Welcome to Students Incorporated Kids!
A podcast that invites you on a journey of imagination and creativity through the magic
of reading and writing.
I'm your host, Mrs. Brooke.
Episodes include author interviews, student discussions, and inspirational stories dedicated
to all things kids.
This podcast is created and produced with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok.
Did you hear that?
It said Students Incorporated Kids.
What does that mean?
It means we're starting our very own elementary podcast!
That's right, I can't wait!
Let's dig in.
I'm your host, Emma.
In today's episode, we will begin by introducing and interviewing a local author, Janice Sat
Tikrin.
Then, we'll get to read a small part from one of her books.
And I'm your co-host, Luddy.
Before we begin the interview, our Fun Fact crew is going to share a fun fact.
First fun fact on our podcast is about ICS.
Do you know how old ICS is?
Ooh, this is a tough one.
Do any of our listeners know?
Drum roll, please!
Thirty years old!
Actually, did you know that this is the 30th anniversary of ICS?
It began in the 1900s.
Well actually, 1993.
There are even a few staff and former students that are still working at ICS.
Do you know any of them?
I'll give you a hint.
You can find one between the book stacks in the library.
Mrs. Elsie!
Thanks so much for the relevant fun fact.
Happy birthday to ICS too!
Happy birthday to you!
Let's get to the main part of our segment, our interview with a local published author,
Janice Santikarn.
Janice, we're so happy you could join us today.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure to be here and I think I'm your first live interview, so I'm really happy
to be your GDP today.
Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I'm in Thailand now, but actually I grew up in Australia.
And I went to university in Australia where I studied to be a chemist and also a teacher.
And after finishing my degrees, I went to work in America for a few years as a scientist
and then came to Thailand and for many reasons ended up working as a teacher of English in
Thailand.
I'm married to a Thai person and have three children here.
And after I teach it, that's kind of when I fell into becoming a writer of Thai children's
books.
Your life has surely been an adventure.
Thank you for sharing more about your life.
Why did you choose to come to Thailand?
I chose to come to Thailand because I chose to be with my husband.
We were both working in America at the time and we were both chemists, research chemists.
And he said that he would like to come and live back in Thailand with his family and
would I like to come and get married to him and live here.
And when I was thinking about it, he said, don't worry if it doesn't work out in Thailand
and we don't like living there, we can always go live in Australia.
But it worked out and so we've been living here for over 35 years now.
Well, we're so happy you decided to come to Thailand.
What is your favorite thing about Thailand?
I think like a lot of people, I like to eat Thai food and sometimes too much of it.
I like to eat mangosteen.
They're my favorite fruits.
But I also like Thailand because the people here are so quiet and relaxed and I like the
lifestyle here and I also like being with my family here.
You're making me hungry.
Speaking of, I'm hungry for a good book.
What is your favorite book?
Do you mean the favorite book of all time or my favorite children's book or my favorite
of the ones I've written?
Maybe the one that you're writing.
Of the ones that I've written, I really like, can you guess, Animals of Thailand.
That's because I always admired the children's writer Eric Carle.
And I liked his illustrations and I tried to make my illustrations in that book in the
same style of collage illustrations.
And I'm very happy with the result.
I will have to check that book out.
Now that we know a little bit more about you and your background, let's get to questions.
What's more on your career?
Why did you become an author?
After I arrived in Thailand, I became an English teacher.
I had actually been looking for a job as a scientist, but it was very difficult.
A long time ago, it was hard to find that kind of job here in Thailand.
And a friend of mine said there was a Thai school looking for someone to come and teach
English.
And they knew that I was a teacher.
And they said, you speak English, so maybe you could be an English teacher.
And so I went and taught there.
But the books that they had came from America, from Australia, from England.
And they didn't have any books about Thailand.
And I thought it's very difficult for Thai students to understand things like biolians
and cricket bats and double-decker buses like they have in London.
And so I went to the bookstores in Bangkok to look for books in English, but that were
all about Thailand.
And they weren't any.
So I decided, well, maybe I should try and write some.
And that's what happened.
That's so interesting.
And what is the best thing about being an author?
I think one of the best things is that I don't have a boss.
That I can decide what I want to write about.
If I have an idea, I can decide for myself if I want to write a story about that.
So that's one good thing that I can write my own stories, get my own ideas, and I'm
really happy to be able to do those things.
But one other thing is that being an author and also being able to do school visits is
that I can visit with students like you who are my readers and to get their feedback and
talk to you and get to know you more.
I could see why that would be fun.
We're so happy you could share your wisdom with us today.
I heard you're going to be coming to ICS later this month to speak with the second graders.
They're in for a treat.
Can I ask you what is your next book coming up?
It may be at the moment I have three books in a series of The Little Blue Tuk Tuk.
I'm thinking that there may be a fourth Little Blue Tuk Tuk story.
And I have a title called The Little Blue Tuk Tuk Goes Green.
And it should all be about pollution in Thailand and how the Little Blue Tuk Tuk becomes an
electric tuk tuk.
I'll keep my eye out for your next book.
After our short break coming up, we're going to read the book The Great Cabbage.
Can you ask why did you choose a cabbage?
What are the significance of the animals?
So I have a book called Now We Can Save the Elephants, which is about the problems for
elephants in Thailand and how the numbers of elephants declining in Thailand.
