Lau 1

Ka yin lau

Ms. Stefanie

English 8 L&L

21 March 2018

CWW trip preparation

The long neck village, famous for its long neck tradition, has always been a mystery

and an interesting place for some people. But ever wonder about the reason behind these

necks and rings? Or what makes them do that? This is an ethnic group called Karen who

mainly live on the border between Thailand and Myanmar. There are different types of Karen

and the long neck village is one of the kinds (The Karen hill, 2016). This will be the

destination of the trip. At the village, there will different activity like teaching and

photography. The main purpose of the trip is to exchange the Karen culture with the villager.

Culture is a special and interesting thing that every place has. Learning a bit of

background information about the culture is always helpful before going on the trip. Most

Karen tribe are Christian, some of them are Buddhist and the rest are animist (Neiman, 2018).

The places where APIS student is staying is a Christian group. Christianity was first

introduced to the Karen in the 18th century (Neiman, 2018). It is important to know the

religion of the Karen group because we want to respect their culture and rules.

Speaking of beliefs, The reason why the tribe wears the rings on their necks is that

they believe if a person wear it, it will prevent that person from getting bitten by a tiger and

other wild animals (The real life, 2017). This is the most of the Karen beliefs. There are also

some others that beliefs in different reason. Some other Karen believe this makes the person

attractive and some believe the opposite. Even though the village APIS student will stay in is

not the long neck village, it will still be a fun fact to know about the Karen’s belief. But no
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matter what is the reason behind their neck, this tradition will be kept in their culture (The

real life, 2017).

During the CWW trip, there will be two days for teaching the village kids. To be able

to teach them best, understanding the different types of students who will be taught is the first

step. There are mainly 3 types of different learners. First is the visual learner, who learns the

best when learning with visual things (The 7 different, 2018). Showing and teaching them

with different colour and picture is the best choice. Second is the aural learner. these students

learn better with something they can hear. The APIS student that have been there used song

and poem to help little kids remember words. Next is the physical learner. these learners

might like to move and use body language (The 7 different, 2018). Since most physical

learners are smaller kids, the teacher had used games that require running and moving around

to keep student pay attention. Teaching can be really hard when there is a language difficulty

between teacher and students. But with the different tips, teaching can be done with body

language and picture.

Since the CWW is all about exchanging and learning culture, there will be an activity

to record down these good memories. The easiest way to do it is photography. In this case, it

can also be called doing a photo essay. Before learning anything, what is a photo essay? A

photo essay is a way of telling a story through picture (Taggart, 2016). But to show the story

through photos, technique has to be used while photographing.

Telling the story through photos. There are 4 main elements that are essential in a

photo. The first element, emotion. A photographer will use the facial expression of the

character to show the feeling of the scene and focus on the setting of how the character looks

(Gabriel, 2017). For example if the photo tells a joyful story, the character should be smiling

and laughing. Second, mood. A photographer should use the background and different effects
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to show the audience the feeling and make them feel a certain way (Gabriel, 2017). If the

photographer want to tell a depressing story, the photo can be black and white to show this

feeling. Then, narration. Narration is to make the audience have more understanding on what

is happening in the story (Gabriel, 2017). For example, the photo tells a story about a old man

loses his wife. The photographer can show a picture of the old man with his wife then a

picture without his wife. Maybe showing the scene before the event happens can also give the

story a clearer setting. Finally, the most important element in a photo, message. A

photographer always need to find a theme or a message the photo will tell the audience.

(Gabriel, 2017). A photo essay is communicating stories and theme through the photo. It give

the real meaning to a photo essay.

In conclusion, this is the information that should be helpful during CWW. No matter

if the activity is teaching or photographing, the whole idea is to learn culture from different

places. Going on the field trip is not just about having fun but also learning and finding the

reason behind the trip.

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Reference list

The Real Life Under 25 Neck Rings: Karen Long Neck Tribe Thailand. (2018, May 2). ​The

​ etrieved from
Travel Leaf. R

https://www.thetravelleaf.com/the-real-life-under-25-rings-long-neck-tribe/

Gabriel, M. (2016, May 21). Storytelling Through Photographs. Retrieved from

https://contrastly.com/storytelling/

How to Engage the 7 Types of Learners in your Classroom. (2017, October 09). ​Literacy

Planet.​ Retrieved from

https://www.literacyplanet.com/au/news/engage-7-types-learners-classroom/

Jenkins, K. (2014, November 24). 5 types of photos that make for strong photo essays, audio

slideshows. Retrieved from

https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2012/5-types-of-photos-that-make-for-stro

ng-photo-essays-audio-slideshows/

Karen or Paka-Kyaw. (2018, April 5). Sawadee. Retrieved from

http://www.sawadee.com/thailand/hilltribes/karen.html

Neiman, A. (2018, November 11). Karen Cultural Profile. Retrieved from

https://ethnomed.org/culture/karen/karen-cultural-profile

Taggart, P. (2016, June 08). Understanding the various types of photo essays. Retrieved from

https://www.lynda.com/Photography-Foundations-tutorials/Understanding-various-ty

pes-photo-essays/461913/500710-4.html

The Karen Hill tribe in Thailand - Everything you need to know. (2018, August 27). Thailand

Hilltribe Holiday. Retrieved from

https://www.thailandhilltribeholidays.com/karen-hill-tribe/

The 7 different types of learning style. (2018, July 8). Education Degree. Retrieved from
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https://www.educationdegree.com/articles/different-types-of-learning-styles/