Climate change in Kampuchea

The ETTT (English Teachers/Teacher Trainers) just completed our first week out of two of practicum where we teach Khmer students for three hours each morning. This week we just taught in groups of trainees (meaning only Americans) and then next week we teach with Khmer counterparts which is what we will do at our permanent site. My class is an eleventh grade class that continued to grow over the course of the week with new students popping up everyday to a grand total of approximately 50 students. Never have I experienced such a kind, respectful, hardworking and focused group of young people. Classroom management is not the issue that it is in America. While we generally teach from the EFC (English for Cambodia), which is a government creation with British funding, today I expanded on the usual vocabulary and grammar to discuss climate change with my students. Then we proceeded to clean up our classroom. My Berkeley-ness could not be contained as I spouted ideals and asked my students "how can we stop climate change?". I was a proud teacher today...

Just keep swimming

As many of you may know, I am currently in Phnom Penh as a result of contracting dengue fever. Before you google it, just know that I am doing totally fine and have basically no symptoms. It's a precaution Peace Corps takes to make sure we are healthy and don't get worse by taking us out of the training community. Over a dozen volunteers have gotten it this year so far, so they are pretty used to dealing with these cases well. I've been here for about 3 days and will probably stay a few more. In the meantime, I have been lucky enough to continue language learning with a tutor. Note the "whiteboard" below...