Term Two

Life here continues flying along, I have been here over 5 months now and it seems as if it was only yesterday that I was trying to work out what I need to bring over.

                             

We had about 4 days of cool weather and now back to the heat and we are about to go into the build up and that is going to be a challenge especially in the classrooms where it is hot already!

We are still going out and about on the weekends and have managed to see  quite a lot of sights, certainly more than the average Cambodian who never seem to leave the province they were born in unless they leave to find work and then they seem to travel home whenever they can.

The teachers who came over early January are now making plan for their return home. Let me introduce them to you.

 Amanda who is a lovely lady from London has been made an honorary Aussie and has certainly added a lot of fun to the group dynamics.  I think she will always be remember for the look on her face when she came out of the toilets in one of the remote places we visited after her first experience with an Asian toilet.  It was priceless.  The other great thing about Amanda is that as a Pommie, the mozzies just love her and so we are left alone.  The students took a few days to understand her but she is well and truly loved by her students now.

Leonie is from Queensland and she is just a bit older than me and has done a heap of travelling and always looks fantastic.  She has the early morning classes and handles the early mornings well.  Leonie has also settled in very well and is trying to cram in all the trips she can before she goes home.  Ernie and Leonie are flying to Hanoi this weekend to extend their visa (most people travel to the Thailand border).

Leonie also introduced themes into the classroom.

Ernie is Leonie’s brother and also Sandra’s partner of many years.  He certainly changed the dynamics in the school as he is the first male teacher.  Thank heavens Ernie has a very lay back personality becoming quite deaf when we forget he is there and make very un-PC jokes.  Ernie is a Scouter, what more can I say.  Oh yes, he enjoys having a wine with dinner and does a good ‘eye roll’,

Annette joined Lis out in the Steung Thmie Village this term and they have now moved to a school in the Pagoda complex (Svay Domgom) Pagoda which is about a 10 minute walk from where they live.  They both say that they love living out in the village which is certainly very rural and very lovely with the rice fields and the animals etc but showering with a bowl and using a squat toilet is not my scene.  OK for a weekend.  I would certainly live out there but would have my own house.

 

Judy and Ryllis are still here.  Judy was offered another term when Annette went out to the village and Ryllis was always staying here for 6 months.  I think they are both looking forward to going home.

Liz and I are the only originals staying for at least another term.  In fact it will be a complete changeover except for the two of us.

I am certainly enjoying the teaching more and more as the students get to know us and to start having fun in the classroom.  The students describe me as the ‘funny’ teacher.

Mel increased our numbers to 27 for each session and for the first few days it was absolutely packed but they slowly stop coming and we are now settled into a routine of regulars.  There are not many of the original students still coming.  We will have a heap on new students again next term.

One of my students made up a sentence “last night I had a pig  for dinner” I thought he meant pork and asked him.  “No, teacher I am making a joke”.   "Next time tell me you are joking!"

Unfortunately, my Khmer is not improving as fast as their English.  I can speak a number of words and can now ask ‘how much’ and get an answer back in Khmer which of course I can’t understand.  The students just love it when I try to speak and they all roll around the floor laughing.  It is all good fun.

Thanks to Leonie, we decorated the school for Australia Day with yellow and green ribbons and balloons. We had Aussie music and gave  away Koalas.  It was Leonie’s birthday the day before so everyone except the people on the late shift went out to dinner.

 

Being in Asia for Chinese New Year has been an eye opener.  While there are Chinese-Khmer of course, it seems like most took the opportunity to head back to the homelands for celebrations of some kind.  Attendances at classes were decimated.  On the Wednesday I had 2 and 3 in 2 classes so the lesson plans went out of the window and some pretty quick tap dancing happened.  It worked well for the few who turned up because they virtually had one-on-one tutoring.  Played havoc with the timetable though. For the students who attended class on the 2^nd, I asked them if they were having a party or celebrating Chinese New Year.  Some said ‘Yes’ but a number were emphatic that they are Khmer so it doesn’t apply.   Leonie once again provided decorations for the classrooms which were turned into red and gold. 

Valentine’s Day gave us another chance to decorate the classroom with hearts and balloons and red roses.  In Cambodia they have extended the idea to include lovers and family. The younger students knew all about it and two of the young men brought me in a rose each and one of the ladies gave me a beautiful scarf.  It was a lot of fun and I gave each student a heart shaped chocolate.  It is great to see their faces when they come into the classroom as there are no decorations or fun allowed in a Cambodian classroom only total learning and one is allowed to make a mistake.

 Our little ‘family’ at the school has expanded a little.  We have an Australian teacher Kjirsten, from Melbourne volunteering for 1 month.  She lives in a little guest house just down the lane from the school and provides additional tutoring to students.  So far she’s concentrating on the ‘Beginner Zero’ students who come into the school with, yep – zero English.  She’s on 3 months leave from here job, has been travelling for 3 weeks in and around Cambodia and after her 4 weeks here, is taking off to do a 1,000km hike in Spain.  She obviously loves a challenge!!!!  She fitted in so easily, guess we are all pretty easy to get along with.

I planned a quiz afternoon for the students for one Saturday, gosh it is funny they really don't know how to do anything but work and study and the idea of getting together to have fun at the school is quite foreign to them.  The idea came from our teaching Beginner 3s about Pub Quizzes in England (yeah, most relevant to Cambodians, not, but that’s in the text book).  We shared the writing of the questions and promoting the event to the students.  We hired tables and chairs and had a pretty good turn up considering they’d not heard of a Quiz event or‘ nibbles’ until a few weeks ago.  It was brilliant and so much fun.  Between every couple of rounds, I had quick games like heads/tails and I’d took a picture all of our ears and the students had to guess whose ear was whose.  The teachers couldn’t even pick their own but it was hysterical looking at some of the guesses.  Each at the winning table was awarded a gold medal (laminated and on gold ribbon) and a real prize of a pictorial dictionary.  Now the question being asked is “What next.  I had a great time organising it, I had forgotten how good it felt to get things done.

We have only two more weeks of teaching and 1 of revision and then the final tests for the term.  I am very pleased with my students; they are achieving high scores in their progressive tests.  I am stunned as my knowledge of grammar is pretty poor and somehow they are getting it all right.  Must be doing something right!!