Yearly Archives: 2011

Working with Student Teachers at FLO

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Friday’s “game” day ! They l o v e Hangman. Yep, Hangman is still around.
This is a very, very long entry about working with student teachers at FLO. I realize that it’s very, very long (even that’s long : ), but there are some of you who I know are really interested in the teaching aspect of this journey. This is for you . . .

And for everyone else, the next posting will simply be shots taken this past week while teaching (Thanks Rick for taking them!) or hanging-out in the library.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Working with the two FLO students who are teaching classes has been a challenging proposition. Why? Well, first of all, it was unclear to me what they were doing, what their objectives were. Communication at FLO is often a muddled affair.
The first day (of my first week) I went to class at 8 a.m., and  ST1 (student teacher number 1) was simply writing words in Khmer and English on the board. The Ss were copying these words in both languages in their books. What I was able to gather from her was that they were reviewing these words (sports and foods) for a test that she was going to give the Ss on that Saturday. I then gathered that I was to write a test that she was going to administer. We met one morning after class in the library and came up with test for the Ss that was mostly oral. “How many Ss are there ST1?” 20 “How many minutes do we have to give the test?” 60 “So how much time can we take with each student?” Three minutes per student was the agreed upon response. I anticipated that we needed to keep the other Ss occupied while we gave the test. Fortunately, I had a few games, which did the job partially; I really could have used more and better games for their skill level. It ended up taking longer than 3-minutes per student, so I became more efficient. “Call up the next student please,” I asked when the previous student was at the board writing his or her answer to the few written questions. I would go ahead and start asking the next student the list of questions we had prepared, “How are you?” “I’m fine and you.” etc. ST1 and I then had a nice rhythm working together and were able to test all the Ss in our allotted time.
Working with ST1 was more pleasant initially than working with ST2. Why? Well, ST1was more open to me conducting the class differently. She seemed genuinely curious to see how I could review words without simply writing them on the board. I would draw the mango to elicit the word after asking “*What is this?”
What I found, however, was that the Ss were simply memorizing the words or few word chunks without really understanding the meaning. For example, in the oral test I asked the Ss one-by-one, “What is this?” while holding up my pencil. “That is my pencil” was a frequent reply. “Your pencil?” I asked. They had no idea what I meant. A few of the Ss did respond, however, with “That is a pencil” or simply “pencil.”
In ST2’s class, it was clear that he was in charge. He was not curious as to how I could conduct a review. Since I was stepping into an existing class, I didn’t feel comfortable taking over. However, I did ask him if I could conduct the review differently. “Okay,” he replied in the manner of a polite 20-year old boy, shrugging and generally looking disinterested. I then proceeded to draw the different activities or foods on the board to elicit the meaning. I also put the Ss in pairs and/or in the chain-line to ask the basic questions, “What do you like to play?” “I like to play football/volleyball/baseball.” None of them seemed to really ever get “baseball.” I’m not sure why it was included in their list because it is not (as far as I know) in their world.
From what I could gather by asking these two student teachers and the director, the test we administered on the Thursday of my first week was to determine if the Ss were able to move up in to Gogo Loves 2 or the first Gogo Loves Basic.
When my third week began (August 8, 2011), I was not sure if there were going to be classes or not. When I asked the director about them, he said that he wasn’t sure yet because he hadn’t been able to discuss it with the student teachers. From my conversations with him, it appeared as if I was to simply assist them. As things have developed, I am actually to teach the classes and help teach the student teachers how to teach.
Monday morning on the 8th, I went to ST1’s 8 a.m. class to see if it was going to take place. No one was there. Okay, I guess it’s not meeting.
At 1 p.m. I went to the room to confirm that ST2 was not teaching only to find that he was there with the Ss. Okay, it looks like there is going to be class, I thought to myself. I had brought along a DVD of songs that the director had given to me previously (to have on hand so that I could do something interesting with the Ss if they were there). I showed it to ST2; he looked at me with confusion. “Do you have a plan for the day” I asked. “Review the words from last week,” he replied. Okay, I said and sat down and waited for him to begin. For the next 10 minutes he simply spoke randomly in Khmer and the Ss were just at their desks talking amongst themselves.
ST2’s mannerisms and demeanor in all the classes made it clear that I was the guest, and he was the teacher. He really wasn’t open to conducting the class differently than what he was used to. So on this particular day, I decided to get up and leave since there was nothing for me to do. I felt incredibly frustrated that these Ss’ time was being wasted. I had a fun DVD in my backpack that would at least have given them something engaging to listen to and something for me to work with in terms of teaching new vocabulary, reviewing vocabulary, etc. I got up to leave and then I saw Rob Hail in the adjacent computer room. I expressed my frustration with him and he approached ST2 and asked what he was doing. ST2 really didn’t have an answer, but Rob kept pressing. Eventually the student teacher pulled out of his bag the test that ST1 and I had designed to give the Ss during my first week at FLO (ST2 and I also gave this same test to his Ss).
“Is this what you’re working on?” Rob asked. “Yes,” ST2 replied.
Rob left and I decided to stay and try again. “Okay, you want to review these words?”
“Yes,” he replied. I went to the whiteboard to draw these words and elicit them like I did the first week, but then I stopped myself. It just felt too boring to do exactly the same thing. I wanted to engage the Ss more, to come up with something where they would be involved.
“Everyone stand up. Let’s make a circle.” I said. It took a bit of miming, gesturing, etc. to get them to understand that we were going to do something different. Eventually we (ST2 assisted) manage to get them in a circle. I then began to ask the Ss some of the different questions, which had been on the test. But rather than simply ask the question, I adapted it so that they they asked another student the same question. I kept the pace up so that more and more Ss had the chance to participate. I did this with the questions: “What do you like to eat?” and “What do you like to play?” I then took it a step further and wrote on the board: 1. “What do you like to play?”, 2. “I like to play . . .”, 3. “She/he likes to play.” I wanted them to respond to how the other students answered. It took several tries, but they did begin to understand. Some of the Ss knew the difference between he and she; some did not. But most of them were able to answer in that way.
After the class ST2 said, “They do not know . .” He meant that they did not know the words “he” and “she.” “But they were learning them,” I replied, “This is how they learn them, by using them.” I had pointed to a boy for “he” and a girl for “she.”
