Four weeks of the term left

I was thinking this morning about how the dynamics have changed in the classroom since we started here almost two months ago.  I will never forget the first day and how exhausted I was and how I thought that I would not be able to do this for 12 months.

The four hours student contact has certainly become a lot easier with the weather cooling down a little (perhaps we have adapted) and the language barrier becoming a lot easier.  I now have no Khmer interpreter in any of my classes included the Beginner 0, the other teachers still have them for that class and although it becomes a little tricky at times especially when you are trying to explain the rules of a new game or trying to explain the meaning of 'naughty' or 'ghost'.  Thank heavens for Khmer/English dictionaries although a lot of the Aussie slang is not in there.

We are slowly finding greats sites on the web where we can download worksheets on so many subjects and therefore we can now used worksheets to reinforce the workbooks that we use.  The students are now a lot more comfortable with the Aussie style of teaching which is very different from the rigid, repetitious Cambodian style.  As I mentioned before we have introduced them to learning by having fun and Mel mentioned the other day that she had received a complaint that we spend too much time having fun in the classroom.  Oh well don't think we will be changing.

Our students are a mixed bunch as would be found in any classroom around the world.  The thing that runs through all the classes is the need to learn English so that they can get a good job and earn some money.  It is such a shame as a large number of the students here have completed a University degree but are still unable to find any work at all.  The wages paid here are beyond belief.  People start work at about 8 in the morning and work through till 11.30 in the evening.  They sometimes sleep for a few hours in the afternoon and they work 6 days a week and all this for about $60US a month and they usually get paid on the last day of the month.  Rent for a room which can be shared by up to 10 people will cost $50US and they have to share the bathroom with many other families.  Siem Reap is a better job rate as it is a tourist town but the last two years have not been good for foreign visitors.

I makes me feel quite humble the work and study load the young people take on.  One girl leaves home at 5am in the morning and rides her pushbike to start the 6am lesson here then after the hours goes to the chemist shop she works in until 7pm and rides her pushbike to the University (about 45 minutes) goes to Uni then rides home, does her study and starts again all over again the next day.  One the the young boys here is a Tuk Tuk driver, he gets to bed about 5am has a couple hours of sleep, goes to school here around 9am then straight on to Japanese lessons, grabs a couple of hours sleep and then goes to work.  He pays $30 month a week rent for the Tuk Tuk, has to give his Mum $3 a day to help support the family as there are 12 of them living in the house he helped build which stopped them from living on the side of the road under a tarp.  He is lucky to get two jobs a day, yesterday he invited Sandra and myself to go and meet his family and we were made so welcome and he was so proud of the house he built with his brothers. 

No one ever seems to complain, they just go about their life and try to do the best for themselves and their families.

I found out the other day that one of my students work in the Intensive Care Unit of the International Hospital, several are Tour Guides who speak at least two languages and a number are students who attend the local schools.

Lesson planning still takes up a large part of our day and of course the marking of test work and homework.  I think that we are all a little surprised how much time we spend and now it seems that I have to teach Grammar and as I keep saying 'I have managed 60 years without knowing Grammar rules why do I need to start now'.  Fortunately Mel seems to know what we should be teaching them and of course there is so much available of the web.

Liz who lives and works out in the Village is having a lot of trouble with a very nasty boil/boil that has erupted on her back, I looked at it on Friday night when she came in for the weekend and was quite shocked as it looked very bad and was certainly painful.  Poor thing.  It still looks awful and has now become very deep and full of 'stuff', we have convinced her to stay here for the next few days and travel back and forth to the school.  She uses water from the local water tank for her washing as she has no shower and this way I can bath her wound for her.  She is going to have a big hole. 

Sandra is getting ready to go home next month and will be home for a couple days and then her and her husband Ernie are going on a cruise around the Pacific.  Ernie will then becoming here to take over from Sandra and Ernie's sister Leonie will also be coming over.

Annette, Sally and Judy are also leaving the school at the end of the term but none of them want to leave Cambodia.  Sally will go home but will be back early next year with her partner, Judy is hoping to find somewhere to volunteer and Annette is also planning to find something else to do here.  Cambodia or at least Siem Reap seems to have that effect on people.

It is funny, the ladies here are all complaining about the 'bloody tourists' who are now coming here and buying things from our market and getting in the way!!

Liz, Sally, Mel Ratha, Annette Front Row
Chris, Ryllis, Dara, Sandra Back row