And I also have a book The Little Blue Tuk Tuk to the rescue about how forests are also
disappearing in Thailand.
And these things are more and more becoming more important to me.
The more that humans interact with nature, the worse it becomes for nature.
And forests in Thailand are disappearing.
Climate change is happening, making forests unlivable.
And the animals don't have anywhere to live.
And some of them are in danger of disappearing altogether.
So I read the book about elephants and I wanted to talk about other animals in Thailand.
So the giant cabbage is about eight animals that are endangered in Thailand.
And these are animals that not many people know about.
Why I chose a cabbage is that the story is located in the north of Thailand.
And the north of Thailand is a place where they used to grow a lot of poppies.
And the previous king of Thailand decided that he would encourage people in the north
of Thailand to grow other kinds of crops, to not grow poppies, but to grow fruits and
vegetables.
So I looked at some of the vegetables that they're now growing and decided that it
should be a cabbage.
It was the right shape.
And in the story, the old man has to grab a hold of the leaves to pull the cabbage out
of the ground.
So it fits my story to have the cabbage and that shape and long leaves on the cabbage.
Thank you again, Janice.
You have been an inspiration and really an example of a dream coming to reality.
And with that, we'll be right back after a short commercial.
We apologize for the interruption, but we have a very important message for you.
Mr. Siever, our elementary counselor, is here with an important message for us.
Hello everyone.
This is Mr. Siever, elementary school counselor.
I'm here to give a quick mental health tip that I believe could help a lot of you.
And that tip is to keep a journal.
Now there are a lot of ways that you could use a journal.
Some people like to write about everything that they did throughout the day.
Other people like to write the things that they dreamt about.
Others try to list all of the things that they're grateful for each day.
And some people even use their journals to sketch and show how they're feeling through
pictures.
No matter how someone chooses to journal, research shows that those who keep a journal
are more likely to achieve their goals, they tend to worry less, they have more confidence
in themselves, they communicate better with the people around them, and they have stronger
memories.
No matter how you decide to go about it, I encourage you all to make journaling a part
of your daily routine so you can reap all of these benefits.
We're so happy to have you as our school counselor.
Well, to all those that are listening, I hope you feel inspired to be an author yourself.
We're going to read a bit of the book titled The Giant Cabbage.
It's actually all about endangered animals in Thailand.
It is a creative take on an old folk tale.
Our narrator will be Daniel.
The old man will be read by Pim, and the endangered animals will be voiced by Baimon.
The Giant Cabbage Written and illustrated by Janice Santacorn
In a small house at the edge of a forest in the far far north of Thailand lived the little
old man and little old woman.
One day the little old woman said to the little old man,
I am going to make soup for our lunch.
Would you please bring me a cabbage from the vegetable garden?
Licking his lips with delight, the old man tottered off as fast as his little old legs
could carry him, but as he neared the garden, he suddenly came to a stop.
His mouth strapped in, open, and his eyes too round as seltzers.
There, powering high above him, grew the most enormous giant cabbage.
The little old man clapped his hand.
Oh, my wife will be pleased.
Taking hold of a mass of wheat, he began to crawl.
He pulled and pulled, then heaved and tugged, and tugged, but the giant cabbage did not move.
The little old man looked at the cabbage and scratched his chin.
Hmm, I need help.
So he called out,
Who will help me pull this cabbage out of the ground so my wife can make soup for lunch?
A muddy brown water buffalo plowed out of the jungle and into the garden.
I will, she knew.
The little old man and the muddy brown water buffalo pulled and pulled and heaved and tugged,
but still the giant cabbage did not move.
The old man looked at the cabbage and scratched his chin.
Hmm, I need more help.
So he called out,
Who will help me pull this cabbage out of the ground so my wife can make soup for lunch?
A powerful striped tiger leapt out of the jungle and into the garden.
I will, he growled.
The little old man and the muddy brown water buffalo and the powerful striped tiger pulled and pulled and heaved and tugged,
but still the giant cabbage did not move.
The old man looked at the cabbage and scratched his chin.
Hmm, I need more help.
So he called out, Who will help me pull this cabbage out of the ground so my wife can make soup for lunch?
Oh man, I'm on the edge of my seat.
Will they be able to pull out the giant cabbage?
I really hope so.
I didn't know a water buffalo was endangered.
I wonder what other endangered animals are in this book.
If you want to read the rest of this book, you can check it out from the ICS library.
Oh, go grab your own copy.
Janice, where can we find your books?
You can find them at all the Asia bookstores in Bangkok and all over Thailand,
and at the Japanese book store Kinokuniya in Bangkok.
Amazing!
I will definitely do that.
Thank you again for coming to check out our first podcast episode, Janice.
I really had a great time talking to you and I look forward to coming to visit you next week.
And with that last thought, we are running out of time for this episode.
Stay tuned for the next episode where we will be interviewing another author, or two,
that are in our very own ICS community.
You may even know them.
Can you guess who it is?
One of the books is written about an ICS student in second grade.
As we end this episode, we would like to thank our listeners and guests for supporting our podcast.
Please share this with your friends and family.
This podcast would not be possible without the hard working and support of our international
student product team.
All music and sound effects come from Pixabay.com, a community of creative people.
And we are signing off until next time.
We are the Students Incorporated Kids because your voice and reading matters.