Leaving my Elementary level class (different from these classes, these are the classes that I’m completely responsible for) Monday evening, I noticed ST1 in the computer room. I went and spoke with her to find out when she was going to start the class again. “Tomorrow,” she replied. “Do you have a plan?” I asked. She looked at me fairly blankly. “What do you plan to do?” I asked again. “Review.” “Review the words from the week before?” “Yes,” she replied. “I have DVDs of music and songs that we can use for reviewing. Would you like to do that?” “Yes,” she eagerly replied. Ah, I thought to myself, she’s open to doing things differently. Good.
So today I showed up at the 8 a.m. class with the DVD Kidsongs: A Day with the Animals. The class is small (4 boys and 4 girls), so it was easy for them to gather around my computer. I started at the beginning and went through about four songs stopping periodically. For example, the first song was BINGO (as in BINGO was his name o). “Is this about a cat?” I asked. “No!” they replied. “Is this about an elephant?” “No!!! A dog” one student replied.
And I continued, stopping the DVD periodically to ask, “What’s this?” while touching my ear, leg, etc. I wrote the word on the board as feedback. I also used the poster on the wall of animals to ask, “Does its ears hang low?” etc.
One of the songs was “Little Bo-Peep.” I drew a girl on the WB with sheep all around her. I then mimed how she went to sleep and then lost her sheep. Then when the Ss watched this particular music video again, I stopped it to elicit their response and see if they understood. The overall vocabulary was beyond their skill level, but I focused on just a few elements. I think they were able to understand some, and mostly, I think it was a start in terms of introducing them to new concepts and not just the standard practice of listing words on the WB and writing them in their book.
To wrap up the class, I went to the WB (whiteboard) and went through all the different words we had encountered asking, miming, drawing, etc. in order to see if they remembered the words. All in all, it felt like an effective class for the Ss.
INSERT KNOT GAME SHOT (Looks like I obviously forgot ! L O L )
Later in the day I was in the office and had the opportunity to speak with the director and Rob. They told me that I am in fact “in charge” of these classes and am to teach (or at least provide an example) the student teachers a different way of teaching. I mentioned that ST2 seemed hesitant to hand over the reins, but they assured me that yes, I am to take charge. When I then went to the 1 p.m. class, I went with more clarity about what my role is. I brought the same Kidsongs: A Day with the Animal DVD to use for reviewing the vocabulary of animals, etc.
The classroom, however, was being occupied by Ben and Molly (Ben founded EGBOK Mission, Everything’s Gonna Be Ok—check it out on the web; it’s a very worthwhile mission . . . they assist FLO kids who go to school in Siem Reap to study hotel management and similar things), so we needed to meet somewhere else. I suggested the dancing pavilion. “Yeah!” the kids yelled as they ran across the courtyard.
Under the open-air pavilion, I tried to have the Ss gather around my computer, but it just didn’t work. There were too many of them to be able to see the screen (and the noise from the **funeral was overriding the audio). Okay, I thought to myself, think of something else. I proceeded to start the game “I spy.” (I first made sure they knew what the word “spy” meant using the word to see rather than spy and asking CCQs . . . ). One of the things I learned from CELTA is that the activities need to be changed frequently for very young students (I don’t the ages of these Ss, but they are young, maybe between 5 and 7), so I switched to “Hokey Pokey.” I had played this with them earlier (in my first week), so they were slightly familiar with it. I found that they needed to be really close to me so that I could drill the sentence and confirm that they said it correctly (remember, the funeral was going on : ). This is really a good activity for teaching body parts and the difference between left and right. Though they don’t feel confident enough yet to initiate a verse, they did start staying the “left elbow” etc. and “in” and “out.”
To make it really clear that they got left and right, I lined them up and made sure each student raised their left arm. I formed the letter ***“L” with my left hand. I was able to show them the letter “L” on the wall because of the sign on the wall about the Worldwide Delegation. “How do you spell left?” I asked. Conveniently all the letters were on the wall and I could point them out for feedback. (They knew how to spell left already. This is part of the pattern I’m seeing; they’ve been drilled to learn all this vocabulary; they just don’t know how or when to use it.)
When I could tell they were getting restless I asked them to crawl back up on the platform and to pull out their notebooks and pens (some of the Ss did not have pens so I shared some). Earlier when I had been asking “Where is . . . ?” I had written it on a piece of paper (in lieu of the WB since we were outside).  I had noticed that they didn’t seem to know question words like “Where?” and “What?” So I made it easy and asked, “Where is ST2?” They giggled at my ineptitude as they pointed at him (he was only 2-feet away from me). But I could tell that they didn’t really “get” what the word “where” was all about, so I continued it with “Where do you sleep?” I also drew a bed; they knew the word bed. “Where is your bed?” and they all pointed towards their living quarters. I continued this with “Where are two elephants/a flower,” etc. until I could see that most of them were getting it. One little girl was just bubbling over with her new-found knowledge. She literally wrote a list of about 10 “Where is . . . ?” sentences complete with all the correct words. (She first left out “the” but happily understood that it needed to be included too. : )
I expanded on the “Where is?” to “Where are?” I’ve noticed that when they’re taught phrases, it’s very one-dimensional. I want to do my best to expand it so that they’re actually learning some useful things. Not just “I like to eat mango,” but also “She likes to eat mango” etc.
I then wrapped it up with a “test” of the difference between left and right. And I asked how to spell them. It will be interesting to see if they remember these two words the next time we play “Hokey Pokey.”
A few other observations: 1) They’ve learned “How do you spell?” so when I asked, “How do you write?” they looked at me with blank faces. 2) They’ve learned big and small, but did not know the word little.
There are a few more little tidbits relating to working with the student teachers. On Monday after the 1 p.m. class I was surprised to see Ss entering for a different class. “Don’t you have the 2 p.m. English class also ST2?” It took a while, but eventually I managed to pull out of him that the class he had before is now not taking place. Further inquiries with both student teachers revealed that as of next week, there will be new class arrangements. Some will be studying Gogo Loves English 1 and some will be studying #2. Or, maybe that’s the basic class instead? They don’t know yet, and neither do I. So the rest of the week with the two classes I will continue to use the DVD resources if possible (with the smaller class) and play games that help introduce new word chunks, as well as review what they’ve already studied.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Today with ST1’s class we watched the animal DVD again stopping after the song for an explanation with mime, drawing pictures, etc.
The first song was about birds (Rockin’ Robin).
I asked, “What is this song about?” First, I needed to elicit the meaning of song. Then came “about.” CCQs: Are there elephants? No. Are there dogs? No. What are there? “Birds,” one student replied.
This class had not been introduced to “Where is?” and “Where are?” so this song was a good segue into these questions. I elicited the meaning of those questions, modeled and drilled them and then extended them to other things in the room and at FLO. I also added, “How many?” as in “How many boys are here?” and “How many girls are here?” This brought: “There are 3 boys here.”
By the end of the class, I had this on the board for them to write in their notebooks:

