hamster on a wheel

Since beginning my work at site, I have the pleasure of much more idle time than I can ever remember having. This is one of the main reasons I desired to join the Peace Corps at this point in my life. With idle time, my mind tends to migrate toward internal debates, conversations, and scheduling the future. This happens when I have extra time in my room, I'm participating in a conversation in which I only understand one of every 5 words (because it's in Khmer), I'm doing my laundry, biking, sitting by the riverside or when I'm taking a step back as my co-teacher leads the class. I wish I could let my mind chill a bit, but it always wants to be puzzling something out.

I often am asked by friends and family back home about how work is going or what teaching is like here. Although it's a 180 from my past several years teaching 7th grade at a no excuses style charter school and now I teach adults (18-20 year olds) who are training to be primary school teachers, I thought I would lay out some comparisons between the two. Keep in mind, this is based on my experience teaching this age/career tracked group the subject of English and does not necessarily apply to all students in primary-secondary school learning other subjects in their native language. I do not mean this as judgements but rather observations on the stark differences I have experienced as a teacher in both environments.

America
*Effective lessons were dependent on effective classroom management and thwarting misbehaviors
*Extensive lesson planning for the year and daily were essential for successful and focused lessons
*Learning was student centered and importance of individualized work was stressed throughout the lesson so that all levels and learning styles of students would be addressed
*Inquisitiveness is prized; asking questions shows students are processing and repackaging new material
*Individual understanding is the focus at all points in the lesson: during the Introduction to new material students are taking notes with demonstration from the teacher (this should be short in duration), Guided Practice is an opportunity for practice of the new concept with a safety net and finally Independent Practice (clearly)
*Copying answers from others is not acceptable
*Note taking is something that students must be trained to do in an organized fashion, stressing the details early on is important
*Testing occurred at the end of each unit for about an hour, in addition to trimester exams which lasted 2 hrs
*Every student had each class once a day for 1 hr; I wished for snow days to have a break

Cambodia
*Majority of students demonstrate respect by standing when the teacher enters the room and remaining attentive throughout the lesson
*Lesson planning is not commonly practiced; most teachers wrote lesson plans in teacher training school and improvise while teaching
*Classes are teacher centered in that the teacher stands or sits in front of the class and lectures while students copy and repeat the words of the teacher
*Students do not tend to ask questions, only those who are higher level tend to feel comfortable enough to do so
*The structure of the lessons in the English for Cambodia curriculum does not prescribe how the activities and new material should be practiced and presented; tendency of the teachers is to write notes and lecture, students copy and when expected to generate new material will take the notebooks from the leaders in the class and copy their answers or wait until the answers are reviewed so they can record the correct answer
*Note taking is an art involving different colored pens and white out, "doodling" would never be found and pencils are only used in primary school; students copy exactly what the teacher has written

*Testing is monthly, usually a 1 hr test about one chapter of material, in addition to a cumulative semester exam that lasts about 2 hrs
*Every student has English for 2 hrs per week, once a week; I wish for less holidays, meetings and exams that cancel classes so I can meet with students consistently

I should stop myself there because I'm sure I could add at least 10 more points to each, but that'll do for the time being. The following pictures show some of the learning going on this week at my house.

Roat reading; started to take the place of TV watching, my mom was reading once this week too (I like to think it's my influence of reading for hours everyday)

Newly illustrated A,B,Cs for my family to learn; my sister's and mom want to learn a new word each day

The learning wall; all produced by my dad except for the illustrated A,B,Cs

Mango season has hit, about 25 cents/kilo; these were presents from a student and the invitation for my tutor's daughter's wedding is pictured (it takes place on 3/3/13 at 3 pm, I will be a bridesmaid although I have yet to meet her)

the weekend

Friday: End of run

Saturday: Biked 18km to hang out at the gas station with fellow PCV, Diana

Sunday: My sister shadowed me for half of the day. She learned how I do laundry, how large my underwear are, how I cut my toenails, participated in a yoga session and enjoyed some "Fantastic Mr. Fox".

nomadic tendencies

Entering February, my 2nd year students have headed off for a two month teaching practicum where they started teaching at primary schools around the province. This means I am only teaching 1st year students which means half the teaching load. Idleness as a concept has always been daunting to me, but I forget that I have become much more practiced with this as an expanse of a few hours seems like hardly enough time to truly relax/work/exercise/read.

