Program initiatives at the schools

I have been making some good progress running workshops with two schools here in Siem Reap for Cambodian teachers of ESL and exploring the opportunity for cultural exchange between St John Fisher College (my school back home) and Volunteer Development Cambodia Association (VDCA).  

Both schools I've been supporting are non government organisations working to provide predominantly English classes to children from disadvantaged backgrounds - but art, dance and computer studies are also offered. The schools' (VDCA and New Hope) work is two-fold:

1. They are attempting to 'take up the slack' in an education system that is very elitist by providing opportunities to children unable to access public education, and

2. They are offering additional skills to all local students for future employability here in Siem Reap, a city that relies heavily on the tourist industry.

I have been working at VDCA for the past few weeks with prospective teachers; they are past students who show aptitude and desire to teach now at the school. In the absence of formal training, in terms of lesson structure and teaching strategies, many of the teachers simply rely on what they have been exposed to by past teachers and the transient volunteer/traveller staff that aid in the classrooms. Therefore, we have been going through lesson structuring with particular foci for particular times within the lesson. I've also given them a list of teaching strategies and activities for each section of the lesson, which we have been work-shopping each day. This week will be the culmination of the past 2 weeks of work. I'm hoping to have them collaboratively plan and teach in the last couple of sessions this week using the structure and strategies examined so far. If they can use just one strategy to improve the delivery of their lessons by the time I leave, it will all be worthwhile, I guess.

Practicing the 3X Focussed Reading 

I ran a similar workshop at the rural village school 'New Hope' (approximately 25 minutes drive from Siem Reap) all morning last Sunday. The workshop went well. The school has only been running since 2009 and the teachers are not as proficient as those at VCDA. Therefore, I had to make alterations to the workshop and focus more on simple teaching strategies for younger students. For example, we practiced a Chinese whispers game for spelling and vocabulary building, which was received quite enthusiastically by the teachers.

Practicing the 'Chinese Whispers'activity

The teachers at New Hope

I then modelled it in a couple of the classes (I have been teaching in the mornings at this school until lunchtime and VDCA in the afternoons/evenings) over the past couple of days to show how it plays out in the context of a whole lesson. The kids loved it, albeit a little over excited at times, and fed off the competitive nature of the game whilst unbeknowingly practicing their spelling or a particular grammar structure. Another strategy that went across well was the focused reading exercises we practiced together. The teachers saw a lot of use in the 3X approach to reading that allowed for a particular focus each time before attempting to address global comprehension questions. If nothing else the workshop gave the teachers an idea on segmenting a lesson with some practical ideas to practice the language across all four macro skills - listening, speaking, writing and reading. 

New Hope donation needs

New Hope donation needs cont.

I will finish up my time with New Hope and VDCA Thursday. That said however, I really want to support both schools on return to Australia with sustained fundraising. After discussions with the director of New Hope, it seems they are in constant need of funds for various ongoing costs, but the primary concern is the land on which the school is built. Currently the school rents the land for approximately US$50 per month, but is hoping to purchase the land and become more secure if they can raise US$10,000. The various other costs can be seen here in the images left and right. One initiative the Director and I are looking to pursue is the selling of Cambodian bracelets to Australians. For $50 of material, the school can produce at least 100 bracelets. If I am able to sell them for $1 or $2 in Australia, it can at least double the investment. This might not sound like much in the Australian context, however if you look at the cost sheets above, $100 or $200 goes a long way for this school. Plus, the bracelet initiative gives the students a role in the fundraising process. If you by chance would like to support New Hope in any way, let me know and I will direct your funds straight to the source - free of administration costs associated with large charity organisations.

VDCA computer lab set up

In another project for VDCA I have been working closely with Dy Malivann, the art teacher that will take computer classes from next week. We have been going through the processes for creating a program that he will continue after I leave. In earlier discussions with the director of VDCA, Togh Main, we decided to begin an intercultural exchange program utilising the existing computers at the school. Using a very small portion of the fundraising that I brought over, we have repaired the existing five computers and purchased headphones and webcams. My only hope now is that the computers have enough processing power to support the program. 

The idea is to build on the existing Microsoft Office instruction conducted by Dy Malivann to include studies in Skype and Google (Gmail email, Web 2.0 tools - YouTube, Drive: Docs, Sheets, Presentation, etc.). We rolled the program out today with a brief meeting with the five top senior students and a 1 hour session creating Googlle accounts and introducing the students to and navigating them around email (Gmail). 

Tomorrow we plan to workshop Google Drive and Docs; discussing the capability to collaborate and communicate with students abroad on a single document. Then on Thursday we hope to create Skype accounts and run through the basics of making and receiving video calls for the purpose of intercultural communication. If time, I plan to discuss the possibilities of working within these platforms simultaneously for educational outcomes. Once versed in these, the hope is that students within the intercultural program will be able to communicate with Australian and other English speaking foreign students, which will be beneficial linguistically for the Cambodian students and socio-culturally for the foreign students. Following the sessions this week, the 5 students and Dy Malivann can continue after I leave until all senior students at the school are able to take part in the program if they choose. On return to Australia I plan to organise students and other volunteers that would like to take part in the program to schedule time weekly or fortnightly for an inter-cultural exchange with a Cambodian student from VDCA. If this sounds like something that you would like to be part of, please let me know and I will organise the contact email and Skype address between parties and a time mutually convenient. 

Until next time...
R