How many?

How many boys?

There are 3 boys. There are 4 girls.

There are 7 students here. (I mimed for them to count, first the number of boys and then the number of girls. Then when I came back to it I extended it to all the students; they counted the 7 students).

Where is?

Where is the chair? (one)

The chair is here.

Where are the fish? (1+)

The fish are in the water. The fish are in the ocean.

To elicit water and ocean I drew on the WB.

There were many more examples than these on the WB that I asked and they replied. This short list was simply a recap for them to put in their notebooks.
Since this week is a technically a week of review for them and their “official” class begins next week (when the director decides what that will be and how it will be grouped according to students, as in how many, who, etc., then I will have a better idea of what their long-term aims are), I am using these few days as an opportunity to experiment with CELTA methodology and principles. While I was attending the CELTA course in Bangkok this past June, our focus was on adult ESL education. It is different with children for so many reasons. Their attention spans are much shorter; the activities need to be switched around frequently, etc. This is a completely new experience for me, and I want to do my best for these Ss. I feel that this is such a wonderful opportunity for all of us. I am learning, and I am also providing them with a different type of learning, a more student-centered learning experience. I’m doing my best to keep my teacher talking time (ttt) to a minimum and their student talking time (stt) to a maximum.

The timing of being here is absolutely perfect. Rob Hail arrived at the end of my first week, and he is focusing on improving FLO’s English and Computer programs. Since he’s been here, I’ve had more clarity on my role due to his vision and connection with the school. As a volunteer and guest, I didn’t feel comfortable “asking” for certain things. Rob is one of the main financial contributors and visionaries of the school and has a completely different role than me. One of his main objectives at this time is to hire a consultant to advise them on how to create an appropriate and rigid curriculum. The Cambodian gentleman who runs the vocational program wanted to add more to his function. “No,” Rob said, “We need to improve the existing English and Computer programs to make them top-notch. If the FLO kids have a really high skill level in English and with Computers, they can do any vocation.” I agree with Rob. From what I’ve seen in my short time in Cambodia, being able to speak English well opens so many doors for Cambodians. I imagine that it’s the same for computer skills in today’s world.
Rob agrees that the timing of my 8-week stay at FLO is absolutely perfect. He says that I’m teaching my classes differently than any other volunteers have (with the one exception of a lady named Donna, she apparently made noticeable contributions as well). For those of you who have been following “Susan Jane’s Journey,” you know how the flow or timing of everthing has been working out very naturally . . . : )
At the graduation program this past Sunday morning when 20 FLO students graduated from high school and 22 graduated from the advanced education program (2 from the University with a degree in Accounting and 20 from different vocational programs), it was so inspiring to see how FLO’s teachers, administrators and volunteers envision this orphanage (and its educational program) as the foundation for creating a better Cambodia. They teach the kids to always say thank you; they require the children to contribute to the school’s operation (as in the Ss are cleaning their rooms, helping to prepare meals for themselves and the guests, they are sweeping the grounds, watering the flowers, etc.) They are teaching the children to be good, responsible people who will make the world a better place, and specifically, will make Cambodia a better place. After the incredibly high percentage of educated Cambodians were killed by the Khmer Rouge (over the course of 4-years: 1975-1979), the country has been floundering without its intellectual and cultural base. ****Nuon Phaly who founded FLO has used her knowledge of Cambodian dance and silk making to educate the students and not lose these valuable cultural skills.
Madame Phaly’s Story is no longer available, but here’s a good site that mentions her.
Back to my notes on teaching with the student teachers . . .
On Wednesday this past week, we had access again to our classroom for the second of these two classes with the student teachers and much younger Ss (whose English level is very, very basic). I decided to continue the theme of “Where is?” (or rather “Where’s?” as we were taught to teach it in the CELTA course since that is how native English speakers really talk) and “Where are?” I did the same thing today (Thursday, August 11th) in the morning class. I’ve also added “How many?” It was satisfying to see them starting to really understand the concepts and be able to use them.
For some of the Ss, the ravine they have to jump across in order to change from saying “Where is? to “Where’s?” is quite wide. One little boy kept trying and trying. First, he was able to say, “Where’s is the . . .?” And then lo and behold, he yelled out a, “Where’s?”
I questioned myself as to whether I should persevere or just let them say, “Where is?” But as I thought about it, I decided, “Yes, it’s appropriate.” These Ss are just beginning to learn English; they’re very young, and I think they can adapt to the English that we native speakers really speak. Also, I found out yesterday that they rarely ever speak English in their state school (when they’re first learning). Apparently, it’s quite common for Ss to make fun of other Ss’ pronunciation. As I understand it, they’re only expected to begin speaking English when their writing and reading skills have reached an appropriate level of proficiency. I found this out AFTER I told my two afternoon (and more advanced) classes that it’s okay to make mistakes. They looked at me with BIG eyes. Yes, it’s okay! That’s how you learn!
As far as teaching the younger children goes . . .
Well, this is completely new for me. When I graduated from The University of Tennessee with a B.S. in Education eons ago, it was for secondary education, not elementary education. I received a certificate for teaching 7th to 12th graders physical and foreign language education. (Yes, I agree, those two things just go together! : ) And some of you may remember that I did teach younger children at the local YWCA for a bit. It was a very basic level gymnastics/tumbling class. I managed to find a way to successfully muddle my way through each lesson; I made sure each student learned one skill that they could accomplish and show the adoring audience after class. And who was that adoring audience? Their parents, of course! I asked them to stay out of the class during the lesson; it was just too distracting for the small toddlers; I think they were about 4-years old. Hmm, that was in 1986, they would be about 29-years old now. If one of you is reading this, give me a shout!

Okay, I digress.

Point is, this is new for me. Next week I think I’ll have a book to work from (for these 2 classes of younger Ss, I have 4 classes total per day), but I want to enhance the lessons with activities that really engage the Ss. Fortunately, there are some resources here to draw from. One of my biggest challenges may be getting the student teachers to simply not speak so much Khmer to the young Ss. It’s distracting when they do that (unless it’s for a very specific reason when I’ve asked for their assistance). Why? Because it draws the Ss attention away the lesson, from what we’re doing.
In the one class, I could see that they were starting to get the concept of “Where’s the . . .?” when the student teacher began a blow-by-blow college dissertation on what  “Where’s the . . .?” means. Looks like I need to come up with some very helpful things for the student teachers to do during the class so that they too are actively participating . . . Any ideas from the vast peanut gallery spread literally around the world?”
And with that, I’ll sign-off.
For those of you who read this far, mahalo.

-sj

*Realizing now that I should have been asking, “What’s this?” rather than “What IS this?”

**funeral – for t h r e e days there was non-stop music, chanting, drumming from an adjacent property . . . it dominated the air waves for t h r e e days.

***I first learned about the “L” trick and holding up your left arm and making an “L” with your hand in highschool. The joke running around at the time was that the football coach had to do this exact same exercise with the players to make sure they knew the difference between left and right.

**** Nuon Phaly, family name first, her given name is pronounced Polly.

Day-to-day Life at FLO

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Aloha Everyone,
For some reason I haven’t been able to get on-line and check my email for three days. Today I managed to get on-line and access by glob, but I’m still not able to open gmail. It makes me feel a little disconnected . . . so please know that this is why I haven’t responded to your emails.
Mahalo,
sj
Day-to-day Life at FLO
Started Tuesday, August 2, 2011 en route to the beach in Cambodia with FLO Ss and staff and eGlobal volunteers, continued Monday, August 8, 2011 (back from the beach), and finished Monday, August 15th.
Hi Everyone,
My sister Hannah has asked for some specific information about life at FLO. So as I’m sitting on the bus (one of 4) with lots of Ss taking naps (after a rip-roaring time at a stream where we would have gone swimming if the water hadn’t been flowing so quickly!, and where we hung out (some of us in hammocks : ) under raised, covered cabanas and ate lunch—after exploring the large flat rock which abutted the fast-flowing stream), I thought I’d take advantage of this “quiet” time and write. I think we have about one-and-a-half hours before we arrive at Ochheuteal beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia.
What does she want to know?
“Sometime when you have time, email more about your life there…where are you staying/living…do you have just a room (dorm like?), where/what do you eat, do you have a set schedule?  Besides the classroom, do you have any contact with the kids? What about the adults (teachers/director, etc).”
I am staying in one of 7 (or 8) rooms in a two-story guesthouse building; I am in room number one on the ground floor.
Walkway to the guesthouse, the canteen is behind me. My room is all the way to the left on the ground-floor.
I have my own room with two double beds (one of which I’m using as my office/desk, remember seeing a picture of it at the top of my last entry?). In the room is a small fridge, which contains four water bottles (they refill it each morning while I’m at breakfast) and some sodas. The water bottles freeze by the end of the day if I don’t take them out of the fridge. It seems to work pretty well with taking one out mid-day and having a nice treat a little later (and the same with taking one out before dinner). I have a private bathroom; it’s a lot like a standard hotel room.

The main difference from the U.S. is that in the bathroom the shower is simply on the wall (an on-demand water heater is mounted to the side of the sink), and there is no shower curtain. This has been a common style at many places where I’ve stayed in SE Asia. The water simply drains out through a drain on the  floor.

There’s also a TV in the room that I actually haven’t turned on yet. When I first moved into this room (after staying in a guest room in the “store” area for the first *two nights), I did try to turn it on, but to no avail. Later I discovered a remote that had been tucked away somewhere. But at that time, the outlet for the television was being used to charge my computer. The two young ladies who were here when I first arrived told me that there are only two channels and that they’re in Khmer (of course). I will check it out one of these days, however. (I tried the remote and it doesn’t do anything either . . . the puzzle has yet to be solved : )

The meals are served in the “canteen.” This is a one-story building immediately across from the guest house. It’s divided by a tile walkway surrounded by beautiful vegetation.

