 1)

This past Saturday, all IBM Thailand3 CSCers worked with middle/high schoolers at the Wat Intaram School in Bangkok. We engaged students in 3 different learning opportunities, including: TJbot programming, cyber-bullying, and design thinking their future careers!

Several hundred students filed into the gym just about 9am. The students were very orderly and well-behaved. They found their places, made appropriate lines, and sat down without much prompting or direction. I was quite impressed. In the US, I believe it would have taken much more effort to corral the students and get them to quiet down and pay attention.

We all participated in an ice-breaker game called “Zoom” where people would stand in a circle and make hand gestures at the appropriate time. It was like being part of a “wave” at an American football stadium, where one person would start the wave by standing up or raising their arms, followed by the next person, and then the person after them. However, for Zoom, people would point with both arms in a certain direction, and the person next to them in that direction would follow suit, going around the circle. And that was the case until several other hand motions were introduced, such as the fist-pump “Stop” sign or the cross-your-arms “Crash” sign. I won’t explain all the dynamics, but hopefully you get the picture, and if you ever want to play we’ll give it a go. But beware, it’s a highly addictive activity!

Story to be continued in my next post…

#IBMCSC #CSCThailand3 #Volunteerism