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Published: April 3rd 2009
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This is the last week of school in Cambodia before a three-week holiday for Khmer New Year. Many people travel for the holiday to visit family in faraway villages, so school attendance drops even before the “vacation” officially begins. Also contributing to the chaos of this last week is the fact that there isn’t a standardized calendar, so different schools finish on different days. But the last day of school usually involves a party, which is cause for great celebration. More on that in a minute.
Jaz and her Wat Bo students finished up their Global Citizens project on the
Bridges to Understanding website last week. (You should be able to view the slideshow they made; try
this link if you get a chance. They still need to upload the higher-resolution file, I think.) Jaz didn’t want to give up her students and send them back to their regular English class, so she asked if she could continue meeting with them until the holiday began. The kids not only wanted to continue meeting with her, they wanted to include two other students in the class, and the school gave the OK, so Jaz has been teaching English to them since the
project was finished. I'm impressed with all the care and effort she puts into her lesson plans. As the holiday approached, the kids asked if they could please continue meeting with her even when school was not in session, so since Wednesday, they’ve been having class here at the guesthouse every afternoon! The assistant principal gave Jaz the keys to the computer lab at school, but they’re not using computers, so they just meet on the third floor balcony where there is a big white board and some chairs. Their parents were all fine with this plan except for one, who came the first day with her daughter to make sure Jaz wasn’t taking them to “a house of prostitution” - I appreciated the fact that she cared enough to make sure she knew what was going on!
We also decided to go back to Tchey school for the last couple of days of classes to teach English there again. No one knew we were coming; we just showed up and asked the English teachers if it was OK, and it was. Jaz took the English 1 students, who are much more challenging, and I took English 2. At
the end of class, I said “See you tomorrow!” as they left, and they all called back, “See you tomorrow, Teacher!” When Jaz and I returned the next day, the school appeared to be empty, with all the classrooms locked up except for the English 2 classroom. It turned out that their holiday had already begun, which we obviously weren’t aware of. I peeked into the English 2 classroom to find all the students at their desks waiting for me. They jumped up when I appeared in the doorway. “Hello, Teacher! How are you?” I was stunned to realize that there was no school that day, but they had all showed up just for the class. They found someone to unlock the classroom (I didn’t see another adult anywhere at the school), and were ready to learn.
This dedication to continuing English class, by both the Wat Bo and Tchey students is pretty impressive. I don’t think those Tchey kids showed because they felt obligated, I think they genuinely wanted to have another English class, so they had walked or ridden their bikes to school just for that purpose. Jaz’s students clearly wanted to continue with her - their
English is more advanced and so their interest and enthusiasm is clearly expressed. I’m not sure whether the novelty of having the
barang (foreigner) teachers is the draw, or if our style of teaching is so different that they just enjoy the different format, or if they are just so interested in learning that they won’t pass up an opportunity. Maybe a little of all three. Whatever the reason exactly, it amazes me.
(Unfortunately, Jaz’s English 1 students at Tchey didn’t show up that day - she hadn’t said “see you tomorrow,” which they wouldn’t have understood anyway - so she was stuck listening to me for an hour, but did so good-naturedly.)
Yesterday afternoon, Lori and Ponheary and Jaz and I visited a nearby high school at Jaz’s request. Classes were over already, but a few kids were hanging around, and a crew was busy putting up the pink and yellow tents in the schoolyard in preparation for today’s party. Jaz went back there this morning to see what the party was all about, and was invited to stay for lunch and return for the afternoon celebration, so she’s there now as I write this. She’ll have
to rush back in time for her 4:00 students, who start showing up as early as 3:30.
This morning while Jaz was at the high school, I went with Lori and Ponheary to
Kong Much school for their pre-holiday party and to deliver the new uniforms for the teachers. There were about 450 people there, mostly students and teachers, and some people from the village. Some of the kids performed some traditional Khmer dances, and a big lunch was served to everyone in shifts. (I got a kick out of the fact that cans of beer and bottles of whiskey were on the table for the adults.) It isn’t a party here without some big speakers blaring music, so the most of the time, the kids danced to American and Khmer hip-hop in the schoolyard. I got some great video - I’m sorry I can’t post it here. The teachers were given their new uniforms and proceeded to start trying them on right away over their street clothes, in some cases. All in all, it was festive atmosphere and everyone appeared to be having a good time.
I would give anything to see what’s going on at the
high school party right now, but I feel like that would be intruding on Jaz’s experience. I wish I had been able to convince her to bring a camera, but I couldn’t, so there will be no photographic evidence of high school students partying…
Jaz just returned from the high school party. She didn’t stay long; it was too “American” to appeal to her much. Well, it was “American” except for the fact that the students were drinking beer at school, and offering her some.
Why does everyone in this country want her to drink beer???
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Miriam
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Questions
Can you comment on a few things? Do the kids at school think that school will help them in their lives at all? And, what do you see in the way of drug and alcohol abuse? Can you tell by these questions that I work at a college????