We just passed an animal of some kind that was just standing in the middle of the two-lane road . . . it was a cow-looking kind of something . . . even though the bus driver honked and honked it just stood there! . . . luckily a dog we just passed moved off the road . . . no, he didn’t hit the             cow thank goodness, but it just swung around to the left into the other lane . . . based on how they drive here, I don’t think I want to rent a scooter . . .
For breakfast (served around 7:30 a.m.) we have anything ranging from a bowl of noodles to fried rice with an egg on top (that’s my fav). The fried rice has vegetables in it including small pieces of white potato. A couple of times we’ve had two fried eggs with part of a baguette; I made an egg sandwich with mine. After every meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) we’re served some type of fruit. The fruit is wonderfully fresh and delicious!
We’ve had: rambutan, lychee, longan, watermelon . . . Had to stop. Picking back up on Monday the 8th.
 grapefruit, banana.
Lunch is served at noon, and we often have a soup. When it was just me and the two girls, they’d make a veggie version for me. But about a week ago a lot more people came, and they sometimes had one veggie dish or fish; so I just picked out the veggies. Today was taro soup with pork; yep, I just ate the taro with rice. They also served tiny pickles with egg. Yes, they sliced the pickles lengthwise and fried them in the pan with the egg. It was actually good. No, not sweet pickles, which is probably why I liked it.
Dinner starts around 7 p.m. and is essentially the same as lunch: a pot of white rice and some kind of soup and stir-fry. I’m going to miss everyone who’s just left and who’s leaving tomorrow (some of the people from the eGlobal group and the camera crew), it might be that the food improves a bit for me. We’ll see. Regardless, I’m getting plenty of healthy food.
Oh, what about beverages? Mostly, I drink water. They do have sodas and beer in the fridge in the canteen which I’ve been known to access on occasion. For breakfast there’s a hot water dispenser for your beverage of choice. The options? 3-in-one packets which are a mix of powder for coffee, sugar, and milk. There’s also cocoa which I gravitate towards. And, I have a packet of fun surprise things from Marty, thank you very much!
Do I have a set schedule?
Yes and no.
I had a schedule for the first week, and then the second week we were at the beach from Tuesday through Thursday. Friday was declared a day off from school to give the kids a rest. Week 3 I had my same afternoon classes (3 – 4 p.m. Intermediate level Ss & 5:45 to 6:45 p.m. Elementary level Ss) and then the two review classes with the younger kids (8 – 9 a.m. with one student teacher and 1 – 2 p.m. with another student teacher). Next week I’ll continue with the afternoon classes which I design, and I will also have something with the younger Ss . . . the jury’s still out on this one . . . tbd.
According to the “formal” (as if you can use that word in Cambodia, it’s pleasantly laid back and casual most of the time) schedule, which the director gave me upon my arrival, I’m “supposed” to be in the library reading to the kids (or doing something similar) from 9 – 11 a.m. At 11 a.m. I could go help serve their lunch. What I’ve ended up doing most days is using that time to prepare my afternoon classes. Sometimes I’ve been able to do that in the library (with the kids looking on when, for example, I was making my flashcards for learning all my Ss names . . . ) and sometimes I’ve needed to go work in the FLO office area. After I prepared my lesson plan and made up the exercises, etc. for the day’s lesson, I copied the file over onto my little pen-drive. Then one of the many nice office workers would print it/them for me (they tried and tried to set me up with wireless access to their printer, but it never worked). I’m limited in the number of copies I can make, so I try to be as efficient as I can be copying the whatever so that it’s printed on the page several times over. I think just cut it up into little strips to hand-out to the Ss.
Besides the classroom, do you have any contact with the kids?
I could practically be with the kids 24/7 if I wanted. They’re always hanging out around the classrooms, and I’m welcome to go visit with them in their playground area and living quarters. But if you’ve noticed the timeline of my schedule, you’ll guess that I haven’t done that very often. In fact, I haven’t been in their living quarters yet. Generally, if I find I have a free moment, I prefer to have some down time in my room. But yes, I’ve had some pleasant moments just hanging out with them in the shade. And there’s been no lack of receiving and giving hugs. “We love you auntie/sister/teacher,” I hear several times a day. Yes, I love them too. Who wouldn’t?
And the teachers and other adults?
I see the office workers when I use the office area for preparing my lessons or for doing research (for my lessons). Slowly I’m getting to know their names too. They’re such lovely and friendly people.
The teachers have been polite and say hello, but honestly, it’s hard to communicate with them; their English is difficult to understand.
As I finish week three out of eight, I hope to get to know them all more and more in the following weeks.
And . . . on a tangent, take a look at the little shack to the right of the lady holding the baby in the pictures from Sunday’s bike ride (a few weeks ago). Rob has been working and working raising funds and gathering materials to improve that home’s physical situation. In the picture, I think you can see that there is standing water around it (a person would have to walk through water to get to the house). It was also in the house. Tomorrow we will be lifting . . . yes, l i f t i n g ! the house to put blocks under it. They’re doing more as well . . . I’ll be there doing whatever I can do to assist and hopefully gathering plenty of photos to show the folks back “home.”
May you be well, happy, and content with your life.
With all my love,
sj
*Initially I stayed in the store area. Believe it or not, I had one of the absolute worst nights of my life there. I had come back from class and dinner around 8 p.m. Dripping with sweat, I thought I’d take a shower and then begin to do my lesson prep (I knew I had about 4-hours worth of things to do). Since the power had gone out the day before when I’d taken a shower (in the morning), I knew that it could happen again. So I turned off all the things I could, BUT it went out anyway. That in itself was no big deal; I simply rinsed my hair in the pitch black, found my way to my computer, opened it for some light, found my book light, got dressed, etc. But . . . when it started getting creepy for me was when I realized how locked in I was, my room was locked, the store was locked, there were no windows to open, there was no direct link to the outside. And the air con was off and the shower was quickly forgotten.
“Okay, Susan Jane, stay calm; it’s not like you’re locked in prison and can’t get out.” So I opened the door to the meeting room in the store. Fortunately, that power was still on. There’s no air con in there, but there was light, and I could carry all my materials into that room and do my preparation there. And, there was a fan, which I pointed directly at me : ).
Writing about it now, it doesn’t seem so bad. But for me, a closet claustrophobic (no pun intended), it was tough. Sweating in the dark, feeling trapped, waiting for the light of day (yes, I meditated and that calmed me down greatly) . . . and after reading Phaly’s story and visiting S21, I realize that I’m a “light-weight.” Yes, I’m used to cool air when I sleep and being able to step outside whenever I want. My room in the guesthouse was such a treat when I moved there the following day . . . -sj

Guesthouse as seen from the garden area.

Fresh inspiration from my new friend, Dan Hatch

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Aloha Everyone,
My new friend, Dan Hatch, just wrote the most beautiful lyrics to sing to the Doxology. I did one little bitty edit at the end to make it fit better rhythmically, and voila! it ended up showing more clearly how WE are responsible for our actions . . . I think you’ll like it. : )
You can also adapt it to your belief system; change the words to suit you.
Share it with your friends!
With warm Aloha and sending you peace in the light,
-sj

Great Spirit source of love and life

Help us seek an end to strife;

Fill all our hearts with peace and grace.

May we enhance the human race.

                                                 ***

Last week Sunday’s bike ride with a few FLO kids and volunteers . . .

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My wheels for the afternoon.
The neighboring village.
Checking us out.
Along for the ride!
Off we went!
We visited Rob’s foster son’s family home.
Grandson and Grandmother.
Sean, yucking it up! (He’s Rob’s family member and an awesome young man recently graduated from UCSB.)
The kids love Rob!
More yucking it up!
We passed some rice planters.
Who invited the guys to come out and help out!
And they did!
It’s hard work . . . though so very beautiful.
This is how you do it . . .
The “neighborhood” Wat.
In case you were wondering what monks do when they hang out in their wat.
Rice, wonderful rice. How thankful to eat you.
Heading back to FLO.
Another wat.
Frog legs on the barbie.
A special treat for the kids who’d come along for the ride.

Ochheuteal beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia with the kids from FLO

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Hanging out . . . : )

Hi Everyone,

Here are some shots from the beach (and the streams that we stopped at en route and on the return–two different places).

