I didn't originally write this as a blog, but since so many people wanted to know about my school, here are my current observations (I wrote them in my work journal to help me sort some things out). Enjoy!
One thing that I have begun to notice is that students have a frightening amount of free time, and while sometimes that would be great, it seems that the students are bored to tears by their hour or two hour long breaks in the middle of a couple of lessons. It is not an easy problem to fix, because many teachers are unmotivated to make it to class with work that pays as little as this does. Plus, sometimes the trip can be a bit harrowing, with the muddy roads or any other certain circumstances. Either way, if the teachers don’t show up, the students hang out, and they never know before-hand whether or not they will have a teacher. I also imagine that there is a little bit of confusion in the first place from the students’ viewpoint considering they never have to move from class to class and as their break comes to a close, they see a teacher headed to their class and run inside to their seats as quickly as they can.
The school itself seems fairly well organized, with a director that is there almost every day and Panha the disciplinarian who keeps things under control with his iron fist. The buildings are well or
ganized and labeled, the classes ranging from 40-50 students with usually enough desks for everyone, and a new building under construction. The newer buildings for the older students are on the other side of the flag and football field from the office, and are luxurious with marker boards, cement walls and floors, and very little noise pollution to interfere with class. The classrooms on the other side, though, are poorly constructed wood with open ceilings that let noise filter through almost unbearably. Between the open ceilings, tin roof, shoddy shutters, and various holes in the walls between classes, it is a wonder that any concentration happens, well, ever. In addition to this (as if it isn’t enough), all of these rooms are strictly chalk and the vast majority make the words on the board barely visible. No matter the building or classroom, there is almost nothing on the walls, save the occasional red and blue Angkor Wat flag or framed photos of the King and his parents.
The campus is otherwise beautiful, though; the gated entrance is framed with pretty trees that most of the older students park their motos under, leading to the flag s
urrounded by well-trimmed shrubbery that the 8th graders like to congregate in. There is a well-used football field that is decent (save the occasional puddle or small herd of water buffalo), a beautiful basketball court that I have never seen used, and apparently a place to play volleyball, though I haven’t really found that yet. Unlike other schools that I have seen, there are plenty of places to put (and burn) the rubbish, which is a huge boon here. There is also a well-stocked library, which is all textbooks, but I hope that I will be able to provide some resources for both teachers and students, because as of now the room is well organized and may even have a little extra room for some more supplies.
However lovely and wonderful I find this school (which is a lot – I love the people and the administration tons), the
main thing that I see is a lack of pride in the institution and its teachers. Whenever I speak to the school director, which is fairly frequently given his house’s proximity to mine (he lives right next door), he usually tells me about awful the road is from home to school – either too bumpy and muddy from the rain, or too dry and dusty from the (very little) traffic. I’m on a National Road to basically nowhere, so the traffic here is nothing compared to when I was on the road to PP and all of the places I needed to go involved me facing hardcore traffic on my tiny little bike. In my feeble attempts to tell him that there are, in fact, unpaved and bumpy roads where I come from…umm, Iowa...he laughed at me with apparent disbelief. Granted, I never had to ride a mountain bike in a warm confining Khmer skirt on a hot and tropical day over a bumpy and muddy/dusty road a mile and a half to school four times a day…but…
Well, the point that I am getting to is that it seems to me that in America, even the worst schools find something to pride themselves in, and I want that for this school. I want the school director and the students and the teachers to say where they live with pride and confidence instead of always focusing on the things that could theoretically drive someone away. The school is still recovering from the lost of a VSO Volunteer 2 weeks into his service because of his own lack of preparation and (I think) a drug problem, so they are focusing on all the things that could drive me away. I want for them a positive spin of the truth and some awareness that his flight was his fault and not theirs.
Student and School Observations:
It has been an interesting week of teaching, especially considering the week of absence I had because of my medical leave in Phnom Penh. Plenty has happened, though, since I have been here. I have introduced myself to the entire 10th Grade class, as well as a couple 11th Grade classes, one Grade 12 class, and a set or two of random students while watching a game of football in the school grounds. With my family also being in school, I have somehow attracted the attention of a few brave 8th Grade boys and my observations of some teachers have exposed me to a couple classes of the young Grade 8.
I am at once impressed and unimpressed by the levels of the students in the school. There are a few stand-outs in any given class, those who have obviously been taking private classes and those who have the ambition to work in nearby Banteay Chhmar, Siem Riep, or Svay/Battambang as translators or tourism facilitators. There are a lot of NGO opportunities up here, and I think the drive is more than average for that kind of work. But for all of the students that are amazingly proficient already, there are somewhere between 5-10 more that can barely speak, listen, or write the language, especially with me in the front of the class intimidating them.
But the students generally appear to have the things that they need to learn – Many have recently acquired the EFC book of their level, and they all seem to have a notebook, pen, and clothes to wear. I do wonder why I have only ever seen one student with a pair of glasses, and hope to find a way to find out more about the vision of my students. I remember that my optometrist back home has traveled to other countries to help people with their vision, and am considering contacting her for connections to other organizations like that. I am guessing, though, that there is a certain lack of motivation from family pressure and the life that I see with my family – the school-aged children have the most work to do both in school a
nd in the home. Plus, the book is far more difficult than the skill level of the students, and I imagine that that is more frustrating than the less-than-adequate teachers and buildings.
