Countryside Class: Help Us Build a New Classroom

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I’ve begun trying to speak to the baby in English, and most of the time she can figure out my meaning but when she can’t, she pauses, looks me in the eye, nods slowly, and continues about her business. It makes me laugh every time because that’s my exact response when I don’t understand what’s being asked of me in Khmer.

On Tuesdays I get to teach my favorite class: 10A. It’s the only class that I get to teach regularly without a co-teacher, so I’m able to do weird things with the students and have a completely casual relationship with them without having to worry about my co-teaching relationship. 

Today, we studied prepositions of place: in, on, above, below, beside, outside, between. As usual, I gave them visual representations of each preposition on the chalkboard and then worked with them to produce the proper Khmer translation. To reinforce the lesson, we played a game (an EXTREMELY rare occurrence in Cambodian classrooms) akin to follow the leader. They simply had to follow my command, which included a preposition of place. (Put your pen above your head. Put your book under your desk. Put your shoe beside your desk.) They were starting to catch on, so I yelled, ‘Stand outside the classroom!’ and made a beeline for the door. I stood outside and glanced in, noticing that they were all still seated and glancing at each other nervously. I popped my head inside and repeated the command. I watched as the first student understood and a smile broke out and he sprinted to the door, closely followed by the others. After I sent them back inside, the bell rang for the break time.

Normally, breaks are spent with me at the desk, writing in the class book or studying Khmer. Today, the students had another idea. Some of them had lyrics from their private class, and they pleasantly demanded that I sing them. So I belted out Take Me to Your Heart, followed by Oun Sarang Bong. Feeling a bit parched, I walked out to pick up a water bottle from the nearest stall. On the way back, I passed one of my other grade 10 classes who were currently on break with one of my coteachers. They called me inside for a brief chat, and I noticed from the chalkboard that they were also studying the preposition lesson. I knew this, because those same diagrams that I use to teach that lesson, that I had used in class with this coteacher the previous week, were on the board. For perhaps the first time, I felt as if my being here and working with these teachers might make some sort of difference – one infinitesimally small – but difference all the same.

After the break, I finished the book’s lesson with about twenty minutes to spare, so I decided to indulge in a cultural exchange moment and teach them about the upcoming Thanksgiving celebrations all across the United States. I explained how it was one of our major holidays, that we met with the majority of our extended family, and that we ate till we were full then rested and then ate more. I taught them the form, ‘This year I am thankful for…’ and called on a few students to tell me what they are thankful for this year. They all said, ‘This year I am thankful for my teacher.’ (I’d be more flattered if there weren’t such a culture of copying answers here.) I asked if they have a holiday similar to Thanksgiving in Cambodia. They don’t. I asked when they tell their families what they’re thankful for. Never. So their homework was to go home and tell their families what happened this year to make them thankful. I really hope this is one assignment they actually do…

(posted November 25, 2012)

Lesson Learned #4 (Part 1 and Part 2, A Defense)

In class, if you don’t know the answer, make one up. With confidence.

Which is why Class 10F now thinks that the District of Columbia was named after Columbia, the man who bartered the compromise between Virginia and Maryland for the location of the capital. 

Somehow Columbus also got thrown into that conversation… He did sail from Spain, right??

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After my previous post about my classroom antics, specifically about my predilection for fudging facts about history and geography, I had a few comments from a couple actual teachers (I believe somewhere in the States). I went to respond to each of them in private, but neither maintains an ask or submission section, so I decided to respond publicly.

The comments my glib post engendered: 

Absolutely not.  You do NOT make up an answer.  You make it an opportunity to show how to look something up, say you’ll come back to that question later, or offer a challenge for them to find the answer!

Agreeing with NOT making it up. I have a Parking Lot cork board in my classroom, where we park questions that I can’t answer right away. Sometimes I look the answer up, sometimes a student does. Once we have the answer, I tack it up with the question and tell the class. Students need to see that teachers are still learning, too.

My response:

You’re absolutely right, ladies. There should be the opportunity for classroom learning and research to probe intellectual curiosity and the desire/ability to seek out additional information. However, I don’t live/teach in an environment that allows for such things. I teach English as a Foreign Language in a high school in rural Cambodia. My students don’t have access to research books or free internet in the community let alone in the classroom or on the school grounds. My classrooms don’t even have window panes or electricity. I would love to encourage my students to pursue learning past the lesson, but the Ministry of Education mandates that we complete the required national curriculum, and with teacher/student absences and liberal holiday-taking, we’re constantly in a rush to finish everything. So one lesson can very rarely ever extend to another day. Beyond that, I’m not a history teacher; I’m an English teacher. I want my students to improve their English skills, which they do by listening to my stories and asking follow up questions. I’m not concerned that I made up the date of the Louisiana Purchase today with my 11th graders. I’m thrilled that they had the excitement to figure out how to ask me in English about the Statue of Liberty and how that conversation - one which they were able to understand and in which they could participate - evolved into a discussion of Manifest Destiny. The facts aren’t important to me, not really. It doesn’t really affect their lives what the “Columbia” in Washington D.C. means. But when we talk about what liberty means and how even in a land of freedom there is still discrimination, those thoughts on culture and human nature can affect them.

That all said, I perused each of your blogs. You seem like lovely ladies and amazing, dedicated teachers. Just try not to be so harsh on an untrained teacher trying to make the best learning experience she can for her students in the situation they’ve been placed.  

(posted May 28 and 29, 2012)

English Class #2

Me: (teaching about "There will/won't be...") If my friend Jessie comes to visit, what could you tell her about Prosaut?

Student: There will be my girlfriend.

Class: *hysterical laughter*

Me: I think you meant "There WON'T be my girlfriend" because I don't believe you have one.

Student: Oh, Teacher... I am shy. *sits down*

(posted February 2, 2012)

English Class #1

Me: Why do astronauts need special clothes, food, and medicine?

Students: *whispering together*

Brave Soul: Because there are no sellers on the moon yet.

Students: *laughter*

Coteacher: Why don't you tell them the correct answer?

Me: No. I'm pretty sure that's a more than acceptable answer.

(posted January 8, 2012)

Market Class

We teach English to kids in the market for an hour each day. Yesterday, we got a little distracted…

Watch

(posted September 7, 2011)