Over the past month, I have been quite busy travelling about the country for both work and to visit friends for better and for worse as I am one who can hardly sit still. I have had an opportunity to visit and explore new places which is something I am reminded the average Cambodian does not and cannot do. My host family expresses interest in the places I see in their own country and is eager to see pictures upon my return. While Cambodia is a small country, my family says the host and difficulty of travelling with children does not allow them to travel as I do. I explain that I love to see new parts of the country, meet Khmer people in different places and try new foods. As a PCV, we are encouraged to stay at site as much as possible as leaving often gives your community the impression that you are not as interested in integrating. I fully believed in this concept and did not intend to leave more than once a month when first arriving at site. I realize now that gatherings of friends, opportunities to travel and meetings/work-related situations make it quite difficult to stay as much as I had hoped. Thinking back to my weekends and vacation time in America, I also had difficulty staying put and made the most of my free time to go somewhere else. No matter where I am in the world, I think I'll always find opportunities to see new places as I feel it is imperative to explore what I know exists beyond me. So I should probably just allow any feelings of guilt to subside...

I had an opportunity this past week to travel to Battambang for a training on Primary English for Cambodia, a new textbook created by VSO, a more international PC, that would ideally be introduced into every 4th grade classroom in Cambodia this fall as per the final decision of the Ministry of Education Youth and Sport. Those of us who work at PTTCs training primary school teachers were pumped about this potential project as we would be teaching our trainees how to instruct English rather than just teaching them English from an 8th grade curriculum they should already have learned. We would be given a real applicable and focused purpose for our job which is something every PCV strives for. Prior to attending this training, we had heard the possibility of this huge curricular change but had not seen any evidence of this in our PTTCs or from PC. According to the VSO volunteer heading this project, the change seems more inevitable than we had thought and she hopes that we would start introducing the new curriculum immediately even though the change is not finalized. The possibility that Cambodian students will begin learning the basics of English at a younger age and with a more scaffolded curriculum could greatly improve their language acquisition skills. The large obstacle I foresee is that primary school teachers all over Cambodia will have to learn a new curriculum, in a foreign language they are not familiar with, to begin teaching in a matter of a few months. This requires these teachers to set aside much time to accomplish this and a very specialized training to help them become familiar with the new textbooks. In a country where teachers do not have a culture of professional development and are paid meager salaries that force them to work elsewhere to support their families, the Ministry will have to get creative to ensure the introduction of English in primary school effective and well-taught. 

The training I participated in and observed was for a pilot group of primary school teachers near Battambang town. They were selected to test drive this new curriculum with their students. It was co-facilitated by a fellow PCV, a VSO volunteer and Khmer teachers from the PTTC with the purpose of leading the teachers through the teacher's manual, the student textbook and the activity book so they felt comfortable leading the pre-written lesson plans for their students. These teachers had little to no knowledge of English but tackled the lessons with excitement and a high level of participation. This was a special circumstance as they received a stipend, materials and some snacks throughout the training which most likely affected their interest. I am not sure if the majority of my trainees would show a similar vigor and confidence since they have not yet spent time in front of a classroom. Nonetheless, the possibility of training a force of teachers to teach English properly and effectively is exciting and gives me some hope for the type of work I may be able to accomplish over the next year and a half.

On another note, I found the "Bay Area" of Cambodia, and it is Battambang. This has been my favorite town I have visited in Cambodia thus far due to its combination of Khmer and Western aspects and a strong artistic community I have seen nowhere else in this country. It is slightly off the usual tourist circuit so there are less tourists visiting, but many more expats who live and work there at NGOs (such as Angelina). When not participating in the training I was able to go to a really entertaining circus (http://www.phareps.org/), hike up a mountain with killing caves and bike around town. I really look forward to making it back there with fellow PCVs and any friends and family that will visit.

Art Walk: the only Cambodian owned/run gallery is on the right

Primary school teachers practicing one of the exercises

Circus!

View from the roof of our guesthouse

New pictures!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sam_wise/