The majority of Thai people are Buddhists and today we made a visit to the Buddhist temple in Lanta Old Town to learn more about the religion and traditions. Yesterday our teachers taught us how to dress and behave in a temple in order to be respectful to the monks and religion. We were also instructed to buy some food and medicines if we wanted to make a donation to the temple.

As (strict) monks are not allowed to handle money they have to live on donations made by generous people. But the generous people also benefit from this arrangement as donations to monks are considered to bring very good karma. 

Our teacher Eak has been a monk for some time so he told us what it's like to live in the temple. The other teachers shared their experiences of how Buddhism influences the daily life and family celebrations in Thailand. After that we got to meet one of the monks.

The monk told us more about Buddhism on Lanta and the Buddhist holidays which are celebrated at the temple. He also taught us how to meditate and then we got to try sitting meditation for 30 minutes. After that he answered our questions and then it was time to donate our gifts. This is also done in a special way as our heads need to be lower that the monk's head and the monk is not allowed to receive gifts directly from women so he had to use a piece of cloth instead.

After donating and thanking the monk we walked around the temple area and our teachers told us more about Buddhist funerals and weddings.

It was a very interesting day and we learned a lot about Buddhism and what it's like to live in a temple or in a Buddhist family.

Koh Lanta's green season starts in May and lasts until September or October. During this time the rain comes and goes but the weather is mostly good. Many businesses close as most tourists leave the island, so it's a perfect time for studying Thai. You'll have less distractions and more relaxed Thai people to talk to.

You can also find cheap accommodation and automatically eat cheaper food as most expensive restaurants take a break during this season. If you like partying there are still some places open but a weekend in Ao Nang or Phuket provide more options and more people.

You'll still have your school mates around on Lanta island though as Lanta International Language School is open all year.

There are a group of batik painters located on Lanta Noi, the island between Lanta Yai and the mainland. Batik clothes and scarves are popular in Thailand. Both government officers and kindergarten kids wear batik uniforms once a week. It's also popular to wear batik clothes on the Thai New Year; Songkran.

Most of us had never tried to do batik painting so a big group of us went to Lanta Noi to see and try the technique. It was very interesting and we were happy with our creations. Below you can see some photos.
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Of course we needed some roses for our Love Week and staff and students spent an afternoon making them from ribbons, wire and green tape. There are a couple of techniques to use and they require some patience and skill but eventually everyone managed to make as many flowers as they wished to give away.

This year we decided that the week leading up to Valentine's Day would be our Love Week. During love week everyone becomes a "Secret Angel" to someone else. The Secret Angel is supposed to show appreciation to their "Human" by giving them small presents or do nice things for them without revealing the Angel's identity. 

The Friday before Love Week everyone wrote their names on small pieces of paper and we put all of the names in a box. After lunch everyone took a name from the box and got to know who their Human was. The following week lots of presents in the form of notes, cards, noodle cups, coffee, chocolates, poems, flowers, magazines, music CD's and all sorts of things were exchanged. The atmosphere became loving and cheerful as many gifts were presented in humorous ways.

One week later we revealed the identities of the Secret Angels during our morning break, and this event was as much fun as the Love Week itself.

Love Week is a common tradition at Thai universities and we can really recommend any school, organization or company to make one week of the year into a Love Week. It really creates a good feeling among students and staff.

Lanta International Language School celebrated Children's Day by joining the activities in Pra Ae Park. This year we taught the children how to make bracelets. We chose to use beads with (Roman) letters on them and let the children pick a word in English (or their name) that would make up their bracelet. 

Children's Day is a big day in Thailand and there are free activities, shows, food and drinks for all children in all provinces. The video below is from a few years ago but you can get a sense of how we celebrate on Lanta. 

As usual LILS celebrated the Thai festival Loy Krathong by making beautiful floats from banana tree and flowers together before heading to Lanta Old Town and the big celebrations there.

Lanta International Language School's students need to stay focused and open to new knowledge for many hours every day. This can be exhausting. That's why LILS is introducing Yoga for Memory and Brain Power as optional afternoon lessons twice a week.

This type of yoga is specifically put together for helping LILS's students improve their memory and ability to focus. During the practice you will calm your mind and develop the functioning of your brain. You will acquire better multitasking skills, more focus and better retention power. As with all kinds of physical yoga your body will also benefit by improved flexibility and strength.

We will do the yoga practice at the super nice couple Thip and Dan's Lanta Yoga Home in Saladan.

Every three or four years the Thai Ministry of Education conducts quality controls of each school in Thailand. This year it was our turn and a delegation from the ministry visited us in April. The quality control is focused on 12 different areas and every school is measured and graded according to set standards in each area. The areas cover everything from curriculums and assessment methods to IT-systems and teacher training.

As Lanta International Language School's goal is to become the best Thai language school in Thailand we have spent a lot of time and effort on reaching the highest standards. After the visit from the Ministry we received the confirmation that we had succeeded. LILS was awarded top grades and ranked as the best private school in Krabi province.

On the 29th of September there was a big ceremony in Bangkok where all schools who had passed the quality control received their certificates and awards from Dr. Peerasak Rattana, the Vice Secretary of the Office of the Private Education Commission. Below you can see some photos from the ceremony.
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Awards in order before the meeting.
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The meeting started with a short video of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and her fight for girls' right to education. Our Head Teacher Ying helped to translate the message into Thai. After that there was a discussion on how to improve education in Thailand and the secretary asked for ideas and suggestions from all of us 300 representatives of schools in Thailand as we are working on those issues every day. 
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Then all schools received their certificates and awards. This is LILS's Mr. Thinnakorn Kokyai on the left and Dr. Peerasak Rattana on the right.
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Lastly everyone got on stage for group photos. This is the round with LILS's representatives Ying and Thinnakorn on the left.

Today Khun Eak showed us how to make the popular Thai dessert Bananas in coconut milk. It was a fun and very delicious experience. We learned how to make coconut cream and milk from fresh coconut meat but if you don't have access to that you can buy it ready made in cans or tetras. 

This is what you will need to make this delicious dessert:

• 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
  
• 6 cups of coconut milk
  
• 3 cups of coconut cream.
  
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  
• 20 bananas (not overripe)
  
• 3 pandanus leaves
  
• sesame seeds
  
• young coconut meat
  

How to do:

1. Boil the unpeeled bananas in water until the skins split. (3-5 minutes)
   
2. Put the bananas in cold water for about 3 minutes. Then peel and cut them into 2 inch pieces. (1 banana makes around 4 pieces)
   
3. Bring the coconut milk and pandanus leaves to a boil. Add the bananas, coconut cream, sugar and salt and adjust the amounts until the taste is good. Your dessert is ready to serve when the salt and sugar have dissolved.
   
4. Serve in a bowl and add some sesame seeds and scraped pieces of young coconut meat on top.
   
5. Enjoy!