More than English: Inside the Coconut Club

When I visited Phuket Has Been Good To Us in Kamala last week, I arrived at the end of the school day, just as the children were spilling out for something called the Coconut Club. The name made me curious, so I asked about it.

It comes from the foundation's founder, Tom McNamara, who once said: "A coconut tree is an amazing thing. You plant it, and you've got shade. You can use its leaves to build. You've got the coconut, which you can drink and eat." One tree, providing many things at once. That, he felt, was the idea: an after-school club that looks after the whole child, not just their English.

It began about fifteen years ago, when the teachers noticed something. Many of the children who live at the school (the residential children) were left on their own once lessons ended. Some of them were just sitting around with nothing to do, and sometimes this led to problems between them, even some bullying. So the teachers simply started staying behind after class, hanging around, keeping the children company. Over time, that quiet instinct grew into the Coconut Club.

Today it runs through the week, and the children help decide what happens. Mondays are outdoor sports (badminton, skateboarding, skipping, basketball) where they can move freely and choose what they like, with teachers always nearby to guide them. There's English number bingo (a kind lady brings presents for the winners, and for the losers too). Wednesdays might be cooking, or yoga, or dance, or arts and crafts, whatever the children ask for. Once a month, on the first Monday, there's a beach clean-up that anyone can join to help.

Another activity is the IT lab, on Thursdays. This exists thanks to a grant: about four years ago, the foundation won fifteen laptops from the Living Waters Foundation. They're kept locked away and brought out on Thursdays for computer games, revision, and, importantly, lessons that matter. Just recently, the children did a session on online safety: a quiz asking things like "What would you do if someone asked for your phone number? What would you do if someone asked for a private photo?" The three highest scorers won a prize.

But the Coconut Club is about more than activities. With classes of thirty or more, teachers rarely get one-on-one time with each child during lessons. The club gives them that time to reach out to the residential children, understand their backgrounds, and simply be there. If a child has had a bad day, or a bump, or a problem with another kid, this is where they can come and talk to someone who knows them well.

More on that side of the work in the next post of this series.

Phuket Has Been Good To Us provides free English education to underprivileged children in Kamala and Kalim. To learn more or support their work, visit phukethasbeengoodtous.org. 

Photos courtesy of Phuket Has Been Good To Us