It has been an interesting week of teaching, especially considering the week of absence I had because of my medical leave in Phnom Penh. Plenty has happened, though, since I have been here. I have introduced myself to the entire 10th Grade class, as well as a couple 11th Grade classes, one Grade 12 class, and a set or two of random students while watching a game of football in the school grounds. With my family also being in school, I have somehow attracted the attention of a few brave 8th Grade boys and my observations of some teachers have exposed me to a couple classes of the young Grade 8.
I am at once impressed and unimpressed by the levels of the students in the school. There are a few stand-outs in any given class, those who have obviously been taking private classes and those who have the ambition to work in nearby Banteay Chhmar, Siem Riep, or Svay/Battambang as translators or tourism facilitators. There are a lot of NGO opportunities up here, and I think the drive is more than average for that kind of work. But for all of the students that are amazingly proficient already, there are somewhere between 5-10 more that can barely speak, listen, or write the language, especially with me in the front of the class intimidating them.
But the students generally appear to have the things that they need to learn – Many have recently acquired the EFC book of their level, and they all seem to have a notebook, pen, and clothes to wear. I do wonder why I have only ever seen one student with a pair of glasses, and hope to find a way to find out more about the vision of my students. I remember that my optometrist back home has traveled to other countries to help people with their vision, and am considering contacting her for connections to other organizations like that. I am guessing, though, that there is a certain lack of motivation from family pressure and the life that I see with my family – the school-aged children have the most work to do both in school a
nd in the home. Plus, the book is far more difficult than the skill level of the students, and I imagine that that is more frustrating than the less-than-adequate teachers and buildings. One thing that I have begun to notice is that students have a frightening amount of free time, and while sometimes that would be great, it seems that the students are bored to tears by their hour or two hour long breaks in the middle of a couple of lessons. It is not an easy problem to fix, because many teachers are unmotivated to make it to class with work that pays as little as this does. Plus, sometimes the trip can be a bit harrowing, with the muddy roads or any other certain circumstances. Either way, if the teachers don’t show up, the students hang out, and they never know before-hand whether or not they will have a teacher. I also imagine that there is a little bit of confusion in the first place from the students’ viewpoint considering they never have to move from class to class and as their break comes to a close, they see a teacher headed to their class and run inside to their seats as quickly as they can.
The school itself seems fairly well organized, with a director that is there almost every day and Panha the disciplinarian who keeps things under control with his iron fist. The buildings are well or
ganized and labeled, the classes ranging from 40-50 students with usually enough desks for everyone, and a new building under construction. The newer buildings for the older students are on the other side of the flag and football field from the office, and are luxurious with marker boards, cement walls and floors, and very little noise pollution to interfere with class. The classrooms on the other side, though, are poorly constructed wood with open ceilings that let noise filter through almost unbearably. Between the open ceilings, tin roof, shoddy shutters, and various holes in the walls between classes, it is a wonder that any concentration happens, well, ever. In addition to this (as if it isn’t enough), all of these rooms are strictly chalk and the vast majority make the words on the board barely visible. No matter the building or classroom, there is almost nothing on the walls, save the occasional red and blue Angkor Wat flag or framed photos of the King and his parents. The campus is otherwise beautiful, though; the gated entrance is framed with pretty trees that most of the older students park their motos under, leading to the flag s
urrounded by well-trimmed shrubbery that the 8th graders like to congregate in. There is a well-used football field that is decent (save the occasional puddle or small herd of water buffalo), a beautiful basketball court that I have never seen used, and apparently a place to play volleyball, though I haven’t really found that yet. Unlike other schools that I have seen, there are plenty of places to put (and burn) the rubbish, which is a huge boon here. There is also a well-stocked library, which is all textbooks, but I hope that I will be able to provide some resources for both teachers and students, because as of now the room is well organized and may even have a little extra room for some more supplies.However lovely and wonderful I find this school (which is a lot – I love the people and the administration tons), the
main thing that I see is a lack of pride in the institution and its teachers. Whenever I speak to the school director, which is fairly frequently given his house’s proximity to mine (he lives right next door), he usually tells me about awful the road is from home to school – either too bumpy and muddy from the rain, or too dry and dusty from the (very little) traffic. I’m on a National Road to basically nowhere, so the traffic here is nothing compared to when I was on the road to PP and all of the places I needed to go involved me facing hardcore traffic on my tiny little bike. In my feeble attempts to tell him that there are, in fact, unpaved and bumpy roads where I come from…umm, Iowa...he laughed at me with apparent disbelief. Granted, I never had to ride a mountain bike in a warm confining Khmer skirt on a hot and tropical day over a bumpy and muddy/dusty road a mile and a half to school four times a day…but…Well, the point that I am getting to is that it seems to me that in America, even the worst schools find something to pride themselves in, and I want that for this school. I want the school director and the students and the teachers to say where they live with pride and confidence instead of always focusing on the things that could theoretically drive someone away. The school is still recovering from the lost of a VSO Volunteer 2 weeks into his service because of his own lack of preparation and (I think) a drug problem, so they are focusing on all the things that could drive me away. I want for them a positive spin of the truth and some awareness that his flight was his fault and not theirs.
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