A brief outline of the program and my history

I am a teacher who, up until 3 months ago, was working in an international school in Bangkok. I'm from the UK where I qualified as a teacher and taught in primary schools. I came to Bangkok in 2000 to work in an international school here and, apart from a 3 year return to the UK, have been here ever since.
Earlier this year I started to do some weekend voluntary work at the Mercy Centre in Klong Toei, a slum neighbourhood in the port area of Bangkok. I could write for days about the great work of the Mercy Centre and its patriarch, Father Joe, but I will, instead, refer you to the website  www.mercycentre.org
Whilst volunteering there I noticed a lot of kind people wanting to volunteer and, despite well organised and professional volunteer management, there was no curriculum in place for the volunteers and students to follow. I did a bit of research and spoke at length with Father Joe about where more a organised teaching program would be most effectively directed. What resulted was the the beginnings of the language program.
The Mercy Centre has funded 23 permanent kindergarten schools in the Klong Toei area and outside of Bangkok, as well other temporary sites where they are needed (e.g. construction site camps that house migrant construction worker families). Without these schools the children under the age of 6 would get no education until they go to government assisted school at 6-7. This preschool is essential to give these children a head start they so desperately need.
My part in this is relatively small. My goal is to provide each K3 or Anuban Sam class (Ages 5-6) with 2 hours of English language lessons a week; delivered by native English speakers from a well planned, organised and resourced curriculum. I managed to secure enough funding from the parent company of the international school I used to work for to buy an appropriate curriculum, consulted with a number of language schools about the best curriculum for my circumstances and used social media and school contacts to attract many of the volunteers (and resources!).
The program started August 4th, 2014 with two schools. The goal is to have all of the 11 kindergarten schools in Klong Toei with 2 hours of lessons a week and then reaching out to the remaining 12 schools, outside of Bangkok using some form of VOIP assisted teaching. (Any suggestions or connections with people who may have already done something similar is most welcome.)
The aim of this blog is to detail the program as it develops and to reach out to people who may be able to help. Thank you for reading.

Photo courtesy of Dave Crimaldi