Tag Archives: Cambodia

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.

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