Enjoy!

aloha,

sj
p.s. for those of you for whom it’s important to see these photos in chronological order, start from the bottom and work your way up . . . reckon this is an homage to susansbackwardsglob.com. : )

Hanging out enjoying the sounds of the stream . . .
The water was very refreshing!
Heading to our hang for several hours, we had lunch here as well as swam.
See what I see?
New friends from Honolulu, California, and Siem Reap.
One of my students, she just graduated from high school. We’ll celebrate her graduation (along with others’) on Sunday.
We had breakfast at the beach before heading out to return to FLO.
The light was so pretty, and I loved the kid’s yellow shirt!
Wednesday night we celebrated all the birthdays of July.
Those darling FLO kids with July birthdays.
My new friend, his birthday is July 28th.
The sunset was beautiful both nights.
Winners of some of the competitions.
Isn’t he adorable????
My new friend, he was practically the last out of the water each day.
Laughing at the silliness in the different competitions.
Slowly the bottles would be filled . . .
Some did a little better than others . . . but everyone had fun.
And they’re off!
This was one of the nicest beaches I visited during my stay in SE Asia thus far.
Lunch. This fish soup was really, really good; it had a nice flavor of fresh lime juice.
That’s Rob Hail with some of the kids; my new friend is on the right.
Cameraman Rick, yeah, he’s a cool guy. : )
The kids LOVE playing volleyball.
Just checking it out.
These two loved hanging out together.
It’s a very long sandy beach.
There are dogs everywhere; I thought this guy was especially cute.
Passed this as we all walked along the beach early in Wednesday morning.
All the kids.
Or at least almost all of them.
Look what I found!
Heading to this other beach around the bend.
Will you please take our picture Auntie?
Heading down the beach in the early a.m.
The kids gather in groups before we head anywhere; 220 kids are a lot to keep track of!
Moi and my new friend.
His eFoster parents (who live in California) gave him the Hawaii shirt.
Breakfast: noodles. All the food for the 2-days we hung out at this beach were prepared here. FLO rented this particular pavilion.
Most everyone stayed here. Some stayed at a smaller guest house.
Rob had the wonderful idea of inviting some blind kids from a neighboring school to come along on the trip. This particular fella was a good singer.
He’s a very good singer too!
The FLO students were very conscientious about taking care of their guests.
Two different times the kids went around and collected trash.
The restroom at our first stream stop, the pipe simply led out behind the shack . . . : (
Chansy (on right) works so hard preparing all our food! She’s an excellent cook.
The kids love having their pictures taken.
This little guy is so much fun. Thursday on the way back he wanted to get in the water and float down the stream with all the “bigger” kids, but he doesn’t know how to swim. So I just picked him up (with his permission, of course!) and carried him on my back. It was a bit of work being fresh water and him being so solidly built! But I figured it was an honor to be able to help out such a beautiful being.
Let’s pose for another picture!
The huts faced the water; here the stream was flowing too strongly for any thought of taking a dip.
My students . . . the gal on the left is the dancer you saw in another posting.
It was such a nice hang–literally!
Moi and cameraman Rick, he’s been working his butt of and missing his lovely wife and 2-year-old son back in Australia.
Our first place to stop and hang and have lunch.
There were four of this nice pink busses.
A little bit of the scenery . . .
This is a very famous lookout, I was told.
Jan (center) is one of the organizers of eGlobal; she’s with her eFoster daughter and friend.
They stopped to pick up a DVD of music videos–Bollywood Cambodian style.
Those are my flashcards for learning the kids’ names . . . I’m still working on it!
Ready to go!!!! : )
Pamela Young and new friends.
Breakfast baguette, there was some meat inside.
It was DUMPING rain right before it was time to leave.
The tarp-over-kids-conveyance-device®
Waiting for the rain to lessen.

That’s all for now . . . or, enjoy the photos!

The gifts just keep coming!

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Okay, I know that I wrote that the next entry was going to be about day-to-day life at FLO (I even started writing it on the bus today en route to the beach), but a news-breaking story has risen up saying, “Write about me! Write about me!”
And so I shall.
This morning around 5:45 a.m. we all gathered in the courtyard area at FLO to board the busses to the beach. But before we could get on the bus, a monsoon level rain began to fall. We waited it out and in their practical way, they managed to move a few groups of students from the “dance” area to a bus by simply having 4-young men tightly hold a tarp at the four corners over the Ss heads. This group carefully moved from point A to point B in a spontaneously choreographed dance.
The rain lessened, the breakfast baguettes were passed out, and we were on our way. Four fully packed busses with 220 ebullient and euphoric children (and a healthy dose of adults—the teachers, administrators, and volunteers) made their way to Ochheuteal beach, a beach that reminded me of Waimanalo some.
We made a stop at a park area where in years past the children were able to go swimming. Today that was not to be; the river was simply flowing too swiftly for any chance for a dip. It didn’t seem to dampen their mood at all. We lounged under the raised covered cabanas (complete with hammocks), walked out onto the flat table-top-rock adjacent to the stream, took picture after picture of this and that (the Ss LOVE having their picture taken), and generally just had a fun, festive time.
Afterwards, the drive continued for about another 2-hours. On bus number 2 (aka “the party bus” !) the microphone came out of hiding and several Ss came to the front (where I luckily was sitting) for an impromptu singing performance. I recorded some video of one lovely lass (yes, one of my Ss : ), and I’ll see if I can’t post it for you. I did capture some photos, but I’m just a little too tired at the moment to do the necessary this and that to post them with this entry. They’ll follow when the time is right . . .
We arrived at our hotel, changed into our suits (albeit covered with t-shirts and shorts, they’re quite concerned that the Ss not be exposed to bare shoulders and legs, a protocol which has worked well for them apparently), and headed off for the beach (via the bus) which was only minutes away. After a debriefing, the Ss were set loose to go swimming, play ball, do whatever it is that kids like to do at the beach.
And that’s when I received yet another precious gift on this most magical afternoon.
“Auntie! Auntie!” called out one of my many Ss. “Auntie! Auntie!”
I trudged over to him in the water; he grabbed both of my hands and started jumping up and down. So what does a person do? Start jumping up and down with him!
This little guy is absolutely adorable. For the next 2-hours (or so, I wasn’t wearing a watch, all I know is that we were literally in the water non-stop for the entire time allotted to the students) we jumped over waves, dove under waves, hopped onto passing inter-tubes, climbed onto shoulders (him, not me : ) and the only shoulders climbed upon were mine : ), flipped back into the water, climbed up onto inter-tubes, jumped off with a big splash, and laughed, and laughed and laughed. I don’t know when I last had that much fun in the water.
He never let me out of his sight, and neither did I (lose sight of him, I even watched the bubbles rise when he was under for what seemed like a little too long).
Ends up this was his FIRST time ever in the ocean! Wow, I feel so fortunate to have been the person he chose to be with him and PLAY with him during his first ocean experience (ever!). He yelled out at least 5-times, “I’m so happy!!!!!”, “I’m so happy!!!!!”, “I’m so happy!!!!!”, and simply, “Happy!!!!! Happy!!!! Happy!!!!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard an American kid do the same (or a European one, for that matter).
What an absolute gift.
And he was in pure bliss, living completely and utterly in the moment.
Hmm . . . so many things to take away from this . . . I know what mine are; what are yours?
And here’s a shot of him . . .
Yeah, what a cutie!
Peace, love to you all,
sj

Excerpts from Week One’s Notes . . . okay, maybe a bit long for being just “excerpts.” This entry is for people interested in reading about teaching . . . for those others, perhaps it’s time to take a coffee break : )

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My office/desk !
Monday, July 25, 2011 – First lesson of week one:           
Focus: Speaking (I’m not including that portion of the lesson in my glob entry) & Writing
Aim: for the Ss to write a letter to the teacher about themselves

The lesson was essentially the same for each class (Elementary and Intermediate) with adjustments made to make it appropriate to their skill level.
At the very beginning of the very first class, I gave them each a half-piece of white paper and showed them how I had folded it and written my name on the side. Earlier, I’d asked the manager of the school for colored markers (and he fortunately gave me a kit of colored pens). This worked out really well! Each student made a name card; I collected them with their writing book at the end of the class. (He also gave me new writing books for the students, which is also great; I can collect them at the end of class. This way, I know that they won’t lose them, and it will give a record of what they’ve done. Also, I keep the name card with them, which hopefully, will help me learn their names. Their names are very difficult!) . . . I also took a photo of each student holding their name card. This way I can look at the photo and hopefully learn their names with time! (It has been helpful. I made a word doc with 8 photos per page; I’ve printed them and made flashcards for myself with the “correct” pronunciation indicated on the back. No, I haven’t learned them ALL yet; there are 62 names to learn! But I’m “plugging away” as my Mom would  say.)
I started with drawing a mailbox on the WB (whiteboard). I then entered the classroom and mimed taking a letter out of the mailbox. I went on to tell them that this letter was to them and read the letter to them . . . they seemed to get excited about it. They got mail! This was a letter that I wrote to the students, a letter explaining how long I’ll be at FLO (eight weeks) and what we’ll be doing (focusing on speaking and writing).
(Later) I gave the E level students a copy of my letter with gaps to fill-in. I dictated the entire letter to the I level *Ss. It was appropriate for them. (I included this exercise for several reasons. 1. It gave them an example of a letter and what I wanted them to do. 2. It also gave me an opportunity to learn about their skill level.)

