Animation Project in the Thai Press

Animation production in Nong Song Hong

Matichon, 6.01.06

Hathairat Wongsutthawat, known by our volunteers as Maam, her Thai nickname, kindly did the translation for us.

Good intentions do not need citizenships. Givers and receivers can feel their beauty

Perhaps the reality of the meaning from the beginning phrases had made a young volunteer from Ireland decide to use his knowledge teaching students from Ratchaprachanukro 14 School, Nongkhai, after he had been impressed by the beauty of Thailand and the loveliness of the children.

Mr. Gary Brose [they got the name wrong here, it's Gary Rosborough], an Irishman, who is a professional in computer animation production, started to tell us about his turning point of becoming a teacher. He had come for a vacation in Thailand and visited Nongkhai. During his stay in Nongkhai, he had met Sabine, who is a foreigner providing volunteers to schools in Nongkhai. Sabine introduced him to the principle of the school. At that time, he had thought of gaining and sharing new experiences and spending time doing something meaningful. Therefore, he decided to teach children how to produce easy animation cartoons.

Animation producing can develop the imagination and be combined with children's creativity and emotions very well. Children in this stage are able to create freely. Thai and Irish children are not different. They have the same learning abilities. The only problem for Thai children would be the language, for which we have a Thai English teacher helping by interpreting for us.

Kroo [Thai word for teacher, Maam] Gary also told us about the way he teaches. He emphasized a way in which the children would be able to study intensively, by putting them into groups of 5-6 children, letting them form plastercine into cartoon characters and background using their imagination. Then he let them write a story, or, as it is called, a story board, depending on their ideas of what they would like to tell. After the story boards were checked for suitability with the plastercine models, the final step would be the Stop Motion Pro Four, which is the animation producing programme. An animation was about one minute long and the students could do it in one day. Because of the fun and different ways of teaching that made students happy, Mr. Sumrit Charoendee, the principle of the school, confirmed that the children were looking forward to studying in this class.

"Just seeing the students' intent while studying in my class already makes me happy. Although what I have gotten in return is not money, I get wonderful experiences from the Thai children, sharing my knowledge with them. I think this is more important than money", said Gary proudly.

These are the feelings of some children about the class. The first student was Miss Nittaya To-asa, a grade-9-student telling us that she liked this class very much because it was new. She had always thought that animations were something very difficult, like a goal she could never reach, and would not have been able to do it by herself. Since she learned how to do it, it was easier than she had thought. After she finished her first animation, she could tell what should be improved and she would use her first mistakes to make the next one better.

Mr. Sawan Chorachan, another student from the same grade, told us that studying animation production was not as difficult as many people might think it would be. After few hours of studying, you would be able to make many short animations yourself.

"I think animation is the beginning of how one could use their imagination and support their self-development and abilities. When one could produce an animation in a day and keeps on practicing, I believe they could become a professional in this field. Besides, it helps students to know how to work together and to be patient, too."

This is a story of a selfless person who did not think of getting money in return. Perhaps it is because some jobs are priceless and cannot be measured in monetary value.

Read what Gary says about his time in Thailand, includes many pictures.

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