Moi Ch'nam (one year!!!)
Trip Start
Jul 20, 2009
1
11
14
Trip End
Jul 24, 2011
Prey Veng, Cambodia
Monday, July 12, 2010
It's been a while since my last update, almost 5 months, but things have been pretty hectic these past few months....or maybe it's that I've finally adjusted to the slow pace of provincial life. Either way, a lot has happened since April: traveled with a few friends to Vietnam and Laos for about two weeks, celebrated Laos New Year (which happens to coincide with Thai and Khmer New Year) in the northern city of Luang Prabang with paint and water fights in the street, had several visitors including Stephanie and Wes who only just recently left for their own travels in Laos and Vietnam, watched helplessly as my computer slipped off the back of my bike cracking the screen and costing me $100 to fix but gaining numerous hours of reading time, sang the national anthem at the US embassy for the 4th of July celebrations, gave a lecture on teaching pronunciation at the CAMTESOL (Cambodia Teaching English as a Second Language) conference, traveled to several surrounding districts to observe my first year students' practicum, finally gave into student requests and started a grammar class, spent two days in a rural district visiting with a student and her lovely family (her mother now refers to me as her daughter!), gave seminars on classroom management and lesson planning for teachers at a computer training center for disadvantaged youth, said my goodbyes to volunteers returning home for health and personal reasons and welcomed new volunteers arriving as excited, motivated and clean-faced as I was when I first arrived.
July 22nd will be my one year anniversary of coming to Cambodia with another year and some change left until I COS (Close Of Service). Only since visitors started arriving did I remember what it was like to first come to Cambodia and how much I've adjusted and changed. Even before Wes and Steph arrived I thought of what advice I could give to make a visitor's time here a tad easier. I settled with: don't worry about being sweaty or dirty, it's unavoidable, just accept it. Easier said than done but that's something I've struggled with during the hot season when blinking caused me to sweat and the dust from the road would stick and cake on my calves and face. Also unavoidable are the creepy crawlies, the many forms of wildlife in and around the house. One of my visitors flinched whenever he heard a gecko chirp in his hotel room or had a bug crawling on him. I sympathized but was pleased that I have never been bothered by the geckos and I rarely notice the bugs anymore. It's made me start thinking about what other things could have changed that I haven't noticed. During training, the staff held seminars on the effects of culture shock when we arrive in Cambodia AND when we go back to the states. At the time I didn't think that I would have any problems readjusting to American life, just put a cup of Starbucks in my hand as I walk off the plane and put me in an air conditioned car, I'll look as happy and serene as a Buddha statue, quick and easy readjustment. But thinking about it now makes me anxious, excited yet worried about the projects I might leave unfinished, the friends I'll leave behind and the possibility that the lessons I've learned here could uproot themselves from uselessness in an easy American landscape.
Until that time comes though, I've resigned myself to enjoy what time I have left in Cambodia and learn from my mistakes in my first year of teaching to make some serious changes in the RTTC next year. And I made a lot of mistakes this first year. I can't count how many times I showed up to class only to find that my students and/or co-teacher were missing. Being reliant on my co-teacher for class cancellations and school events proved to be more work on my part than his and short of messaging him before each class, there wasn't much I could do to ensure that there would be a full classroom when I arrived. I soon broke my own rule of not giving out my phone number to students and encouraged them to not only call when class was canceled but also when they would be absent from class. My first year students seemed to like this rule as it assured them as well that there would be class and a teacher present when they showed up. That rule led to a week of lessons on classroom management and establishing rules. Each student had to think of ten rules that they would have for their future students which opened up a class discussion and vote on our new rules. They posted the new rules on the wall behind the teacher's desk which included: speak in English, no cheating, be active during discussions, come prepared and share original ideas with the class. Basic, simple but revolutionary in changing the dynamics of the class and setting expectations, rules that they thought of no less. The last one gave some insight to the class dynamics already as many students cheated or bribed their way into the RTTC and the students that did not tend to resent the ones that did. Directness is not valued in Khmer culture so I adopted it as a slogan to deter weaker students from copying each others papers and encourage them to participate in class discussions.
If only I had established the rules at the beginning of the year, though it was difficult as I started the year knowing little of the rules already in place and hierarchy of the different teachers and director, which is still a bit unclear. I learned that my students are my most valuable resource for identifying and tackling problems and I plan to establish teacher-student relationships early on in the next school year, though what effect this will have on my shaky relationship with the director is anyone's guess. The new first year students will hopefully start their school year assured that classes will happen when they have been scheduled to as long as I'm teaching, and their class will be what they make of it, reliant on the effort and attendance that they put forward. I can try but might not change my co-teachers but that doesn't mean I can't influence my students who might one day be teachers at the RTTC.
Another mistake was not paying enough attention to my co-teachers. My first co-teacher who is in charge of teaching methodology told me at the start of the school year that he didn't have enough time to teach with me and passed me off to another English teacher. I observed one of the first teacher's classes and was impressed by his teaching methods and easy command of English, a bit disappointed that I wouldn't be able to work with him. It was only a few months ago when I went to observe my first year students' practicum that I realized that he has rarely taught and the students had no concept of how to write a lesson plan let alone manage their classrooms. A bit more questioning on my part and I learned that none of the four English teachers communicate with each other and their relationships are scandalous to say the least, each with a closet close to bursting with skeletons that I probably shouldn't post online. Next year I'm going to be paying closer attention to my co-teacher's attendance but, more importantly, communicating with the students about what subjects they need more instruction in. There's not much I can do about my co-teachers showing up to their classes but I can at least make sure that I set a good example and teach more than pronunciation. In fact, I'm toying with the idea of just canning the subject since I already include it in my other lessons. Next school year I'm going to focus on grammar, methodology and whatever else the students need.
School doesn't start again until October which is for a good reason. With the rainy season just starting (finally!!!), the heavy rains are unpredictable (at least for me) and can last from 1 minute to all day. Some roads get so flooded that they become uncrossable lakes and dirt roads become so muddy and dug-up that they resemble plowed fields. Most people stay indoors if they can. Even my students cautioned me that they would not show up to class if it's raining. I probably should have been bothered by this, maybe think that my students are lazy (and believe me, some of them are!) but sitting in my hammock and watching the black clouds roll in has become one of my favorite pastimes. Waiting for the moment when I can smell rain and then counting the seconds before it starts. Some storms are horribly violent, blowing trees sideways with thunder rattling the windows, resembling what I imagine a hurricane would look like. The best storms are at night when they can be seen passing closely but not close enough to rain on my perch on the balcony, the sky perfectly black until the lightning splits it and illuminates shades of purple and gray, the sharp outlines of menacing clouds. Beats a movie any night. It's moments like these that make me think about when I'll leave in a year, how difficult it might be, how many simple things and pleasures I'll exchange for fast-paced American living. I might forget some of the lessons learned, return to old ways like screaming when I see a rat, or lose my patience when something doesn't go according to plan. But I'll never forget these Cambodian nights.