At the end of the class when I **played the “Busy everyday song” (track 86, Topic 22, Longman) for the I level Ss, it seemed kind of silly:            “Monday evening,

Ballet class

Tuesday evening,

Piano class

Wednesday evening,

Karate class

Thursday evening,

Swimming class

Friday evening,

Soccer practice

Saturday morning,

English class

Sunday morning,

No classes

I sleep late on Sunday!”

But then I got the idea for them to write: Monday evening _______ , Tuesday evening _____, plugging in whatever they do. It ended up being a very useful exercise. It helped me discover what they do in their “free-time.” They are always doing something!

Both classes were also able to write their own version of the chant/song though it was a little more difficult for the E **Ss, but still doable.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011 – Second lesson of week one:
Aim: to learn to use the expression “I am going to” in conjunction with words of transportation and travel.

I was successful with both levels, however, the text I wrote was too difficult for the E level (I’ve since made the adjustment of writing separate stories/letters/whatever for the two different classes). When I realized it, I made adjustments on-the-spot, and I think it worked out fine. I broke the text down into sections and mimed, drew pictures, etc. to elicit the meaning. I think I was successful in conveying the meaning. I also did CCQs which seemed to really work. I had planned already on not doing the detailed reading section and true/false questions for the E level.

The Clarification/MFP section worked really well with the Elementary level students. It did was it was supposed to. It worked also for the Intermediate, though I didn’t need to elicit the meaning like I did for the Elementary Ss.

With both groups I used the CCQs, “Is this now?” No. I made a time-line which seemed to clearly show them that this is for a future action.

I printed pages 21 and 22 from Longman about Going Places. I taked this up on the wall; I didn’t really use it in the lesson since I only had one copy, but I did write out the phonemic spelling for the words included in their list. I made this into a game with 3 teams with the I Ss. Some of them seemed very familiar with phonemic spelling whereas others didn’t. I think it was a success in terms of giving them a fun opportunity to figure out what they meant.

Essentially the difference between the two classes was that the I lesson was a Receptive skills lesson plan with the students hearing and then reading the text first for gist, then scanning for specific information, and then a reading for detail for the true/false questions.

Whereas for the E Ss, it was more of a Text-based lesson plan where I created on the spot a controlled practice (I wrote sentences on the board with gaps that they were to fill-in) and a freer practice (the 2 chains of students asking each other what they were going to do).

For the lead-in (at the start of the class), I walked out of the room and came back in wearing a backpack. “I am going to take a trip. I want to travel. How can I travel?” I said. Then I elicited different forms of travel and wrote them on the board around the brainstorm sunshine circle. It was interesting how both levels knew a lot of words (the I, however, did know more, such as donkey.) But even though both groups knew this basic vocabulary, the E level did not know how to use it. This was part of why I hadn’t realized the great disparity in their comprehension. The E group simply needs to keep learning how to build sentences and use different tenses, etc. The I level seems to have the basics which they need to practice and refine. The pre-intermediate students have difficulty keeping up with the Intermediates, but they are closer in skill level to the I, however, than the E level students.
Thoughts on Thursday, July 28th, 2011
I had planned on doing a lesson using beach words and “What are you going to do?” “What can people do at the beach?” “What do you wear at the beach?” “Who do you see at the beach?” And then after asking them to list the answers to these (revealing one at a time) in pairs, then on the board, then “teaching” anything they don’t understand . . . I would give divide them into 5 groups of 5 or 6. Each student would pick a card would be either: I am a tourist, I am a lifeguard, I am  . . . Then they would speak with each other using these expressions.

But . . . as I was thinking about it last night in bed, I was realizing how disjointed their learning seems to be. They’ve memorized so many words, some expressions (I think). But they haven’t learned any variations. Also, when they learn an expression, statement, question, etc., it’s just with one pronoun (usually “I”), such as “What do you like to eat?” “I like to eat . . .” So if you were to ask them, “What does she like to eat?” they’re thrown for a loop.

I’ve decided that I’m going to do a different lesson today. I’m going to teach a lesson that makes sure they’re clear about the difference between the present simple and the present continuous. I want to be sure that they know how to use these two tenses before they start their “storybook” tomorrow. (The format for this lesson came from the last lesson I did at CELTA btw.)

Thursday, July 28th’s lesson with the Intermediate and pre-Intermediate students went very well. I realize now as I just glanced at what I wrote earlier, that I did kindof do what I intended (got them to talk about what goes on at the beach). I just prefaced it with an explanation of the use of present continuous (action in progress) with present simple (a habit, an ongoing behavior) in the CELTA style.

I opened by sitting on a chair flipping through a newspaper miming sipping coffee. I then read what I’d written about the teacher not being there . . . using present simple and present continuous.

Narrator: (E, I wrote a different version for I)

Where’s the teacher? The teacher always comes to class by foot at 5:45 p.m. every day. But today, the teacher’s not here? Where’s the teacher?
Teacher at the Café: 

I’m the teacher. Usually, I go to class at 5:45 p.m. every day. But today, I’m not at school. Where am I? I’m in a café. What am I doing? I’m drinking coffee. I’m sitting at a table drinking coffee. I’m also reading a newspaper.

I then did the CELTA thing of having a marker sentence for each tense. CCQs to make sure they understood. Drilled, (MFP), etc. It went well.

I then proceeded to do the controlled and freer practices. What the heck does that mean? The controlled practice were exercises I prepared where the Ss filled in the gaps. They did them individually at first, then checked their answers with their partner, and then there was wholeclass feedback with them writing the answers on the board.

For the freer practice, I divided them into 6-groups and handed out the little slips of paper I’d made saying: 1. a lifeguard, 2. a boat captain, 3. an ice cream seller 4. a tourist, 5. a fisherman (I realize that this is sexist, but I  went for simplicity here), 6. a kid playing.

I then proceeded to elicit the meaning for each one of these by asking CCQs and by drawing on the board. Then I asked how the different people would answer, “What do you do?” and “What are you doing?” going through them one-by-one. This was all very playful, yet I think they were understanding and learning.

Next came speaking in their group taking on one of these identities: asking each other questions, and using present continuous and present simple. There was lively discussion though I heard too much Cambodia. Then it just seemed right to ask them to please try and speak only English; that’s what I’m here for, I explained, to help you learn how to speak better English; you can speak Cambodia already. They really seemed to pay attention to this and promised very seriously (for 12-20 year olds : ) to try and speak only English.

The class ended with three different students coming up and writing a dialogue that they’d said within their group. It was a good example of being more “real” and playful with their language. Since they’d written a short dialogue, I asked the corresponding students to come up and read it; they did. It was good because one of the students is a shy girl who rarely wants to speak, but she did in this setting! That made me very happy to see (and hear).

Thursday, July 28th’s lesson with the Elementary students went very well! I anticipated the differences between the two classes much better, and the adjustments I’d planned worked. The only real difference was that when they were speaking in groups, I wrote some suggestions of what to ask on the board rather than simply, “What do you do?”, “What are you doing?”. For example, I suggested, “What color is your boat?”, “How big is your boat?”, “Is your ice cream good?”, etc. I think I got the point across that they can ask all kinds of questions. It was fun to see the understanding appear on their face after they had been scrunching up their faces with “Huh???”

Also, some of the students in the elementary level class had more difficulty understanding the difference between when to use present simple (a habit, such as I am a boat captain; I drive a boat every day) and present continuous (an action in progress, I am driving a boat now). I did much more repetition and asked more CCQs with the the elementary level class to ensure their understanding.

Most stories are told in the simple past tense, but I managed to find about 13-storybooks in the library that are told in the present tense. I’ll use those as models for the elementary level students. Now I need to write a sample story for each class. Today’s lesson will be task-based. I will be the native speaker talking when I read the example story, which is the model for their final activity.  (It ended up that I only did one lesson on Friday (E) due to all of the festivities. This was very fortuitous because it helped me realize that I needed to break that lesson down into even smaller bite-sized pieces. I’m going to repeat the lesson today with the E Ss and do it for the first time with the I Ss; I expect it to go much better.)

Administering the mostly oral test on Thursday, July 28th (with the younger E level Ss, this isn’t a class that I was technically teaching but rather one that I was assisting) it became incredibly apparent that the Ss have simply memorized sentences without really understanding the meaning. One example is when I asked the students (one-on-one) “What’s this?” while holding a pencil, many replied, “That’s my pencil.” “Yours?” I asked. They had no idea what I meant. (This supports my thoughts about creating situations for them where things are said in different ways . . . that’s one reason I’m on the search for fun games. This past Saturday in Phnom Penh I found a “Harry Potter” version of a Junior Monopoly game. That’s a start . . . !)

-out

sj

This entry is dedicated to precious Fido who left his bodily form 7-years ago on this very day, August 1, 2004.

Week one at FLO in visual form . . .

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Find Kamehameha.
A beautiful room, but just a little too isolated, so I moved to the Guest House.
Emily from New Jersey yucking it up with the kids.
Watching Tony’s surprise birthday video pour moi. Why is this shot yellow? Because this teacher was thinking about leading the class, not taking a shot! : )
One morning en route to class after a rain. The building? A new dance hall under-construction, almost completed.
Can you see who else came to class? And why is this blue? Ditto.
Friday, “music” day for this class. Everyone wants to be a part of it. : )
Emily with Kate from Atlanta.
Sneaking a peek.
Cameraman Rick
Looking good! Getting ready for the visiting delegates.
Having fun yet?
Peace!
Pamela Young with a star student. Who is Pamela, or Pammie, as Rick calls her? She’s a celebrity from Hawaii and the producer of “Mixed Plate,” Hawaii’s longest running news feature series and winner of 9 Emmy awards.
Watching for the arriving delegates.
Here they are! I spoke to the tall lady; she’s very nice and is from Egypt.
Spy-cam on the two gal-pal-volunteers having some private fun.
One of my students playing with another looking to the right.
The beautiful lass on the left is in my Elementary level class.
They’d been practicing all week!
The movements are very graceful and subtle.
This is how it’s done . . .
The costumes are beautiful!
The boys in the band. Many are in my Intermediate level class.
This is where some of the on-property workers live. A very peaceful lifestyle.
Some of the members of Worldwide Delegations are very, very tall! The woman in red is from Japan and in charge of this particular chapter of the organization. They are one of the two main sponors of FLO.
Welcome! In the past, this particular dance was performed for royalty; its message is to wish the honored guests much prosperity and happiness.
The girls were singing along. Several are in my class.
They did such a good job! Their teachers were very, very proud of them.  Traditional Khmer dance is often referred to as “Apsasa Dance” after one of the most popular clasical dance pieces. FLO is doing its part to ensure that this part of Cambodia’s culture is not lost.
Worldmate Delegations gave each of the children their own bag.
They kids were very appreciative and expressed it to the delegation.
Peace !
See our bags?
Now they’re in formation to meet Rob Hail, founder of eGlobal.
This capable drummer has been teaching two classes of younger students since they’re on “official” school break; he and I are now working together with the students.
Here comes Rob!
The students take this very seriously.
The little boy was found abandoned a year ago; I was told that they weren’t sure if he’d make it. He has! He’s 5-years old.
I’ve been wearing these rubber slippers because when it RAINS, the mud is very deep and my other shoes were getting trashed. My slippers follow their name too closely; these, which I found in my new room, are more independent minded and hold their own better. Why the pix? One of the staff members walked off in them by mistake. When I came out of the office and asked, “Where are my shoes?” everyone laughed. I think the poor guy was a little embarrassed. lol No worries, mate. Easy mistake to make! They thought they looked funny on my feet because they are so big.
And then it came time to lower the flag. This was in the late afternoon before my 5:45 p.m. class.

The kids at FLO are beautiful! Or, week one at FLO

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Dear Friends,

The first school week at FLO has just passed. Wow, what an experience it’s been already. I’ve been keeping notes of my observations while teaching–things that have worked, things that haven’t worked, how I’ve adapted when they didn’t, what the differences are between the two classes I teach *on my own (1. Elementary level and 2. Pre-Intermediate & Intermediate levels combined), etc. When I sat down on my bed last night to review what I’d written and add the last bit from yesterday’s classes, it felt as if it’d been a month already since my first entries! Yes, I’m so glad I’m keeping that log because I can see how I would forget so many details otherwise.
Where to start in telling you about FLO?
Well, let’s start with FLO itself.
This is definitely where I’m “meant” to be. Why do I say that? Well, the Hawaii connection for one. It was so very welcoming to arrive at the canteen for my first dinner last Sunday night and see an “Aloha” sign on the wall. In the gift shop area where I stayed the first 2-nights, I saw another sign of Hawaii, King Kamehameha on the Honolulu Rotary Club’s sign. In the library, there are stacks and stacks of books about Hawaii. When opening one of many boxes of things donated to FLO searching for games for the students, I read “donated by Tutu Betty”**. I was opening a box that had come from Hawaii. How many times have I donated things to organizations (many)? And now, here I was on the receiving end. I can tell you as a person looking for any and every resource available for helping these students, I was very appreciative!
Then, on Wednesday evening, a tall, lanky bloke from Australia came sauntering up to the canteen at meal-time. “Is there where we eat, mate?” he asked. Yes, I replied and then asked. Aussie? “G’day mate!” he said simply. (i.e. Yes. : )
Are you here to volunteer teach? “Nope, I’m the cameraman for a crew from Hawaii.”
Yes, from Hawaii.
“Pamela Young’s arriving tomorrow to do a story about FLO.”
Well, whadayouknow?
“I moved back to Australia in February, but my wife and I lived in Hawaii for 15-years. I was a cameraman at KGMB.”
Any chance you knew cameraman Bill?
“Well, of course, mate. I taped his wife when she was an anchor on TV.” (Bill is someone my husband and I’ve worked with many times. Go figure.)
In April 2010, I already had an inkling that I was going to take a sabbatical of sorts. Doing what? I had no idea. Going where? I had no idea. But that I wanted to go, I knew. So one Friday afternoon, ***Rocket Girl and I hiked out to the end of Awa‘awapuhi Trail on Kaua‘i. We’d completed our work for the week (yes, we, dogs play very important roles in getting work done!~) and decided to head up to Koke‘e. After we hiked down the trail to the end where it overlooks Na Pali coast, we sat quietly, taking in the breathtaking views. This would be a good time to meditate, I thought, so I did. I’d just recently checked out my friend Glenn’s meditation called “Basic Activation of the Divine Light Meditation” (see the glob link on the right under the susansbackwardsglob.com link) and had put it on my iPod. It’s an about 10-minute guided meditation, which just clicked with me. At the end, I calmly sat there and just enjoyed feeling peaceful and quiet. And then what seemed the most far out idea at the time just came to me, “Text message all the Divine Souls on the planet that you connect with, who have similar dreams as you.” And I did. Not sure what the message contained; I just trusted that our souls knew what was important. I even mentioned this in an entry in susansbackwardsglob.com in August 2010. Here’s an excerpt:
And I thought of the people in my life who live in Light,
and I thought of the people I don’t yet know who received my text message back in April.
and I thought of how I’m going to meet them and others as one thing leads to another,
one heart leads to another.
Doors will be opened.
Introductions will be made.
And I will find my way around this planet
on the voyage
which will open up
to me.
So here I am at FLO where there’s this wonderful Hawaii connection. And then comes along a cameraman who lived in Hawaii for 15-years (my husband and I have had a video production company on Kaua‘i since 1989; we started in Waikiki in 1986). And I think of the people I’ve met who’ve helped guide me in this direction. And I think of how I’ve taken the time to be still and listen . . . when “deciding” where to go next.
Okay, so back to the main point: FLO.
Rob Hail of Honolulu who’s done incredible work creating eGlobal Family, http://www.eglobalfamily.org/, arrived yesterday. It seems that each year volunteers from Hawaii come to take the children on different excursions. This year it’s a 3-day trip to the beach visiting one waterfall en route and another on the return (Yes, I’m lucky enough to get to go too! There will be 220 children; I think they’ll be happy to have two extra arms and ears.). It just so happened that Rob arrived yesterday. I asked him, “Why FLO?” (for his e-Foster Parent program). He proceeded to tell me how in 2000 he visited many different organizations in SE Asia and found FLO to be a very well organized and focused school (and home) for children.
The founder, Ms. Nuon Phaly, is a most extraordinary woman. On FLO’s site she wrote, “I am being a Cambodian (Khmer National) who loves this country, people, culture and civilization. I wanted to contribute to the recovery and development of the people’s health and knowledge, especially the vulnerable women and their children; I took an initiative to establish a center for helping them out.”
Not only is there a wonderful Hawaii connection at FLO, but FLO itself is a most caring, safe and productive place for children to live and learn. Their education program shows great depth in its variety (Largely due to volunteers who come and donate their time and knowledge to the children; sound interesting to you? Consider volunteering!).
So, in a nutshell, I feel very fortunate to be volunteering at FLO. Having 8-weeks here to teach, I feel that I have enough time to assist the students’ learning and actually make a difference in their lives. Yes, I realize that 2-months is a very short time in the scheme of things, but it is my hope that by using CELTA’s methodology, I will be able to give them some learning skills which will aid them as they continue their studies.
“But what the heck happened this week, Susan Jane????”
A lot.
“Like what?”
Well, how about I show you in pictures?
Coming soon at this very same bat channel . . .
-out,
sj

Made it to the movies! (a l o n g one . . . : )

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Hi Everyone,

It’s Friday evening in Chiang Mai, and I made it to the movies! (the 2011 European Union Film Festival) There’s an Italian one (“The Last Pulcinella”) playing as I type, but I figured watching two movies was enough!

What’d I see? “Above the Street, Below the Water” (2009); this Danish film was a bittersweet tail of changing relationships. I’d recommend it . . . but not for kids. Next came a German movie, “Run if you Can” (2009) about an unusual threesome. Also good. Also not for kids really.

How did I get there? With my orange scooter that I rented for 150 baht from a place across the street from the hotel (where I could have rented one for 250 and had it delivered to me; I figured I could handle the walk across the street and save 100 baht! : )

How much did the movies cost? Nada! They were free. And the soda and popcorn was a whopping 55 baht. Some things in Thailand and really, really cool.

“Okay, what else have you been doing?” You ask.

Well, I went on a three-day, two-night trek up into the mountains north of CM.

But before I tell you about that, I gotta (yes, gotta : ) tell you that some more magic happened Monday night after I posted my last glob entry. How the way back to my hotel I ran into one of my new friends! I’d met this nice lady and her son and girlfriend during the cooking class. We’d ridden the same vehicle to the place and hung out with each other all day. Then, when it came time to leave, they threw me (not literally, but almost) into another bus since I was a lone duck. I got to quickly say goodbye to this nice British lady, but not the other two. And here it was, around 10 p.m. and I was on my way back to the pad to eat SJ-made phad thai and mango sticky rice when I ran into her! She told me how her son had been so disappointed that he hadn’t gotten to say goodbye . . . I’ll just to to the hotel, I said. And I did. While she went searching for a place to change their plane seating, I found their inexpensive-but-very-nice-350-baht-a-night hotel. Introduced myself to the proprietor who was playing cards with a group of fun-loving women, convinced them that I had indeed just seen the mother . . . and was not a mass murdered, and gained entry into the building. Up one flight and there they were enjoying their specially made food with a Chang. : ) We had a fun visit (with the mom too who returned quickly unsuccessful with her mission) until my eyes were drooping so heavily and my stomach was growling incessantly . . . but, I think my noodles tasted so much better having been tempered with a helping of new friendship. So it goes . . .

Okay, the trek. “What was it like?”

Well, it was fun; it was muddy; it was lazy; it was goofy; it was a great success.

It’s so amazing how you can throw 12 complete strangers together in the back of a truck (they have a special name for it that I’m too lazy to look up, excusez moi, s’il vous plait), stir a little, add some heat, and cook up a tasty stew of new friendships. By the end of three days, we were practically kissing cousins.

“What’d we do?”

We walked. Through rice fields (with water is “regular” rice, without is sticky rice, so they say . . ), down muddy paths, up paved roads, through Karen villages, and in a bamboo forest . . . and we hung out–till noon the second day. We played cards, smoked bad cigarettes (well, some of us watched, but it was fun), learned goofy Karen jokes, listened to locals play some intruments, tried the instruments ourselves (one was a 7-string somethingorother), ate rice, lots of rice, and noodles, and well, drank Chang beer . . . oh, and we swam in two different swimming holes with waterfalls (the water was mostly clear). At the first one, the water was quite strong and two of the darling Spaniards almost got washed away (for real), but our 25-year old Karen guide moved the quickest he ever did during the 3-days and “caught” them and then got them to safety. His name? “Call me potato,” he told us the first day. And we did. I lost track of how many times the lovely Spanish ladies yelled, “Potato! Potato! There’s a spider! Potato!”

: ) Yeah, it made us all smile too.

“And the rest of the 12?” you ask.

A family of five Danes–a really beautiful family, two teenage boys and a fiesty 11-year old girl. She’s strong! She often lead us as we walked. A pair of three who met while backpacking. One is a French former model (male). And two live in Arizona, though they met in Burma. Yep, makes sense in that goofy happenstance way that traveling and meeting people just somehow works out so perfectly.

5 Spaniards, 5 Danes, 1 French man, 2 women from Arizona (an American young lady who’d been studying in Singapore for a year and will be returning “home” soon and a Taiwanese lady who calls AZ home–where she teaches Art, “K through 8,” she explained), and moi, the smiling, laughing lady from Kauai . . .

And on the trek, we also rode elephants. I enjoyed it overall, but my heart didn’t feel like they were treated well. Our little guy was so hungry; he kept stopping to eat leaves, branches, whatever he could grab. We gave him two bags worth of bananas and sugar cane . . . but something just didn’t feel completely right.

And we rode these long bamboo poles (about 7 or 8, I think) that were temporarily strapped together with strips of black tire. There were four of us to a raft. The group I was with (the 3 backpackers) was fairly tame; we sat, laughed, got wet bumps, but generally, played it cool. The three Spaniards and eldest Danish boy (who speaks very good German AND English btw) had a rip-roaring time! They rolled the raft several time, got dunked even more, and even took the bamboo poles and steered their way down. The guide looked a bit terrified at the end (for real! his eyes were BIG when they came in ! lol ; )

It was definitely a trek machine . . . a very well organized and oiled machine cranking out one batch of 12-tourist-trekkers after another. Some mastermind has organized the movement of this chain of people from one Karen hut and one Karen “7-11” to another. And they all seemed to be having a good time. And the natives? Well, I think they’re definitely making use of their resources (the terrain and themselves). We often hung out with the small family at the two places where we stayed overnight (we 12 slept in the same hut; there were groupings of 3 mats under the corresponding mosquito nets. The rustic toilets had the kind of basin that you stand on and squat . . . there were large containers of water from which we’d scoop water to pour into the tiny bowl . . . you get the picture).

Tomorrow I head out for BKK where I’ll do heaps of laundry and get myself organized for the next 8-week portion of this saga (Cambodia where I’ll volunteer teach).

The rest of the evening promises some fun scooter riding and some food . . . maybe a heap of tasty noodles. Today I found the wat on the hill 16 km to the northeast of town, along with some sleeping dogs, waterfalls, and pretty scenery.

I’ve enjoyed this part of Thailand; yes, it’s been my favorite so far . . . but I do still remember fondly that trip along the River Kwai . . . and the fun boat ride in BKK, and, and, and . . .

Didn’t read through this, so please excuse me for my missssspellings and Freudian slips.

Do hope you’re all well and enjoying yourselves wherever you are–having a good meal, watching a good movie, reading a good book, or just hanging out with friends and family.

Aloha and a bientot,

sj